School board at Trinity makes cuts to programs
Trinity Area School Board voted 5-3 Thursday night to eliminate middle school and high school music and physical education positions to help deal with a $300,000 budget shortfall.
Two middle school physical education positions, a middle school music position and a high school music position were cut.
Before directors voted, several supporters of the district’s band and swim programs appealed to them not to cut the positions because of concerns about the impact the moves would have on the quality of the curriculum and student safety.
Superintendent Michael Lucas said no teachers will be furloughed because the job reductions will occur by attrition and teacher transfers.
“The important thing is that any kid who wants to take band, orchestra or chorus still has that same opportunity,” said Lucas.
The middle school physical education staff will be reduced from four teachers to two.
The middle school and high school each will have two music instructors, Lucas said. The music staff at the middle school will include one band teacher and one chorus/orchestra teacher. A high school music instructor will teach both band and chorus, and the other music instructor will teach orchestra.
Last month, the school board hired a band director.
During Thursday’s meeting, middle school Principal Peter Keruskin outlined the 2015-16 middle school program and said, as a result of the staffing changes, there currently are no plans to provide swimming instruction during the day at the middle school.
Additionally, seventh- and eighth-grade band and choruses will be combined. General music will be offered in grades 6 and 8.
Lucas said the district is exploring options to offer swim classes after school or on weekends, with the school district looking to absorb some or all of the cost.
The board also did not rule out the possibility a viable option for providing swimming during the day can be worked out.
Middle school teacher Kathy Margaria said she doesn’t believe the student enrollment drop of 22 percent justifies cutting the physical education staff in half. She stressed the importance of swimming lessons and said the gymnasium is too small to accommodate the number of students who will be in gym classes.
“For 43 years, students have been taught swim lessons and water safety. That’s roughly 15,000 people in Washington County who learned how to swim and learned water safety. It’s a lifetime skill all people need to learn,” said Margaria.
Trinity resident Katie Harvey, whose son is a member of the high school swimming team, asked the board not to eliminate the phys ed positions.
“My son wears his Trinity swim shirt with pride,” Harvey said. “He’s gone to WPIALs for Trinity, and he’s gone to districts and states for the (YMCA), and it’s all because of the middle school program. Please think about what you’re doing.”
Board president Jennifer Morgan read a statement regarding the district’s decision to address staffing at the middle school.
She said the board found itself facing a $300,000 deficit despite receiving a tax exemption for 2015-16 that will result in a 4.7-mill tax increase, restructuring the district’s long-term debt, and working to decrease costs, particularly in the area of personnel.
“Last year at this time when we were in the budget process, we tried to give ourselves a year to fully understand where we stood financially. It also gave us time to review staffing, class sizes, programming and the wants and needs of our district. Every attempt has been made to retain as much of our quality programming as possible. During this review, as was discussed in the Education and Finance committees, it became apparent that staffing at the middle school did not reflect the decrease in enrollment in that building and that that situation needed to be addressed,” Morgan said. “Change is never easy and, if we were not in the financial situation we currently find ourselves, we would not be having these discussions. By careful planning and spending our goal is to continue to provide a quality educational experience for all Trinity students and restore the district to a solid financial base.”
Paul Coatsworth, vice president of the Band Parent Association, said the board’s decision “undermines what a school should do.”
“We’re going to raise taxes, but not serve the students. To us, it’s unconscionable,” said Coatsworth.
Voting in favor of the motion were directors Thomas Durbin, Frances Eates, Kerrin McIlvaine, Jennifer Morgan and Edmund Trapuzzano. Opposed were Frank Golsky, Penny Caleffe and Sean Dobich.