Englewood AD Not Among Eight Dismissed By School Board

The Englewood Public School District Board of Education voted Thursday to eliminate seven positions and not to renew one. But the board did not get enough votes on the non-renewal of the district’s athletic director, who many feared would also go in the latest round of layoffs.

With five votes needed dismiss Yvonne Sheard, who has served as AD since 2009, and two members not in attendance Thursday, the board could only gather three votes on her non-renewal.

The board did however eliminate the positions of middle school Language Arts and Literacy teacher Virginia Wolfe, school security resources officer Madei Williams, social workers Cecilia Ruiz and Alison Matos, healthcare assistant Nina Herndon, licensed practical nurse Stephanie Gordon and grants administrator Catherine DiFalco and voted not to renew middle school Math teacher Roselyn Prettypaul for the 2012-2013 school year.

Anita Shemish of the Englewood Teachers Association said those staff members who lost their jobs Thursday were being treated “disrespectfully,” especially with the start of the new school year getting so close.

“It tarnishes the reputation of the entire district and, by extension, the community,” Shemish said. “To eliminate positions of professionals at this late date when they might otherwise have spent the last two months looking for another position is shameful.”

She added, “This reflects a decision-making process that is not functioning.”

The school board voted to eliminate the positions of almost 100 teaching assistants, aides and secretaries, NorthJersey.com reported, citing a $4 million projected shortfall in the budget this year, which officials have blamed on cuts in aid from the state and federal government as well as New Jersey’s property tax increase cap.

But Shemish said the district is experiencing what she called “the negative repercussions of forced cuts in reaction to a financial crisis that could have been avoided.”

School officials earlier in the year cut nine teaching positions instead of the 27 the district’s voter-approved, roughly $65 million spending plan called for, which resulted in a $2 million budget overrun, according to NorthJersey.com.

“Additional cuts this close to the opening of school exacerbate the already disruptive situation,” Shemish said.

School president Stephen Brown countered Thursday that officials would have preferred the layoffs to come earlier in the year, suggesting that failed negotiations with unions like Shemish’s were in part to blame for that not happening.

“The superintendent made this recommendation for phase one [in June],” Brown said. “That was his recommendation, and the board responded … that we did want to take the opportunity to sit down with you and your colleagues and leadership to come to a resolution; that resolution didn’t come to fruition.”

Brown added, “The board took action as it did a three weeks ago and completed phase one, and then moved on to phase two.”

But he also said, “This phase two was contemplated to happen at the end of June.”

“For the path that we collectively took throughout June and July, this is where we wind up,” Brown added.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Donald Carlisle urged the board Thursday to vote to let Sheard go as well, telling members there were a variety of options for covering her duties, from making the athletic director a part-time position, to assigning them to any of “a number of administrators in the district.”

“[They] may not have an athletic background, but administration is administration,” Carlisle said. “In the meantime, I will handle the athletic program until we find a resolution. There are multiple models we can find to work that out.”

But ultimately Carlisle’s recommendation not to renew Sheard for the 2012-2013 school year fell just short.