School Committee Weighs Budget Cuts, Teacher Layoffs, and August Town Meeting-July 28, 1977

⠀

Without a signed contract, the School Committee could not hire new teachers, and the jobs of at least six teachers hung in the balance if the full $375,000 cut in teaching salaries voted by town meeting should ultimately stand. The committee was also considering not replacing an art teacher and a reading teacher whose combined salaries were $33,559. Other teachers in these specialized fields might be reassigned to compensate for the resulting workload. Further savings could be realized by eliminating workmen’s compensation, which would total $17,662.

The proposal was taken under advisement, with the possibility that some items might not show up to do town meeting business in late August. Several committee members grew testy and engaged in verbal outbursts during the debate of these frustrating financial issues. Pentowski warned that the more the committee was divided, the less its quorum would be in addressing teaching salaries under the budget reduction. The breakdown of the $255,089 budget reduction included $30,000 for tutors and substitutes; $8,000 for adult education, eliminating all but the Americanization portion of this program; and $800 from driver education.

A teacher under contract now for September classes could sue successfully for a full year’s pay if he was laid off now, Coakley explained. The solid argument for such a teacher’s lawsuit would be the teaching organization plan voted by the School Committee on March 25 when there has been no substantial change in enrollments in the interval, Coakley explained. Eliminating a position and even providing the thirty-day notice requirement of termination would not be adequate justification, he said.

The school budget town meeting was slated for August 28 instead of a week earlier as selectmen had ordered. The one-week change was recommended after a discussion between Town Clerk Bartley W. Connolly and Selectmen’s Clerk Ruth I. McCann regarding the necessary time needed for printing and advertising a warrant of articles once signed.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger