Parents and Teachers React to Education Budget Cuts

Speakers kept their cool but spoke from the heart about how the proposed budget cuts would effect the children.

“I am concerned about the French language cuts in the middle school,” said Deborah Habshey, mother. “It seems every time my son is in a program that he loves, the program gets cut. The language will help through college and beyond. He loves the language, I am here to stick up for him.”

“I never thought I would like it but I have learned a lot,” said John Bartimoccia, an eighth grader at Rogers Park. “I love my teachers, I love the culture, and now I am in Spanish 2. I think it is really important, because our society is evolving into different languages and culture. It is a really important asset, not just to us, but to every one in the Danbury.”

Teacher and parent of first and sixth graders, Lisa McCarthy insisted that middle school language just cannot be cut. “Cutting any time in world language will hurt their English. Our students cannot compete without a foreign language. The younger they are, the better their language skills will be all around. They need these skills to prepare to compete in the world.”

“We could possibly work out french for eigth grade,” said School Superintendent Sal Pascarella.

 Losing full day kindergarten was said to be tragic by everyone including the parents, administration and board.

“I have three children in school, my last one is going into Kindergarten,” said one speaker. I am wondering if I have to pull her out of the program, jobs can only be so flexible. I have to work full time, now I may have to pull her out of the public schools, which may effect funding because funding is done by head count.”

 “I can tell right away who was in full day and who was in half day,” said Mrs Petrocelli, a first grade teacher at Shelter Rock Elementary School. “The kids from full day are not tired, they are prepared, they can read. Half day kids can hardly read and hardly write and they are falling asleep. I have to insist as a first grade teacher that full day kindergarten be maintained. Second, I have a special education student at Broadview and she is doing very well. My fear is that when she gets to high school she will be on her own. If we are abandoning the positions and money for special ed, that's the last place you need to look.”

 “I wanted to talk about uniforms,” said Wendy Gersten, a parent of a middle school child. “How will a school with so many students on reduced lunch provide uniforms for those who can't afford it? Will we have to clothe half the school?”

 According to Schools Superintendent Dr. Sal Pascarella, the middle schools do not yet have a policy or regulations about the uniforms. “That is a conversation and has not gotten to that level requiring anything at this point,” he said.

Some of the cuts seemed impossible to absorb. “When I look at the amount of students and look at $50,000.00 for text books, that is just nothing,” said Joe Taborsak, member of the board of education. “The high school has increased enrollment in AP classes, but so much of the students success in those classes depends on guidance and we are reducing guidance. These are the things that concern me most.”

 Jim Maloney, who has been integral in the success of Head Start, said he had a long relationship with the schools, and was the first of several speakers to thank the administration and the board for the hard job they have been faced with. “Thank you for doing the work you have done. As a way of saying thanks, you proposed a good budget that met the needs of the kids and schools. The million you got isn't enough. We have to make sure the needs of kids met by Danbury schools.”

 There was a discussion about how these cuts were on the tail of last years cuts, and it all did not bode well for the future.

 “We had anticipated the bad news,” said Richard Jannelli, Vice-Chair of the Board of Education. “I can't predict when the economy will turn around. Our budget will escalate 3 million, and if the city does not come out of this, we are looking at the loss of $3 million for the next two years. What are we chiseling away? What we are doing right now is band aiding, but it is more drastic when we look ahead. When is it going to turn around? And what is it going to cost us, what will we have lost?”

 “This is not what we want to do,” said Superintendent Sal Pascarella. “But one thing we said straight up, we have to look at non-mandated programs.”

 A presentation by Dr. William Glass, Deputy Superintendent of Danbury Schools, showed that cuts were based upon discretionary income which only amounted to only 2.5% of the entire education budget.

Pascarella talked about the kinds of programs that were not mandated by the state for graduation. “You don't have to have Kindergarten, world language, home ec is not mandated. You don't have to have nurses or media people. Still, students have to take electives to graduate, so low attended electives may have to go.”

“I think that what you are talking about,” said Glass, “are the eleven mandated areas, like art, music, and so forth. In the extreme, you could have an art program that meets once a month for 30 minutes and that would meet the letter of the law. We are already at the point where everything we have is mandated by state law.”

Richard Jannelli asked if he could obtain a list of items that would be considered discretionary. “I want to be in a position to see what is on the plate, what the fringes are. I certainly wouldn't make a decision without your professional opinion but I would ask what the impact is, like the gifted program. If you can provide a list, maybe we can salvage some personnel.”

 “We have been given an almost impossible task,” said Glass. “We have tried our best, we worked nights and weekends on this, tried to keep our core intact. In adhering to our contracts, we are all taking zeros, we recognize these are tough times, but this is what we do in times like this.”

"I certainly feel that this board and the superintendents have put in a lot of effort to bring something to the table. I have sat on this board for 20years we are not going to be giving our children a quality education," said Gladys Cooper.

“We are reaching out to the community, the business leaders and thinking outside the box to look for funding,” said Janelli. “We are looking at other districts to share some services, but from those who need help to those who are gifted, somebody along the way someone is going to be hurt.”

 “In closing this is horrific. This board does not want to do this, but unless we receive more funds from the city, these are not required programs,” said Pascarella. “There are students without materials, and we want to thank parents and teachers for buying materials.”