East Orange School District holds town hall after outrage, teacher protests over staffing cuts
East Orange School District will operate on a half-day of classes again Friday
EAST ORANGE, New Jersey (WABC) -- The East Orange School District will operate on a half-day of classes again Friday, after a shortened school day on Thursday.
It comes after nearly 100 staff layoffs were announced. The school district then held a town hall to address the sudden shortened school day on Thursday after teachers called out sick in protest along with an explanation of sudden job cuts.
Parents were forced to scramble to find care for students after the district suddenly called for the shortened day when too many teachers called out sick in protest.
Angry parents and teachers sounded off in East Orange, New Jersey, where a school board voted Wednesday night to make significant cuts.
The board of education meeting ended with a vote to eliminate nearly a hundred school staff positions.
The decision was a huge blow to students, parents and school staff members within the East Orange School District.
That decision, led to dozens of teachers calling out sick on Thursday, forcing the district to move to half a day on short notice.
"A hiring freeze was put into place right after you were hired, July 1st. Why was then I hired coming from another district, I hired to be then let go when I could've been somewhere else?" said laid-off teacher Allison Tilley.
Christopher Irving, School Superintendent replied, "You shouldn't have been hired. Those positions shouldn't have been posted. And I wanna tell you, and it may not mean anything in this moment, but I apologize and I am sorry. I am deeply sorry.
On Thursday the district held a town hall to address concerns and outrage from parents and teachers.
"My son is currently in the first grade, and he currently does not have a teacher. He's working off a substitute teacher, he gets split up once a week. The child is not learning anything," said parent Sascha Singh.
The bottom line, according to the superintendent, is without more money, 93 school staff positions will go into effect on December 15th.
The district has a budget gap of $8 million, a number the board says it was unaware of before this year.
East Orange School District Superintendent Christopher Irving said the board made a mistake and counted on additional state funding that never arrived.
"Around us, Newark received 100 million, and our colleagues in Irvington and Orange received almost 15-30 million respectively. And we got $200,000. And for us we know that's unfair," Irving said.
Without voting for the cuts last night, Irving said the district will not make payroll in May and June, which will lead to a State takeover.
The board says it made the decision to avoid a state takeover, and that if a state monitor steps in, it can cut more positions and raise taxes without City Council approval.
"When I walked into this position, we were already short almost $5 million," said East Orange School District Superintendent Christopher Irving. "If we don't do something, the state will step in."
"We heard a lot about the state takeover. I want to know what that looks like other than what scares everyone, the thing that scares everyone other than they're going to raise taxes," a resident in response said.
"We don't want the state to come in and take over. We can handle our own matters. One good thing is we did get a call from the governor's office today asking where can they help. So hopefully that's a good sign," said Mayor Ted Green.
The mayor says he's hoping that help comes in the form of funding.
Some parents and teachers say, if they're facing cuts anyway, maybe their schools are better off in the state's hands.
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