There will be cuts coming to Enfield Public Schools.
The town Board of Education is moving forward with a budget the Town Council approved last week during a special board meeting. Local teachers say it falls short of what’s needed and they are devastated by the looming layoffs.
“This is just absolutely ridiculous. I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like next year,” said Amy Guzie, a third-grade teacher.
It was a grim and emotional Board of Education meeting in Enfield as the interim superintendent laid out the cuts coming in next year’s school budget.
This comes after the Town Council approved a less than 2 percent increase last week instead of the 8.7 percent the Board of Education approved.
“It’s really sad that people who don’t know what goes on in the classroom are the people who are in charge of making all of these decisions,” Guzie said.
The cuts include about 130 positions across the district — from administrators to teachers and support staff that serve special needs students. One parent is worried for her children who rely on the support staff.
“It’s scary to think that my atypical child is the one that’s going to be struggling the most out of this,” Danielle Girard said.
Also cut were some funds for clubs, AP exams, and sports for middle schoolers and high school freshmen. Some board members tried to save the sports programs.
“You get so much out of sports than you realize,” said Peter Jonaitis, a Republican member of the Board of Education.
But other board members say with all the cuts made, saving teachers was the priority.
“I will vote to save teachers and teachers only when you look at this class size,” said Tina LeBlanc, a Democratic member of the Board of Education.
Mayor Ken Nelson, Jr. says he is disappointed to see the board not move to save the sports programs. He says the district needed to realize they shouldn’t have hired dozens of support staff with COVID-19 relief funds, as those funds were a one-time revenue stream.
But one board member says the additional staff helped improve test scores in the district.
“With all those extra supports that were put in place because teachers could teach, and they had support but not only were the supports there for the teachers. The supports were there for the kids,” LeBlanc said.
The board approved the allocated budget in a bipartisan 7 to 2 vote.
The interim superintendent says the exact number of layoffs won’t be known until they get through seeing any potential resignations and early retirements in the district.
