Keystone Central School Board Approves 34 Teacher Furloughs/Terminations

FARWELL – 34 Keystone Central School District teachers will be out of a job at the end of the current school year.

With no previous warning, the school district moved within a handful of hours Thursday afternoon to notify the ousted teachers, followed by school board concurrence at a meeting Thursday night at Bucktail High School. The vote was 7-2 in support of the furlough/termination resolutions.

The district action is part of Keystone Central’s plan to eliminate a multi-million dollar deficit for the next school year. It follows a teacher union membership decision last week to reject a pay freeze which was to prevent any teacher furloughs.

Acting superintendent Dr. Al Lonoconus made a power-point presentation detailing the district’s legal justification in approving the terminations. He said the district has seen a 10.2 percent enrollment drop over the last six years and said the district has the discretion to take the action it did Thursday.

The previously unannounced district process began Thursday afternoon. The district administration sent out word of the pending furloughs by email to district schools and individual school principals were to personally inform those to be terminated. It is understood a meeting for those affected was held after school. Therecord-online was told teachers were shedding tears at both the Central Mountain High School and Middle School.

A number of board members commented before their votes, lamenting the choice they had to make. Two board members, Jennifer Bottorf and Wayne Koch, voted against the resolution; they received applause from many pro-teacher/student audience members.

Lonoconus later said the district is “still running the numbers” on the prospective savings from the cutback in teachers. He estimated the savings at $2 million. Earlier the district had projected savings of $1.6 million had the teachers agreed to a freeze.

The staff reductions were based on seniority. Those from the audience who spoke opposed the cuts, including Sara Strouse, a social studies teacher and parent. She said taking teachers away “only hurts our students.” A mother and daughter received applause when they supported the teachers. Cassidy Martin, a sixth-grader at the Central Mountain Middle School, said there is not sufficient room in her classes now and said it was “terrible” that the district is looking at cutting back on music and art. Her mother Jody said by eliminating teachers, students will be leaving, “We’re doing something wrong.” She said Keystone Central needs an environment that “parents will want to keep their children here.”

The board took no action on next year’s budget, opting instead to schedule a special meeting for Wednesday, May 23 at Central Mountain High School for a vote on a proposed document.

The board did approve coaches for sports this fall. They include the return of Jim Renninger as Central Mountain football coach. He had not been rehired in April but team members came to his support at a board meeting last week, he interviewed earlier this week, and was rehired on Thursday.