Students in Enfield headed back into the classroom on Thursday, and while families were excited to start a new year, teachers this year will have to do more with less.
In the spring, there were multiple rallies as teachers tried to convince the town council to approve additional funding for the board of education. The board denied that request and as a result, the district was able to call back tenured staff, but 44 staff members lost their jobs, according to Emily Hulevitch, a teacher in Enfield and the local union president.
Those cuts have led to teachers switching to different positions or facing larger class sizes.
“We've never been through cuts like this. We've never faced a budget this dire and sparse,” Hulevitch said.
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Hulevitch was one of nine computer science teachers at the elementary level. The board of education eliminated six of those positions. Hulevitch was moved to a fifth-grade classroom with 28 students and that teacher lost her job.
“We do feel defeated. I know morale is extremely low. You're facing a lot of unknowns. We have a new superintendent. We're going to have a new HR director. You're facing the biggest class sizes we've seen in a very long time. We've lost our friends, our colleagues, confidants, and it's overwhelming. It's scary,” said Hulevitch.
The union has been working to get the teachers unemployment assistance and the central office staff has been "amazing" at trying to get the teachers jobs in other school districts, according to Hulevitch.
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But this is what ‘living within their means looks like,’ a phrase Mayor Ken Nelson used frequently when he supported the cuts with other Republican town council members in May.
Nelson said he stands by the decision and he had to look out for the taxpayers in Enfield.
“The taxpayers of Connecticut have had enough, and, you know, it's time they get a break. Do I like what we had to do? Absolutely not. Would I like to fund the board of education, everything they needed, of course, and I believe every single other councilor would feel the same way. But it's just not reality. We could have the best education in the country, but if residents can't afford to live in the town, how does it benefit them?” said Mayor Nelson.
The town council already covered the costs that the board of education overspent, as well as funded teacher obligations. The town also took over the costs for the school security.
The plan moving forward is for the town council and board of education to each be audited, to see where money could be better spent, according to the mayor.
