Expanded story: Spring-Ford School District To Cut 55 Positions, Curtail Multiple Programs

The Spring Ford Area School District board voted Monday night to eliminate 55 positions within the district and make cuts to several educational programs in order to narrow a projected $11.8 million deficit in its 2011-12 operating budget.

The positions being cut include 24 custodians, 30 instructional assistants, and one technology support assistant. Dr. Leslie Morrill, the principal of Spring City Elementary School, will have her work schedule reduced to two and a half days a week and will no longer be responsible for staff development. The district will also reduce teaching positions in the environmental education, family and consumer science, 8th grade art, and literacy and math coaching programs.

Superintendent Dr. Marsha Hurda said that none of the people whose jobs are being eliminated are being terminated for performance reasons and that the program cuts are intended to reduce the number of teachers in those programs rather than eliminate the programs themselves. As an example, Hurda cited the 8th grade art program, which currently employs two teachers and will lose one of those two positions as a result of the cuts.

The board meeting was attended by about 200 members of the public, many of whom expressed concern over the reductions in staff and programs. Other matters raised by attendees during the public comment portion of the meeting included current faculty salaries, the continuing prospect of increased property taxes, and the district's tax assessment dispute with GlaxoSmithKline.

The evening's first piece of business was a motion to separate the section of the agenda listing the terminated employees. Board member Thomas DiBello made the motion, but it failed to pass. DiBello later said he opposed voting on the terminations during the meeting because he hoped to have more time to explore other options.

The meeting agenda was preceded by a prolonged period of public comment.

“55 names will be directly affected by the board’s votes tonight, and I find that extremely troubling,” said Kathleen Bryant of Upper Providence.

Jennifer Reardon of Spring City expressed her concern with Morrill's demotion. Dr. Hurda explained that Morrill's "demotion" is actually a reduction in work hours and not a loss of her position. She also explained that the district is working on a plan to make sure that Spring City Elementary School has a principal in the school on the days that Morrill isn't there.

More than one area resident expressed dismay at the reductions in programs like art, environmental education, coaching, and family and consumer science. Reardon commented that the district should keep those programs and find other things to cut, and that "program cuts should be our last resort, not a first resort."

Several residents expressed frustration with the prospect of increased property taxes.

School board president Joseph Ciresi said that the board has been working "very hard" to see "all sides" of the budget issue.

"Please don't come to the mike and tell us we haven't looked at this and we haven't tried," Ciresi said.

Ciresi said the school board has appealed to lawmakers and that the board needs everyone with them in Washington and Harrisburg. He called upon district residents to print out and complete a form letter to state legislators that's available on the district web site.  The letter asks legislators to "take action to limit the impact of unfunded or underfunded mandates," to "take action to overhaul the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System," and to "do what you can to preserve the basic education subsidy."

Also mentioned by multiple residents was the issue of salaries in the district. District business manager Tim Anspach, in response to a question, stated that the total amount of money spent on salaries and benefits in the district is $80 million. One resident, speaking directly to Superintendent Hurda, said she was disappointed to hear that Dr. Hurda accepted a raise last year. Dr. Hurda said, in response, that she “gave it [the increase] back,” drawing applause from the crowd.

Alan Schultz, a custodian whose name is on the elimination list, asked why the people being let go couldn’t move into other support positions. Human Resources Director Elizabeth Leiss said that most support positions require specialized training, so it is difficult to move people between positions. Mr. Schultz also asked about sick days for the custodians being let go; when members of the board said this wasn’t the forum for those question, several audience members shouted “Let him talk!” Mr. Schultz asked his question and was advised by Dr. Hurda that the district is working on a plan to make sure the staff is treated fairly and that they should hear from the administration in "a couple of weeks."

Just before the close of the comment session, Upper Providence resident Brian Ewing questioned the board’s reasons for outsourcing custodial work to Philadelphia-based Jani-King, Inc. when custodians are being let go. The district will realize approximately $1 million in savings by cutting those jobs but will pay about $800,000 to Jani-King. Mr. Ewing said, “Why are we paying an outside company, a Philadelphia company, $800,000 and laying off members of our community? That $800,000 could be spent in our district and on our kids.” Board member Bernard Pettit made a motion to table the outsourcing issue until the next week in hopes of finding some other more cost-effective solutions, and the motion passed 5-3.

In other school board business:

• Delving into the agenda’s business items, the Curriculum Committee reported that they have reduced the amount being spent on new textbooks in this year’s budget. The committee determined that the most dire need for textbooks was for algebra classes, so the reduction in expenditures will affect all textbooks except for algebra. The committee also reported that they have teachers who are writing instructional templates for Spring-Ford to have its own “cyber-school”, where students do high school coursework online. The committee said that students who attend Spring-Ford’s online high school will receive a Spring-Ford diploma, and that having its own online school would cost the district less than sending students to other cyber-schools.
• The Extracurricular Committee reported that they are exploring options for charging fees for students to participate in extracurricular activities. This “pay-to-play” model is not common in other districts, but would help offset the costs of the activities for the district.
• The Property Committee announced that the district is closer to a solution to the drainage problem at the Western Center for Technical Studies at Sunset and Graterford Roads, and the problem should be corrected by May 2011.
• Motions were passed to accept almost all the independent contracts outlined in the agenda, with the exception of the section awarding the custodial contract to Jani-King, Inc. All recommendations by the administration in regards to programs and curriculum also passed without comment, as did most of the recommendations regarding district properties.
• An agenda item to resurface the tennis courts at the Grade 10-12 center generated a number of public comments. Several attendees questioned the need for new tennis courts in the current economic climate, with one speaker describing the project as “grandiose." Athletic Director Mickey McDaniel said that while new tennis courts will cost $138,000 this year, the cost to continue patching and repairing them would be much higher, probably between $300,000 and $400,000. The recommendation to resurface the courts passed.
• At the start of the open public comment session, DiBello announced that Senate Bill 1 (SB1), a bill on vouchers for school choice, which would allow residents more discretion as to where their child attends school, will most likely be coming up for a vote next week. DiBello said that while he supports school choice, he wanted the public to understand that it is the taxpayers who will be paying the cost.
• Ciresi expressed appreciation for the number of community members who attended the meeting, and said that he hoped the high attendance would continue.