Staffing reductions upset parents in Bethel Park
A large crowd of parents upset about staffing reductions in the Bethel Park School District created a disruption that prompted the school board to end its Aug. 22 meeting early.
About 65 people attended the meeting to protest the staffing reductions, which they claim is affecting the quality of education. A few members of the audience repeatedly attempted to shout down the school directors toward the end of the meeting, prompting board President Donna Cook to ask for a motion to adjourn.
Some parents voiced frustration over a board decision earlier this month to involuntarily transfer a longtime social studies teacher, Jeremy Linz, into a special education classroom, despite Linz’s own insistence that he is not well qualified for the job. The board has been cutting staff through attrition in recent years due to a steady decline in enrollment.
Mike Dokmanovich said Bethel Park has a solid reputation for education, specifically special education, but that might be changing due to the staffing cuts. He blamed Superintendent Joseph Pasquerilla and urged the board to terminate his contract.
“Put us back to being the district that we were,” he said.
Sharon Janosik noted that Linz has a certification in special education, which is what the state requires, “but we owe those children more than the state minimum requirements.”
“It seems we are in some kind of downward special education spiral,” Janosik said.
Other parents complained about difficulties in scheduling classes for high school students, which they think is a result of a reduced number of teachers. A reduced number of administrators at the high school may also cause issues with discipline, several parents said.
Meg Stafanic was one of several parents who reported problems with scheduling at the high school. Her daughter tried to take a class that interested her, but instead she was placed in a study hall.
Kathleen Krol said administrators suggested online courses as a solution for the scheduling problems her daughter faced.
“It really made me question whether Bethel Park will be able to offer her a challenging and high quality education,” she said.
The board has been reducing staff in recent years due to a reduction in the student population. Bethel Park has largely avoided layoffs, but whenever a teacher, administrator or other staff member resigns or retires, school officials evaluate whether that position could be eliminated or if those responsibilities could be covered by other employees.
Director Pamela Dobos opposed many of the motions to close positions. She said that the high school does not have enough principals and that the board should have hired a new special education teacher rather than forcing Linz to transfer and by extension, disrupting the social studies department at the high school.
“I am angry. I’ve been angry for the past three weeks,” Dobos said. “I don’t think responsible educational decisions are being made by this (school board).”
She indicated that the forced transfers might be grounds for a legal action from the teachers’ union and if that happens, it would have been much cheaper to have hired a new special education teacher than to fight that legal battle.
The audience gave her a standing ovation, but when Director Jim Means tried to offer an alternative view, some audience members interrupted him and continued doing so despite school officials’ requests to be quiet.
Means noted that Bethel Park’s student-teacher ratio is much lower than neighboring school districts. He said that the board solicitor advised directors not to comment on personnel matters, but Dobos disregarded that advice. He said that Dobos was a teachers’ union negotiator the last time the teachers went on strike.
Before the meeting was adjourned, the board made several personnel moves to prepare for the new school year, which started Aug. 23.
The board changed the part-time instructional aide position at Washington Elementary from 29.75 hours a week to 20 hours a week. The board also opened two special education paraprofessional positions at William Penn Elementary, one at 29.75 hours a week and another at 15 hours a week.
The board hired Megan Mahoney as school psychologist at a salary of $50,975 and two long-term substitutes, Katey Yurchick, special education teacher at Neil Armstrong and Sandra Quinlan, reading specialist at Independence Middle School.
The board agreed to spend $86,000 more on repairs to the hillside at Bethel Park High School campus. The hill behind the softball field started slipping two years ago and the board has now spent about $600,000 to repair it. The extra expense is to remove unsuitable soil and dispose of it off-site. The hillside was comprised of unsuitable fill left over from the construction of the high school, according to the school district engineer. The district is exploring legal action to recoup some of the costs of repairing the hill.