On February 8, 2024, the Amityville school board announced a plan to excess nearly 50 staff members, including 32 teachers, to address a $3.6 million deficit from the 2022-2023 school year. In her letter to the community, the superintendent cited the following factors as contributors to the deficit:

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• loss of federal pandemic-relating funding

• increased costs for security, health insurance premiums, and students with special needs

• loss of funding due to increased charter school enrollment

 

Amityville is not the only district to lose federal funding or see its operational costs rise; other districts face similar challenges. Yet Amityville stands alone in the prospect of excessing dozens of staff. At a February 14 board meeting packed with parents, teachers, and students (click here for full video), one question was repeatedly asked: why didn’t the Board anticipate changes on the horizon and plan accordingly, as other districts did? Board president Lisa Johnson did not provide an answer.

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The loss of so many teachers will exacerbate an already chronic shortage of teachers in the district. This will push parents with the financial means to enroll their children in private school. Others will join the exodus of students leaving for charter schools, taking district money with them and accelerating the downward spiral. For the students left behind, the landscape is bleak.

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There’s no doubt the district is in serious financial trouble. In January, it was identified by New York State as one of only three facing “significant fiscal stress.” But excessing staff is not the answer. Amityville teachers work incredibly hard to provide a quality, compassionate education in a district challenged with high rates of poverty. They are the backbone of our schools, and our kids cannot learn without them!

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We believe the current school board is incapable of fixing the problem. We believe this state of emergency is the direct result of years of negligence and mismanagement fueled by a culture of insularity. The Board conducts much of its business behind closed doors, in defiance of Open Meetings Law, and when residents are able to ask questions, the Board does not provide answers. Not only is the Board failing in its duty to provide a quality education and protect taxpayer interests, it's failing in its duty to provide accountability.

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