Hatboro-Horsham Furloughs 2 Teachers

Citing declining enrollment, the on Monday night voted to furlough two teachers for the upcoming school year.

A full-time business and computer science position at , as well as a part-time physical education position were part of the staffing reductions, which, primarily through retirements and reallocations, resulted in the elimination of nine full-time positions and two part-time positions.

Superintendent Curtis Griffin said the total 10.09 staffing curtailments would save the district $675,000 per year.

Griffin said the business and computer science teacher at the high school would be relocated to another school within the district and the lowest-seniority teacher in the department would be furloughed. He said the same would be true of the physical education position, which accounts for less than half of a full-time position – or 0.42.

The furloughs would take effect Tuesday, Griffin said, adding that the teachers to be furloughed had been notified last week.

While staff reductions are being carried out district-wide, Griffin noted that special education is “the one area that we are growing.”

At Keith Valley Middle School, a special education teacher and a learning support teacher have been added for the upcoming school year, bringing the total number of teachers from 25 during the 2011-2012 school year to 27 in the 2012-2013 school year. The additional special education teachers were brought on through reallocation of staff. 

“We’re going to continue to grow in special education,” Griffin said, adding that the hope is to return kids with special needs to the district’s classrooms. “We believe we can offer these programs within our school district.”