Out+of+class+-+Putting+a+face+on+teachers+who+are+victims+of+budget+cuts

= = = = =//Published by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette//= =//9/1/11//= = = ==Marcy Kaufman was working for Pittsburgh Public Schools as a prekindergarten teacher before she was laid off.= === = = =Many familiar faces were missing when students returned to classrooms this week, casualties of summer budget cutting and the resulting furloughs and layoffs of teachers, aides and other support staff.= =Some school districts faced multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls because of state budget cuts, the evaporation of federal stimulus funds, a lethargic economy, and ever-rising food, fuel and materials costs.= =Others closed classrooms or entire schools to counter declining enrollment as parents sought out charter schools or private education or moved to better-performing districts.= =As a result, hundreds of teachers lost jobs and thousands of students lost teachers. Here are profiles of three teachers who lost their jobs during the summer; one was lucky enough to get his back.= =Pittsburgh Public Schools -- Marcy Kaufman= =For Ms. Kaufman, one of 10 early childhood teachers furloughed from Pittsburgh Public Schools in July, the worst part of losing her job was losing her connection with students and their parents.= =In her year and a half as a prekindergarten teacher at Pittsburgh Morrow PreK-5 in Brighton Heights, Ms. Kaufman said she developed a deep rapport with the 3- and 4-year-olds as she watched them grow and progress.= ="I'm most proud of taking the kids to the highest level they could go," said Ms. Kaufman, 35. "I had 4-year-olds who were just learning their letters when they came in but were reading by the time school ended."= =Ms. Kaufman, an O'Hara resident from Boston, earned her bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Penn State University in 1998, followed by a master's degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh in 2002.= =A reading specialist, she worked at Kindercare Learning Centers until beginning at Morrow as a permanent substitute teacher in January 2010.= =Last fall, the school opened a new prekindergarten classroom and made Ms. Kaufman its teacher. In class, she worked with 20 children in small groups on themes such as animals and nature, families and neighborhoods, and emotions and physical features.= =They worked on a letter of the week -- using glitter paint to write the letter "g," for instance -- and on simple math concepts, such as gluing one blue paper fish next to two red paper fish and understanding that they equaled three.= =But for this school year, another teacher with more seniority will be working with the preschoolers in Ms. Kaufman's former classroom, due to budget cuts.= =Since June, the Pittsburgh school board has laid off or furloughed 236 district employees, including dozens of teachers, to help plug a $41 million budget gap projected by the end of 2012. Still more positions have been cut through attrition.= =Ms. Kaufman is updating her resume, looking for a full-time teaching position and working on an as-needed, part-time basis as an independent contractor, helping Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers improve classroom management.= =Until she gets called for classroom help, she is spending more time with her sons, 4-year-old Ryan and 7-year-old Brett, and trying not to spend too much time missing her teaching job.= ="It was upsetting at first, but I'm a person who rolls with the punches," Ms. Kaufman said. "It is what it is, and you do what you have to do."= =She also hopes to return as a teacher someday, perhaps for Pittsburgh schools. "They are doing a great job of trying to get everyone back," she said.= =-- Amy McConnell Schaarsmith= = = = = = Steel Valley School District -- Jill Fleming-Salopek = =In the spring, when Gov. Tom Corbett announced a major reduction for education in his proposed budget, Jill Fleming-Salopek, an academic coach in the Steel Valley School District, spearheaded a group called T.E.A.C.H., which lobbied against the budget and the severe cuts it would bring to public school funding.= =What Ms. Fleming-Salopek didn't realize then is that she would be among those cuts.= =She was among 40 teachers, aides and other professional employees the Steel Valley school board furloughed in June.= =That meant that last week, she sent two of her children back to the classroom at Park Elementary in Munhall. But for the first time in 16 years, she stayed home.= ="The first thing that makes me the most sad is that I'm not returning to school. I'm not working with the kids. After dedicating everything I had to this district and the kids, I'm not part of it anymore," said Ms. Fleming-Salopek, 39, of Munhall.= =Ms. Fleming-Salopek, who holds a master's degree in secondary education from Duquesne University, started her career as an English teacher in Steel Valley in the 1995-96 school year.= =For nine years, she taught middle and high school English. In her 10th year, she left Steel Valley to teach English at Gateway Junior High. One year later, she was recruited back to Steel Valley for the position of secondary literacy coach.= =For the next six years, she threw herself into her job. She not only worked on professional development for teachers but also served on numerous committees, including emergency management, student assistance, professional development, literacy, strategic planning, school improvement and middle states accreditation teams. She also served as the educational liaison to the chamber of commerce.= =She helped to implement "step-up" day for students moving from eighth to ninth grade and the freshman academy that helped to ease students' transition to high school.= ="I tried to be a part of everything. I spent all of my time and years with this district just trying to make it better. I went to school there. I live here. My children go to school here. I wanted to see all good things here," she said.= =She is working on a principal's certificate through a program at California University of Pennsylvania with the hope of improving her chances for employment.= ="The fact that I worked for 16 years and this happened is tough," Ms. Fleming-Salopek said. "I feel like I paid my dues. I dedicated a lot of time doing things to make the school and the community better, and I kind of feel like, 'Does it matter?' I know it mattered at the time I did it. But now I feel hopeless."= =Ms. Fleming-Salopek said she had hoped to retire from Steel Valley but understands it's unlikely she will be called back anytime soon because several furloughed members of the English department have more seniority.= ="I really feel like I have a lot of experience and I have a lot to offer the kids in any district [where] I might go," she said.= =-- Mary Niederberger= = = = = = = = Highlands School District -- Ryan Wilpula = =Ryan Wilpula loved his job.= =He'd taught advanced placement English at Highlands High School in Harrison for 11 years, helped to develop new curriculum and was the department head.= =Then in May, his school district, faced with a $5 million shortfall, furloughed 49 employees, including Mr. Wilpula, 37, of Crafton.= ="I was caught completely off guard," he said.= =Losing his job, his income and his security was one thing. But for his family, there was an added stressor.= =They lost their health insurance, too.= =The Wilpulas' son, Eliot, now 11, was diagnosed with brain cancer at 21 months. He underwent radiation, surgery and experimental treatments.= =The cancer has been gone for eight years, but the boy still must have regular checkups to ensure it hasn't returned. He also has occupational and speech therapy.= ="Even though he's cancer free, he still has a lot of challenges," Mr. Wilpula said. A change in insurance could have meant huge out-of-pocket costs to cover Eliot's health care.= =But for Mr. Wilpula, it's a moot point now.= =About two months after he was furloughed, Mr. Wilpula got a call that he was hired back. At the July 11 school board meeting, Highlands recalled 27 employees.= =Even though Mr. Wilpula was among the lucky ones who got their jobs back, he said he struggled with it. In his English department, two of the three teachers furloughed will return this fall.= =The woman who was not called back, Mr. Wilpula said, was an excellent teacher.= ="I felt bad she wasn't going to be there. I also felt bad for my students because I know what they'll be missing.= ="It was kind of bittersweet."= =The teachers who lost their jobs formed a bond over their last few weeks at school, Mr. Wilpula said.= ="If you hadn't been through it, you didn't know what the impact was," he said.= =Getting hired back will allow Mr. Wilpula and his wife, Abbey, a chance to look at special, private schools to help Eliot. And it allowed the family to take a Disney World vacation in August that they'd been planning since early this year.= ="It was a long, stressful summer before that," he said.= =-- Paula Reed Ward= = =

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