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Talk of Cutting School Jobs Strains Relations; Marshfield Teacher Union President, Superintendent Spar

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

The Patriot Ledger

MARSHFIELD - The Marshfield teachers' union and school officials are at odds over possible job cuts.

During a school committee meeting this week, union president Sally Marples and School Superintendent Thomas Kelley engaged in a tense exchange about the issue. Union leadership is upset that employees whose jobs or stipends might be cut have received letters warning them of the possibility. Marples said the school department should have consulted with her union first.

Kelley said union leadership has created a "misperception" about what is happening with possible job cuts. The letters were mandated by state law, he said. He said any staff members who are worried about their jobs should come talk to him about it. However, he said union leadership has advised staff not to do that.

"We consulted with the Massachusetts Teachers Association," Marples said. "Never before have people been required to come and beg for their jobs. It is destructive to morale and it's something we're not going to do."

"The characterization of begging for jobs is demeaning," Kelley said. "That's not the case. If you want to follow the MTA blindly, go ahead."

"I don't blindly follow the MTA, but I do pay attention to them because they've dealt with this in many communities," Marples said.

The confrontation was prompted by the school committee's deliberations over how to eliminate $371,000 in salaries from next year's budget.

About five full-time teaching positions are targeted for elimination, but school officials believe most of those will be through attrition rather than layoffs.

The union doesn't object to savings through attrition. Rather, it wants the school department to avoid laying off people and cutting the stipends it pays to teachers who perform extra duties. Cuts under consideration to which the union objects include $18,000 paid to five teachers who serve as academic department coordinators at Furnace Brook Middle School and $8,000 paid to a teacher who serves as the school department's director of physical education. Also facing the axe are several part-time tutors, a library worker at Martinson Elementary School, a kindergarten aide at South River School, and a custodian who splits his time between the high school and Furnace Brook Middle School.

Marples said cutting the library job at Martinson would force that school's library to close.

She said officials could avoid some of these cuts by leaving the position of director of elementary curriculum unfilled. Jerry Morris is retiring from that position this summer. School committee members say they want to hire a replacement for Morris. Marples said the school department should also consider imposing user fees for extracurricular activities and sports.

The school committee made no decisions on job cuts this week.

Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Robert Moriarty said the amount of money the department will save next year in attrition is continuing to grow. He said an unusually high number of staff is resigning, retiring or taking maternity leave.

He projected that the department would save more than $100,000 through attrition.

"There is an excellent chance that number will continue to grow as we continue to replace people leaving the system," he said. "My opinion is that you continue to stay the course, let time and process take place. Wait until we have more information. You don't need to make these decisions today."

Shamus McGillicuddy may be reached at smcgillicuddy@ledger.com.

Source: Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.

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