Most districts eliminated teachers and freshmen sports teams, while some cut clubs and music programs. Class sizes will be larger in Syracuse schools.
Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School Principal Peter Smith greets students as they arrive on the first day of classes on Tuesday. Smith gives Tairei Johnson 10, a fifth grader from DeWitt, a high five.Syracuse, NY -- Teachers have lost jobs, schools have closed and some bus runs have been eliminated. Those are some of the changes that will affect students across Central New York as they return to school this week.
A majority of public school districts in Cayuga, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties — 26 — open today, half as many do Wednesday and a handful do Thursday and Friday.
Losses in state aid and county sales tax money, larger contributions to the employees’ retirement systems, higher health insurance costs and increased salaries and benefits prompted districts to make difficult cuts.
Most high schools in the region cut some of their freshmen sports teams to save money. Central Square cut all of its freshmen sports this year. Baldwinsville, like Liverpool and North Syracuse, cut all freshmen sports teams, except girls volleyball and boys football. Liverpool no longer will offer boys and girls varsity gymnastics teams.
“When you have to cut millions out of our budget, everyone has to cut,” Baldwinsville Athletic Director Bruce Quimby said. “There wasn’t an area that wasn’t affected.”
The Baldwinsville school district eliminated 90 teaching positions, which resulted in 29 layoffs. North Syracuse laid off about 60 employees and has more than 97 fewer positions this school year. The Syracuse City School District enters the new school year with its largest staff cuts in roughly 20 years — about 245 job cuts, resulting in 35 or so layoffs.
“You can’t cut classroom teachers and not look at your athletic programs and band or other extracurricular activities,” Quimby said. “We worked very hard to build these programs over the last 10 to 15 years and provide more opportunities to kids, and now we’re slowly reducing those opportunities. It’s a very difficult process.”
The Auburn school district consolidated modified-sports programs between its two middle schools, leaving students with nine fewer teams on which to compete. Auburn also cut a dozen teaching positions and $4,000 from its marching band budget.
View full sizeElmcrest Elementary School second grade teacher Amanda Nugent (right) talks with Kathy Krell, math resource teacher for kindergarten through sixth grade, Thursday as Nugent prepares her classroom for incoming students. It's Nugent's first year teaching at the school. With Wetzel Road Elementary School closing, the approximately 350 kids will be split between Elmcrest and Willow Field elementary schools.The North Syracuse Junior High Parade Band is gone. So is the North Syracuse Brass Ensemble. “Kids are going to have less opportunities to do the things they like because clubs, sports and music programs have been reduced,” said Wayne Bleau, assistant superintendent for management services for North Syracuse schools.
An early-reading program geared toward North Syracuse pupils in kindergarten through second grade was eliminated, said Stan Finkle, North Syracuse’s assistant superintendent for instruction. Class sizes districtwide also will grow.
Several districts in the eastern and southern suburbs cut some positions, including teaching jobs, but most were eliminated through attrition, reassignment or reductions from full time to part time.
Hannibal Superintendent Michael DiFabioworries what staffing cutbacks will mean to students. Some of the cuts to academic-intervention services and to a computer exploratory class at the middle school will hurt the kids, he said. “We’ve been keeping them active, which is key to keeping them in school,” DiFabio said. “I’m worried now we won’t keep their interest.”
In Syracuse, classes will be a little bigger, there will be 19 fewer academic coaches to help teachers teach better, many high school teachers will teach an extra class, and four elementary schools will have half-time vice principals, among other cuts.
Assistant Superintendent Chris Vogelsang said she hopes students don’t feel the cuts. But the loss is real, she said. “I know adults are going to feel it,” she said.
The district also closed Levy Middle School to save money. It is using the Levy building as the temporary home for the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central.
Liverpool also closed one of its schools. Most of the 359 students who formerly attended Wetzel Road Elementary School will be split between nearby Elmcrest and Willow Field elementary schools. However, class sizes won’t exceed 22 to 24 students and new classrooms have been created to accommodate the students from Wetzel, Superintendent Richard N. Johns said.
Liverpool schools cut about 130 positions, resulting in roughly 80 layoffs. The district also eliminated universal pre-kindergarten.
Both Liverpool and North Syracuse reduced bus runs. Starting today, Cicero-North Syracuse High School students will have to walk up to a half-mile to get home in the afternoons. Liverpool eliminated bus stops and rearranged routes. Under the new routing system, bus drivers no longer will travel through many cul-de-sacs and side roads. For some students this will mean a longer walk to school or designated bus stops.
“Fewer stops will shorten routes. And any time you can cut minutes off the bus run, that obviously saves the district money,” Johns said.
Staff writers Elizabeth Doran, Scott Rapp, Debra Groom, Maureen Nolan and Sarah Moses contributed to this article. Contact Catie O’Toole at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.