GRANBY — A potential budget shortfall of more than $800,000 for the School Department that would eliminate the equivalent of 12.4 full-time jobs is causing an uproar among students, educators and parents.
An estimated 300 students walked out of Granby Junior/Senior High School on Monday to protest the proposed budget cuts, and another demonstration is planned at the school Thursday afternoon.
School administrators are considering eliminating an elementary school principal, at least five teachers, and coaches for middle school sports. The Grade 4 instrumental music program would also be lost.
Superintendent Sheryl Stanton said Monday night before a School Committee meeting, that the potential staff reductions could result in increased class sizes in some elementary grades from 20 to 26 students. They would also reduce the number of course offerings in the middle and high schools, and eliminate innovative programs and hoped-for curriculum improvements.
The cuts currently being considered represent a 16 percent overall reduction in staff, Stanton said.
Andrew Paquette, president of The Management Solution in Auburn, and a consultant to the School Department, said a level-funded budget for the schools for next year would total $9.3 million. However, the Finance Committee is recommending a school budget of $8.5 million.
The budget will be voted on when the annual Town Meeting resumes Monday at the Junior/Senior High School.
The School Committee’s proposed budget is $275,000 more than what the finance committee has recommended. School Committee Chairman Emre Evren said it is up to residents to make motions at Town Meeting to add money that would save some of the jobs and programs that otherwise would be eliminated.
Evren said the school board already has decided to forgo a hoped-for $124,000 improvement to the technological infrastructure of the schools, which would have included faster internet connections, Cloudbook computers and a support staff position.
Proposed staff cuts include an elementary school principal, a head teacher, one teacher each in grades 2, 3 and 4, and one high school English teacher. That would result in larger class sizes and fewer electives, and eliminate some proposed Advanced Placement courses.
The schools would also eliminate coaches for middle school sports and buses for middle school sporting events.
Evren said the administrations’s priorities if additional money is appropriated by Town Meeting would include avoiding cuts to middle school mathematics, high school social studies, elementary instrumental and choral music, elementary school physical education, and junior and senior high school special education.
High school junior Autumn Dewberry organized Monday’s walkout by students during which they stood along Route 202 in front of the school holding signs.
She addressed the School Committee Monday night, calling the proposed cuts “crushing” and demoralizing. “These teachers have been here long enough to have practically raised us,” she said. “They have taught us how to be a person.”
Dewberry said she started the protest by creating a petition on the Website www.change.org, which is still collecting names. She estimated that 300 students participated in Monday’s walkout.
Stanton praised the walkout saying, “The students showed their passion and concern about the schools. They are passionate about the quality of the education the schools provide.”
She said she was pleased by how “respectful” the students were as they “exercised their right to civil disobedience within an appropriate structure.”
The students were outside for about an hour, according to Stanton, and then “they returned to class, which we appreciated.”
Evren also said he was impressed by the way the students handle themselves. “It was appreciated by everyone that they had the courage to do what they did,” he said.
A second protest, organized by community member Sharon Bail, is planned for 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday in front of the school. She expects students, former students, parents and other residents to participate.
Bail said the message is that “the state needs to help us out. They need to increase funding not just for us but for everybody.”
Bail said the state keeps mandating that the schools provide more services for students but does not provide the funds to help small communities meet those needs.
She said Granby lost a major source of revenue when it closed a garbage dump a few years ago and that property taxes are not able to keep up with educational needs. “As a town we have pretty much exhausted our resources,” she said.
Kristen Naglieri, the president of the union representing school employees, also addressed the School Committee, complaining that administrators pulled some teachers out of their classrooms while they were teaching to have them sign for pink slips informing them that their jobs might be eliminated or reduced next year.
“We were really saddened by this, it’s really sad,” she said, adding that it happened twice even though she received assurances that it would not occur again after the first time.
Evren apologized on behalf of the administration, vowing that it would not happen again.
Christina Weatherbee also addressed the School Committee and said she is on the verge of pulling her children out of the school. “Every year the budget gets worse and worse (and now) they are talking about cutting sports and music,” she said. “Kids are dropping out and they are doing it because parents are frustrated.”
In an interview after the meeting, Weatherbee said she is thinking about applying to Belchertown and South Hadley to send her children there through school choice.
Eric Goldscheider can be reached at eric.goldscheider@gmail.com.