19 first- and second-year teachers in Hackensack laid offMonday, May 17, 2010
Last updated: Monday May 17, 2010, 5:50 PM
BY MONSY ALVARADO
The Record
Staff Writer
HACKENSACK — Nineteen teachers and 34-para-professionals have received notice that they will not have jobs next school year, the schools superintendent said Monday.
Superintendent of Schools Edward Kliszus said only first- and second-year teachers were impacted by the cuts. Among the positions eliminated were eight reading coaches, who work with classroom teachers on improving instruction in language arts, Kliszus said. District officials also cut one physical education teacher and a foreign language teacher at the high school, as well as two guidance counselor positions at the elementary schools, the superintendent said.
“The goal was to keep our class sizes and not lose any programs, so it’s a reduction of services, but nothing was wiped out,” Kliszius said.
Guidance counselors at the middle school and high school were not impacted, he said.
He said reading coaches and elementary school guidance counselors who have tenure would go back into the classroom.
Eileen Hooper, president of the Hackensack Education Association, could not be reached for comment Monday.
The district serves about 4,500 students in grades K-12. Voters backed the school district’s $63.7 million tax levy last month, which represented a 4 percent increase over the current year’s levy.
District officials reduced the overall $85.98 million budget, which is down $145,780 from the current school year’s budget. State aid to the district’s schools was cut by $4.26 million.
Under next school year’s budget, a taxpayer living in a house assessed at the city average of $330,100 would pay $3,499 in school taxes, an increase of $132.
The district will have to fill some special education positions, and Kliszus said that some of the non-tenured teachers who were laid off and who are certified to teach special education would be considered for those jobs.
“I think we can save a couple of teachers,” he said. “They’ll receive the top consideration for those positions.”
E-mail: alvarado@northjersey.com
