Elizabeth+Forward+Cuts+24+Teaching+Positions+to+Balance+Budget

=By Eric Slagle = =Published in the McKeesport Daily News = =5/19/11 =

= = = = =Elizabeth Forward School District is cutting 22 full-time and two part-time teaching positions in its effort to balance its budget. = =The school board made the cuts at a regular meeting Wednesday, approved its proposed budget for the 2011-12 school year at an amount of $35,944,462 and accepted the resignation of its vice president, Barry Belczyk. = =The elimination of the teaching positions and three technology support positions also approved at the meeting were necessary to bring the district`s proposed spending plan into line with its projected revenues, said superintendent Dr. Bart Rocco. = =The amount approved Wednesday is down from the preliminary budget amount of $38.7 million approved by the board in February. = ="I hope that if the state comes through with some money things could go the other way," said Rocco, referring to an estimated $1.5 million education cut the district expects from the state. = =The cuts do not affect the district`s music education program, as many feared they might, but they do result in the elimination of the French and Spanish language programs at the middle school. = =The district also is eliminating its seventh-grade life science course and replacing it with an earth and space program that previously had been reserved for eighth- graders. The eighth grade now will have pre-biology as its designated science program. = =Rocco said it`s difficult to say how many teachers actually will be laid off as a result of the cuts because they will have the option of bidding on one part-time and five full-time positions created at the meeting as part of the district`s efforts to reconfigure some of the programs affected by the job cuts. = =He said some of the affected teachers also will have the opportunity to bid on position openings created through attrition. = =Rachelle Pletcher, whose job was among the three technology positions cut at the meeting, asked the board to reconsider. = =She said having technology support specialists available helps teachers do their jobs more effectively. = =Belczyk announced his resignation in a letter to the board and did not attend the meeting. = =In it he cited inefficiency and what he perceived as the board`s lack of action in taking steps to follow recommendations outlined in a building utilization study created by The Education Management Group for the district two years ago as his reasons for leaving. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"I can no longer be part of this board as I disagree with much of the way business is being conducted," he stated in the resignation letter. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In a phone interview following the meeting, Belczyk said he felt a lot of frustration during his time on the board. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Belczyk, who worked as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in districts in Arizona and Colorado prior to serving on the board, said, "I thought maybe I could offer some new ways to do things." = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But Belczyk said he found most of the board unwilling to accept his suggestions and quickly dismissed them when he voiced them. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Belczyk said he`d observed other districts out of state that were educating students for approximately half the amount Elizabeth Forward is spending on them. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At Wednesday`s meeting, board member Dorothy Wycoff said, "I think Mr. Belczyk was an asset to the board. His resignation will be a loss to the district and I will miss him." = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Board president Margaret Morgan ended the meeting with an announcement the district would be accepting letters of interest from residents who would like to serve on the board until November in the vacated position. Anyone interested should send their application to the school district by May 31. = = = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Read more: __<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #003399; font-family: serif; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Elizabeth Forward cuts 24 teaching positions to balance budget - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] __ __<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #003399; font-family: serif; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[] __ =

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