Dolan Details Impact of BOE Budget Cuts

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan used her report to the Board of Education Tuesday evening to detail the impact of last spring's budget cuts on the school system, focusing on student impact.

The BOE cut $4.22 million from the budget in March, following Gov. Chris Christie's decision to slash the district state aid by a similar amount, which equaled 90.4-percent of the district's total state aid. The budget cuts implemented by the BOE in the spring included staffing cuts, the elimination of such items as library books and the district's printed school calendar and the implementation of a student activity fee to offset proposed cuts to athletic and extracurricular programs.

"You can't take $4.2 million out of anything and expect it to be the same," she said.

Dolan explained to board members that she could not determine the direct impact of cuts on test scores and grades due to the newness of the cuts. She said she and other district officials will continue to monitor the situation when more data becomes available. She said in some cases with grades it could take multiple years to determine the impact in Westfield.

Dolan said that the controversial teacher contract implemented in March, containing both a 3.9-percent annual raise and increased health care givebacks has been a moneymaker for the district. She said the new health plan has been able to generate $1.2 million in health care savings for the district.

Dolan highlighted her presentation on 20 reductions she said are having the biggest impact on students in the school district. She said one of the biggest impacts has been in the reduced teaching staff at all grade levels, which has produced larger class sizes and reduced teaching times. She said it has made it tougher for teachers to have more of an impact on students at times, using the reduction in librarians as an example.

"The librarian that teaches a love of reading outside of school," Dolan said is one cut that has been seen.

Elementary Teacher Reductions

Dolan said the cuts of one teacher at each of the district's six elementary schools has caused class sizes to rise at all grade levels, beyond what has been done in the past. She said this has caused teachers to rethink teaching strategies and manage the higher class sizes.

"There is not doubt that there are class sizes that I am not happy with," she said.

As part of the rising enrollment district wide, the BOE has already voted to hire a part time reading specialist to work with students at Jefferson due to the cuts.

High School Teacher Reductions

Dolan said the elimination of two teacher posts at Westfield High School has caused slight increases in class sizes and course reductions, but the biggest concern has been in scheduling to provide the most courses to students. Dolan said WHS administrators have been able to devise a plan that has kept class size efficient.

Fine Arts Teacher Reductions

Dolan said the BOE has kept in mind the wishes of parents in trying to not make reductions to cultural programs in the schools in previous years. She said the current changes have had two main impacts on the students. The first is the implementation of a traveling teacher program at the elementary level and the changes to the elementary music curriculum. She said the reduction has eliminated the previous two 30-minute music periods a week and replaced it with one 45-minute music period a week, with the curriculum remaining the same.

Librarian Reductions

The budget plan called for the reduction of the librarian staff at the high school from three to two and the establishment of a joint librarian for both intermediate schools, along traveling librarians at the elementary school level. Dolan said librarians at the elementary and intermediate level have been forced to cut additional programs due to the additional time used for travel. The need has been to focus on specific library programs.

Dolan said the libraries have had reduced hours with the librarians traveling, including having periods where the library is opened to classes without a librarian present for instruction, including on research skills.

"The libraries are closed on days there is no librarian there to help," she said. "Part of what you learn at library is research skills and that is important."

Basic Skills Teacher Reductions

Dolan said one teacher has been reduced and there is no immediate reduction, but the area is being monitored.

Managerial Reductions

Dolan said the BOE has been trying to reduce the amount of managers in the district and that the district has less managers on staff than in 1990 when there were fewer students.

Counselor Positions

In the area of counselors, the district reduced one counselor each at the intermediate schools and the high school. One intermediate counselor retired while one was transferred to WHS to fill a second vacancy. The intermediate schools each have two counselors instead of the previous one per grade.

Dolan said that the counselors have been implementing plans to work with the students and there has not been an immediate impact but that district administrators have been studying the matter.

Under questioning from BOE members, Dolan said one prime area of concern has been trying to restart the intermediate school peer leadership program, including in the areas of bullying prevention. Bullying prevention is the main theme this year from the PTC special education committee and has seen a growth in importance following the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi in September following a cyber-bullying incident.

"Right now the peer leadership program is a causality of the cuts," she said.

Dolan said that assistant schools superintendents Ted Kozik and Anita O'Neil have been meeting regularly to develop a plan to bring the peer leadership program back to life.

Secretarial Reductions

The budget cuts included the reduction of three secretaries district wide, which Dolan said is being felt in terms of the increased workload for remaining secretaries. She said it is not uncommon for people to need to wait to enter a school building or have a phone call answered by a person at some schools due to this. She said in some cases counseling secretaries have been providing assistance in the main office at busy times.

Paraprofessional Reductions

Dolan described the paraprofessional cuts as state recommended as part of a routine audit. The cuts were criticized by paraprofessionals in the spring, who said it would have a negative impact on special education students, including with the rotation of aides for the morning and afternoon.

Custodian Reductions

Dolan said the cuts have increased the amount of work on remaining custodians, but she said the custodial staff has been helpful in the work.

Technology Reductions

Dolan said this has been one of the biggest areas of concern with the BOE voting over the course of several years to delay buying new computers as part of part budget cuts. She said in filling out new state technology reports, the district saw that district has very few computers purchased before 2006, which state education officials were asking.

Dolan said almost all of the computers purchased since 2006 were donations from the PTOs in town.

"Thank goodness for groups like PTOs," she said.

Class Supply Cuts

Dolan said that basic classroom supplies – like pencils and paper – will continue to be provided but that magazines geared towards students have been eliminated from the budget. She said the district has been asking parents to pitch in buy purchasing periodicals for classrooms.

Library Book Reductions

Part of the budget cuts included the elimination of new library books for the current school year. She said that library databases have remained in place and in response to a BOE question, said it is possible that a program could be implemented to have books rotated among school libraries to increase selection.

Dolan also said library book donations have increased since the spring.

Classroom Book Purchases

Dolan said there has not been the purchase of new classroom books due to the budget cuts, causing students to use older books. In one case she cited an elementary school class that has worn copies of Charlotte's Web.

"In another year we would have bought a new group of Charlotte's Web," she said. "This year we are asking them to handle with care."

Student Activity Fee

During a brief discussion of the fee, Dolan repeated past comments that the fee has been working well.

Postage Reductions

This has caused more items to be moved online.

Printing Reductions Including District Calendar

Dolan said more items have been moved online and there has been some negative parent reaction to eliminating the print calendar.

Energy and Health Care Costs

Dolan said the district has made money in these areas with the new contract and the district's energy reduction plan.

BOE members noted that this is the first year where they are studying a budget that has a direct student impact. They stated in past budget cuts they have worked to keep the cuts to management issues unrelated to classroom education.

"To hear you speak it is touching a kid's life," BOE member Jane Clancy said of the cuts.