Sachem officials warn of mass layoffs

Officials in the Sachem school district, one of Long Island's largest, have told hundreds of staffers they could be out of work at the end of the school year because of a decrease in state aid and rising personnel costs.

The news was delivered Wednesday individually to 450 of the district's least senior employees, including 375 teachers - about 30 percent of Sachem's workforce, union leaders said. Sachem serves some 15,500 students.

Superintendent Jim Nolan said it is too early in the process to know whether any layoffs will occur.

The move was among the first in a season in which districts typically warn unions of potential layoffs, hoping to win concessions at the bargaining table.

William Floyd started notifying staff of potential cuts last month; 18 administrators were told they might not have jobs on July 1, officials said.

Russell Stewart, superintendent at Center Moriches, told 35 teachers Thursday they could lose their jobs by the end of the school year. And the number might expand and include other job classifications, too, he said.

"It is devastating to think people who do a fabulous job and wonderful service for this community could possibly be in jeopardy," he said. "It is a reality we all have to face."

State teachers union president Richard C. Iannuzzi, who taught in Central Islip for more than 30 years, said districts are weighing budgeting options and "in the very early examples they're implying they can't get by without layoffs."

He said he expects some districts to ask to open contracts.

Some districts say they won't alert teachers about possible layoffs until they know their final budget picture, including the size of the state aid cut.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposed cut for Sachem is more than $16 million - part of a proposed $1.5 billion school aid cut to help close the state's $10 billion deficit. The district's $282 million budget is expected to rise to $298 million in 2011-2012, according to district documents, thanks partly to increases in retirement costs and health insurance.

Sachem could, as Cuomo suggested, tap into its reserve funds to help offset the cut, but district officials say that would be unsustainable longterm and could hurt its credit rating.

Among staffers who received warnings Wednesday were young teachers starting families and buying their first homes, said John Heslin, president of the Sachem Central Teachers Association.

"This is a horror," said Heslin, who was in the district during severe cuts in the early 1990s. "This is the greatest challenge the district has ever faced."

Sachem has been hiring roughly 77 teachers each year to replace those who retire, Heslin said. New teachers earn $46,330 annually and many have second jobs, he said.

"These are the best trained teachers I've ever seen," he said. "They know how to use technology and are not surprised by the demands placed on them. They come here bright-eyed and with optimism. They've taken out loans to help land their dream job and now it's being taken away."

Sachem is halfway through a four-year contract. Nolan was himself let go from the district in 1992, when he was an English teacher with 10 years' experience.

"Even though I lived it, I would never be that insensitive to say I know what they're feeling," he said of the teachers who might be let go.

Stewart, of Center Moriches, said the school board has asked every district employee to consider a concession. The district has 150 teachers whose contract expires in 2013.

In balancing school budgets, Iannuzzi said, the question will be whether gaps are filled with layoffs, property taxes, or more state revenue.

Said Iannuzzi: "That is when the rubber hits the road."