Winslow Twp. school board to lay off 162

The Winslow Township school board, after listening to emotional pleas from workers hoping to save their jobs, voted Wednesday night to lay off 162 staff members, including 40 teachers.

"It is a sad irony we are discussing this during Teacher Appreciation Week," said Mary Grace, president of the Winslow Township Education Association, which represents teachers and most of the support staff.

Grace, who was one of about 500 people at the meeting, is among those on the layoff list.

About 260 employees of the Camden County district received notice this week of potential layoffs. Teachers must be told by May 15 whether the district plans to rehire them for the following school year.

In April, voters in the 6,000-student district rejected a $93 million budget, which included the layoffs. The township committee has until May 19 to decide whether to require cuts or to override voters and accept the budget as is.

In March, voters defeated a proposal to repair schools and build a new elementary school to accommodate enrollment growth. The 2009-10 budget includes money for roof repairs that was rejected in March, Superintendent H. Major Poteat said.

Neither the school board president nor township officials returned repeated calls seeking comment yesterday.

The layoff list includes teachers of basic skills, preschool, physical education, math, foreign language and special education, as well as 47 teaching assistants, 10 custodians, 11 hall monitors, eight clerk-typists, 11 breakfast aides, and 29 playground monitors, union officials said. The high school athletic trainer will become a part-timer.

"I don't know what they're going to replace them with," said Kathleen Laverty-Segrest, president of the Winslow Township Paraprofessionals Organization, which represents the lunch aides and clerk-typists. "Only eight of our members are full-time 12-month employees with benefits. I can't see how much their jobs could be saving."

More than 100 people - teachers, parents, retirees, and a third grader - beseeched the board to find other cuts to spare the jobs.

"We are in the business of children, and these drastic staffing cuts are not in the best interests of the children," said Cheryl Danner, a third-grade teacher at School 5.

Fourth-grade teacher Dreema Flinn, 24, was one of several Winslow graduates who praised the schools. "I work with the same educators who inspired me to become what I am today," she said.

Three middle school math teachers spoke from scripts prepared by the union. Half of that school's 12 math teachers will lose their jobs, Grace said.

The board's nine members listened without comment until adjourning into executive session at 10:15. They emerged for a vote about 11:45, Grace said.