Parents Think Teacher Furlough

LYNN - The 120-plus school department employees who received layoff notices last month should expect to have those notices rescinded within the next two weeks, Superintendent Catherine Latham said Tuesday.

Latham is working with the school law department this week to produce rescind notices for every employee facing layoffs and says she hopes to have a principals meeting - possibly as soon as Thursday - where she will pass those notices off to be hand-delivered to employees.

Due to a cut in the state budget that trickled down to individual cities and towns, the Lynn Public Schools faced a $1 million cut in the fiscal year 2009 budget heading into February. While administrators were able to cut that number in half with non-salary reductions, the remaining $500,000 was made up through staff layoffs throughout the department.

In an effort to reverse those layoffs, the Lynn Teachers Union voted to work one day without pay to make up the deficit, and administrators, clerks and independent workers quickly followed the union's lead, agreeing to do the same.

With a 6-1 vote by the School Committee Feb. 17, the unpaid work day was approved, effectively reversing all of the layoffs.

Latham and her staff have a strict time line to pass out the notices, which were given to employees Feb. 12, as the layoffs were scheduled to go into effect March 16 if the city's unions did not agree to work one day without pay to fill the gap in the budget.

"The rescind letters should go out this week, we are trying to get them printed out now for me to sign," said Latham. "I'm not sure exactly when they will go out, but it has to be soon because the date they go into effect was the 16th, and that is (just under two weeks) away."

Latham said the fiscal year 2009 budget is now in order for the fourth quarter and she is prepared to begin working with City Hall administrators and her own staff on the fiscal year 2010 budget.

LYNN - The Lynn School Department mailed, as well as delivered, approximately 120 layoff notices to teachers, clerks and aides Thursday morning as employees anxiously await the results of next Wednesday's School Committee vote which will determine if teachers and administrators can take a furlough day to save jobs.

As expected, Superintendent Catherine Latham met with principals Thursday morning to inform them of layoffs and changes at each school and to give them layoff and classroom closure notices to be hand-delivered to each employee.

Along with classroom and aide positions, layoffs could also affect libraries and librarians at some schools, including Classical High where the library remains closed due to construction.

While the Lynn Teachers Union joined clerks and administrators Wednesday in agreeing to work a day without pay to avoid the layoffs, the notices still had to be mailed out Thursday as that is the day Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. set as a deadline to inform employees their positions had been terminated.

Most, if not all of the layoffs would be rescinded if the School Committee votes to accept the furlough day at its meeting Wednesday. If the committee fails to support furlough, all layoff notices sent out Thursday will take effect March 16.

"The next step is the School Committee meeting, but I am very pleased to hear of the vote of the Lynn Teachers Union," said Latham. "There are approximately 120 layoffs that may happen (if the committee rejects the furlough day) but we also sent out many more letters because of seniority issues."

Teacher seniority is one of the many factors that make sweeping layoffs difficult, especially in a district as large as Lynn. As Latham explained Thursday, the first step in organizing layoffs is to determine which classrooms can be consolidated. For example, if one grade at one school has three classes of 20 students, those classes would be combined into two classes with 30 students each and one position would be eliminated.

The problems arise if that position is held by a teacher with a lot of seniority. Because of that seniority, that employee would not be laid off, but still receives a notice that the classroom is closed.

As a result, the department must then identify a teacher with less seniority or who is working without certification who would also receive a layoff notice, thus moving the teacher with seniority into a new position.

"We have sent out a lot of letters, some are layoffs, others are 'your position has been eliminated' letters," said Latham. "Every situation really is different at every school. We have to go down the list and see how many positions are gone. We have to cover all of our bases."

The layoffs are the result of a $500,000 cut in the salary line of the school department's budget, half of a $1 million overall cut in the education budget.

By teachers and administrators taking a furlough day, the department should be able to salvage those jobs for the remainder of the year and avoid moving students from classroom to classroom right before MCAS testing begins.

Latham was quick to point out the cuts being made for this year - fiscal year 2009 which runs through the end of June - are different than those made next year and some classrooms or programs that are cut at the end of this year may return next year, while other programs that remain through this year may be cut in 2010.

The fiscal year 2010 budget will be a challenge in its own right, as funding from the state is expected to be level at best as the cost of service continues to rise.

LYNN - The Lynn Teachers Union voted Wednesday in favor of working one day without pay in an effort to save the jobs of their colleagues.

In a vote taken at Lynn English High School nearly the entire group voted loudly in favor of taking a much-talked about day without pay to help spell a $500,000 cut in the teacher salary line in the fiscal year 2009 budget.

Facing a $2.7 million fourth-quarter cut in state aid from Gov. Deval Patrick, Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. has spread the reduction across every department in the city, shaving the school department budget by $1 million.

School Business Administrator Kevin McHugh has said he can cut half of that amount in non-salary reductions, but the other $500,000 would have had to come from laying off teachers, support staff and administrators.

Taking the day without pay was done under the condition that any member of the bargaining unit who retires through the Massachusetts Teacher's Retirement System or through the city's retirement system during or following the conclusion of either the '08-'09, '09-'10 or '10-'11 school years shall be reimbursed for the day without pay at the individual's '08-'09 daily pay rate.

In addition, the union voted that if funding from the federal stimulus package - believed to contain money for special education, Title 1 and school building repair in Lynn - equals or exceeds $500,000, then teachers will not take an unpaid day of work.

By approving the day without pay, the Teachers Union has taken the next step in avoiding layoffs across the department, but the vote does not necessarily make the idea a reality just yet.

The School Committee must still vote in favor of the unpaid day next Wednesday, a decision that is not a given as Clancy, who is committee chair, has been reluctant to accept this option if the teachers demand reimbursement for the day at the end of their contracts.

Clancy, vacationing in Ireland this week, was not available for comment Wednesday.

Because the School Committee was forced to delay its meeting, originally scheduled for Thursday night, to next Wednesday, layoff notices will still go out Thursday morning.

If the committee votes to accept the unpaid days next week, those layoff notices should be rescinded.

In addition to the teachers' decision, most other school department employees have also agreed to, or are preparing to vote on a unpaid day along with their colleagues from within the classroom.

In a vote Tuesday, department clerks agreed to take the day and administrators from throughout the district may soon follow.

While principals and high-level administrators such as Superintendent Catherine Latham and Deputy Superintendent Jaye Wary are not union employees, sources say that all independent workers have agreed to take the day as well in support of the teachers.

The Administrators Union, compiled of department heads, guidance councilors and curriculum employees will vote on the issue Thursday afternoon, and President David Hegan said early indications are that his membership is leaning toward voting in favor as well.

While the furlough days will save teachers and keep classrooms intact for the remainder of the school year, layoffs could still be on the horizon for next year, as administrators turn their attention to the fiscal year 2010 budget.

Gov. Deval Patrick has said he would keep funding for Chapter 70 education level next year, but the lack of revenue and increase in unemployment statewide could hurt funding in other areas, ultimately affecting the schools in Lynn.

LYNN - Members of the Lynn Teachers Union will meet today to discuss the possibility of taking one furlough day in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009 to save dozens of classroom teachers from being laid off.

Facing a $2.7 million fourth-quarter cut from Gov. Deval Pat-rick, Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. has spread the reduction across all city departments, reducing the city's education budget by $1 million.

While administrators have been able to shave that $1 million in half with non-salary reductions, they are still faced with a $500,000 hole in the budget that, unless city unions agree to a furlough day, will be closed with sweeping layoffs.

Teachers Union President Alice Gunning confirmed that members would meet today, but would not say if she expected the membership to vote at the meeting. Several other department sources have confirmed a vote will take place.

Even if the teachers vote to accept the furlough day, the idea must still gain approval from the School Committee. Clancy, the School Committee chairman, has made it abundantly clear he will only support the move if all unions in the city agree to it and if the city does not have to eventually pay back the free day.

"If people want to make sacrifices to save jobs that is up to them," Clancy said Tuesday. "I will go along with any idea that saves jobs and saves money, but it has to actually save money."

One hanging point is the idea the teachers want to be paid back for the day at the end of their contracts, a request Clancy has balked at.

Gunning returned from a conference in Texas last week with hope that President Barack Obama's federal stimulus package would provide funding for the Lynn Public Schools, and implied that if that happened, the union would expect payback.

"We are willing to work with the city, but if more money comes in we would expect the city to work with us," Gunning said Monday, declining to comment on the negotiations with Clancy further. "I don't want our members hurt and I don't want the kids hurt."

If the vote passes today, the issue will go before the School Committee for final approval next week.

The next scheduled committee meeting was to be held Thursday, but with Clancy and Committee member Vincent Spirito out of town, the committee has rescheduled the meeting for Wednesday, Feb. 18.

If the furlough day is defeated, the number of layoffs in the department could reach triple digits and include everyone from clerks and support staff to teachers and administrators.

Because of the delay in a School Committee vote, Superintendent Catherine Latham said Tuesday that layoff notices will go out Thursday regardless of the union vote, and if the School Committee eventually approves the furlough day, those layoffs could be rescinded.

Latham has called an emergency principals meeting for Thursday morning to discuss layoffs and said principals and administrators would personally deliver the notices along with mailing them to each employee's home.

The superintendent says she is still working with the union and principals to finalize the final list of layoffs, although some sources within the school department say that most principals and teachers have a good idea of who is being cut and how classrooms will be combined for the rest of the year.

The budget cuts have already forced the police department to pull School Resource Officers from the hallways of the city's secondary schools to spell overtime and avoid layoffs in that department, and a hiring freeze has left holes in several key administrative positions, including deputy superintendent, a position the department did not fill when Latham was promoted to superintendent.

In no uncertain terms, the layoffs would come at the worst possible time for the school department, as the day the changes go into effect, March 16, is right before students begin taking MCAS tests.

Gunning said Monday she hoped her membership and the city could come to a viable agreement if not just to save money, then to save the students from disruption.

"These kids only get an education one time, we can't keep bouncing them around," said Gunning. "It is right before MCAS; too, we can't be moving kids around right before that."

LYNN - Paul Fucaloro's three children attend the Sewell Anderson School and he does not want to see their teachers laid off to save the schools, and by extension, the city money.

Fucaloro supports an unpaid furlough option for teachers that could save 100 jobs. With the schools facing a $1 million potential reduction in spending, layoffs equal to or exceeding that number are looming unless other financial alternatives, including furloughs, are explored.

"I know people in the (school) system and they are fine with it," Fucaloro said.

Former City Councilor David Ellis' 8-year-old attends Sewell and Ellis said the school is already taking cost saving steps in preparation for system-wide spending cuts. He said pre-planning and long-term cost cutting could have spared schools from serious cuts.

The $1 million the schools potentially face losing is part of a $2.7 million cut in the city budget that must be made in reaction to reductions in state aid announced in late January by Gov. Deval Patrick.

School budget makers have not announced the actual savings derived from asking teachers to take a day without pay. Another spending reduction plan calls for cutting up to $500,000 from various education accounts without cutting salaries.

The furlough plan will need School Committee approval and Lynn Teachers Union members are reportedly scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday. Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. would like to see municipal unions act together on a single money saving proposal like furlough rather than acting separately.

City Councilor Paul Crowley proposed a furlough day last year for all municipal employees and estimated the across-the-board savings for city government and schools was $700,000. In 2003, school employees voted to take a one-day furlough to save 20 jobs placed on the chopping block by state local aid cuts. At the time the savings amounted to about $250,000.

Lynn Teachers Union Head Thinks School Funds are Coming from President Obama

LYNN - President Barack Obama's federal stimulus package could contain money earmarked specifically for the Lynn Public Schools' fiscal year 2009 budget, but it remains unknown how much of that money could be used to save teacher jobs.

The specifics of the proposed package are far from set, as the House and Senate continued to tear down and rebuild their versions of the plan over the weekend.

The Senate appears set to vote on an $827 billion plan today, but even if passed they would have to reconcile their version with that of the House before anything reaches the president's desk.

Regardless of when the stimulus package becomes reality, it appears likely the Lynn Public Schools will receive at least a small amount of relief from the federal government.

According to Teacher's Union President Alice Gunning, who spent part of last week at a conference in Texas where the stimulus package was a topic of conversation, one version of the plan would have provided approximately $13 million for the department in fiscal '09.

Gunning said Monday she was provided numbers from a version of the package proposed last week by the House that would have brought in money for special education, Title 1 and school building projects.

Although that specific package has since been cut by the Senate, Gunning says the initial plan to bring robust funding to Lynn offers hope the stimulus will ultimately improve a dire budget situation in the city.

"There is a lot still going on with the stimulus package. Those numbers were from the House package that went to the Senate. They (the Senate) did cut it and it will go back to the House," she said. "But even if they cut that funding in half, that's still $7.5 million so there is some money coming."

In addition to fiscal year 2009 funds, the proposed stimulus package could also offer support in FY 2010 budget in similar areas.

The funding that Gunning referred to was earmarked for specific non-salary areas of the fiscal year 2009 budget, meaning the department could not use it specifically to cover teacher salaries.

Still, a boost in funding, even if it is non-salary related, could help administrators save jobs if they are able manipulate other line items in the budget.

The proposed special education funding would come under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides resources for early intervention and special education funding for children.

Title 1 funding, while more of a broad-based initiative, is still specific in that it is intended for schools with high numbers of financially disadvantaged students. School districts can use Title 1 funds to begin targeted assistance programs for underperforming students and to fund other programs within the school that are intended "to upgrade the entire educational program of the school to raise the academic achievement of all students."

Although any financial relief discussed at this point is mere speculation until the federal government can come to an agreement on the stimulus package, Gunning reiterated that at a time when dozens of teachers are on the chopping block due to budget cuts, knowing that the stimulus package could provide relief to Lynn fosters some optimism in the Teacher's Union office.

"If they are talking about that kind of money (before the package was cut), there is some money that is coming," she said.