MCSSuper Talks To Each School About Staff Cuts

MASSENA - Massena Central School's superintendent has been visiting each school over the past week-and-a-half to talk with staff about a budget that includes the possibility of eliminating 20 to 40 positions.

But, Roger B. Clough II said, none of those positions have been positively identified yet by the district's finance committee.

"They were aware of the positions. They haven't been finalized. Those are the decisions they're going to have to make. I'll recommend to them and they'll have to decide," Mr. Clough said.

Officials are looking at between 20 and 40 personnel cuts, along with reductions in overtime, substitutes and tutors to pare down what currently stands as a 22.99 percent tax levy increase in their draft 2010-11 spending plan.

The current tax rate is $18.80 per $1,000 of assessed value, and every 1 percent increase in the tax levy raises $147,000.

Mr. Clough said they would face a shortfall of $3.38 million if they left the budget as is with no cuts or additions to programs or personnel.

As a result, he has been meeting with staff members at each of the district's schools, starting last week with Massena Central High School and finishing this week at Nightengale Elementary School.

"It's been more like town hall meetings," Mr. Clough said.

During those meetings, he has shown them the budget presentation as well as talked about capital projects in the district, how they started and explained why that money cannot be used for the general fund to help make up some of the revenue.

Mr. Clough said they have also talked about enrollment at each school. Because of the district's Universal Pre-Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten programs, he said the elementary enrollment numbers were up, while other schools were down.

"I explained we don't have the student population to keep teaching assignments," the superintendent said. "There are a lot of questions. People have concerns."

Because of contractual issues, the list of those who might be cut has not been finalized yet, Mr. Clough said.

"I would like to talk with them as soon as possible," he said.

They're also awaiting a retirement list to indicate who will be retiring and not replaced. Mr. Clough said at this point he believes nine teachers will be retiring, and their positions will remain unfilled.

"We had a couple extra people who said they were going to retire, so that's two less jobs we have to lay off," he said.

The end result will be that the J.W. Leary Junior High will going from five teams of students to four teams, and some teachers at the high school would begin teaching six classes.

Mr. Clough said the high school student population "has dropped dramatically" because of BOCES, which involves 100 students in the morning and afternoon programs, and self-contained classrooms, which involve 30 to 40 students.

That, he said, leaves the student population just under 700. But the cuts will still mean larger class sizes, he said.

While Mr. Clough said he wants to spare programs from the budget cuts, they are looking at eliminating some athletic programs that don't have the student numbers to support their continuation. One of the programs that is definitely on the cutting block, he said, is junior varsity lacrosse.

"I'm waiting for recommendations from (Athletic Director) Tim Hayes. There's not too many of those; I think we're looking at four. I'll probably have a recommendation for two of those sports. I will do a tentative list and talk with them. We'll save on transportation and the payment for the coach," Mr. Clough said.

They are not, however, touching any education programs, he said. But it could involve using anywhere between $1 million to $1.7 million from their fund balance.

"We'll be able to weather the storm. We're already looking at 2011-2012 because everybody's telling us it's going to be worse," Mr. Clough said.

The district's finance committee is scheduled to meet March 23, and school board members will review the spending plan on March 25. They need to approve it on April 19 and hold a public hearing on May 6. The annual budget vote is on May 18.