Hundreds decry cutting Rochester teacher jobs
Hundreds of Rochester residents want the City School District Board of Education to change the budget adopted less than two months ago to retain some of the 200 teacher positions that were cut to close a $50 million deficit.
At a board meeting Thursday, a group of about 50 parents and members of citizen advocacy group Metro Justice delivered petitions signed by about 1,700 people asking the board to amend the budget to keep class sizes small.
By cutting the positions, opponents contend, the number of students in each class will grow and academic performance will suffer.
“When the teachers get cut, who teaches the classes? When teachers get cut, more students are packed into classes,” Cassidy Hammond, who will be a ninth-grader at the School of the Arts next fall, told the school board.
Laura Keeney, a parent of a SOTA student, called the cuts “a giant leap in the wrong direction.”
On April 27, the school board approved the new budget in a 4-3 vote. City Council approved the budget in a 6-3 vote on Tuesday.
District officials have said the class-size increase will be nominal and should have no effect on test scores and other measures of success.
Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard said that adding back any teaching positions would require cuts elsewhere.
“People can’t have it both ways. They can’t say they don’t want positions cut and not come up with money to make a balanced budget,” Brizard said before Thursday’s meeting.