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Whitman-Hanson students stage walkout to protest job cuts
The Whitman-Hanson Regional School District is facing a budget deficit of about $1.39 million.
Students at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School staged a walkout Monday morning in protest after district officials announced that 23 staff members were being let go due to a major budget deficit.
News of the deficit has roiled the district, causing the Whitman-Hanson Education Association to issue a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Jeffrey Szymaniak. Community members packed a School Committee meeting on Nov. 5, which grew heated at times as officials were grilled about the deficit, the plans to cut staff, and a perceived lack of transparency.
The district has a budget deficit of about $1.39 million. At an earlier School Committee meeting, Szymaniak said that administrators were told about the deficit in mid-October. It was apparently identified by a third-party consultant after the district’s former business manager resigned earlier this year.
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Officials announced Sunday that reduction-in-force notifications were sent to five teachers, two long-term substitute teachers, 11 paraprofessionals, and five non-union staff members. These decisions were not based on performance, officials said.
Szymaniak addressed the “unprecedented” deficit at the School Committee meeting earlier this month and admitted that he did not monitor the district’s financial situation well enough.
The superintendent called the situation a “crisis,” and said that he should have been more communicative with the School Committee and the wider community. Szymaniak said he wants to redevelop trust with the community, and is working with state officials to address the deficit.
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“I hear the anger and disappointment, I feel that,” he said. “I became the superintendent to serve, to lead with honesty, integrity, and care for the people who make our schools what they are. And in this instance, I fell short of that standard.”
Kevin Kavka, president of the Whitman-Hanson Education Association said that Szymaniak and other leaders failed to communicate about the severity of the deficit and caused prolonged uncertainty for employees.
“Our educators have been forced to operate under conditions that undermine morale, disrupt planning, and threaten the future of high quality public education at Whitman-Hanson,” he said during the Nov. 5 meeting.
Hundreds of high school students walked out of class Monday, according to a report from NBC10 Boston. In an Instagram post before the protest, organizers called for administrators to find budget cuts without letting educators go and, if that could not be done, then the resignation of Szymaniak.
Ella Leach, a junior at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, told the station that she organized the walkout after learning that a staff member who helped her navigate a period of depression was being let go by the district.
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“If our upper administration cared that much, this would not have happened,” she told the other students, per NBC10.
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