By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Committee on April 16 spoke out against the 56 layoffs and other budget cuts that would occur if Spring Town Meeting rejects a proposed $4.65 million Proposition 2 ½ override.
After Superintendent Tom Geary gave an overview of the 56 layoffs, program reductions and increased user fees that would be implemented if voters reject the proposed $4.65 million Proposition 2 ½ override during Spring Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 29 (see separate story), School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said the district’s future is “quite literally in everybody’s hands.”
“You have to show up on April 29 at 7 p.m. at the middle school and vote,” said Elworthy. “You have to show up on June 4 and vote. It is completely in the hands of residents at this point. It is very important that this override pass.”
Elworthy said the budget cuts that would occur if the override gets rejected would take “everything away that makes Lynnfield Lynnfield.” She also noted that the interventionists who would lose their jobs have had positive academic impacts on students.
“I have a child who has benefited greatly from an interventionist program this year,” said Elworthy. “I have seen it firsthand. There are a lot of tragedies on this list, but that is a big one. I know that will be a big one for the classroom teachers as well.”
School Committee member Kim Baker Donahue said the potential budget cuts “would be devastating to everyone.” She said the district’s teachers and staff “make our schools what they are.”
“It is just critical that we get this information out there,” said Baker Donahue. “Every cut will mean something different to every person. Whether its buses, whether its French, whether its interventionists. Whatever it is, it will have a different impact on every single family and every single child. It is important for us to remember that.”
In response to a question from Baker Donahue, Geary said he recommended eliminating the French program at Lynnfield High School because eliminating another general education teacher would result in class sizes with over 30 students in them. He said there are 55 students who are scheduled to take French at LHS during the 2025-2026 academic year.
“It’s difficult for me to stomach classes in the 30s when there will be classes with seven, nine or 11 students for French,” said Geary. “Even though it offers an alternative, it just doesn’t sit right. When you have class sizes with over 30 students, it is very difficult to manage. It’s tough. Our options are limited.”
School Committee member Kate DePrizio said all of the budget cuts would be “devastating.”
“It is layers of cuts,” said DePrizio. “Saying devastating and catastrophic really doesn’t give it justice. This will take decades to recover from. This isn’t ‘hey we did this and we will bounce back.’ You are changing the face of the community and changing a generation of children by what you are choosing to do here.”
DePrizio also noted that the School Committee will need to vote on approving any changes to the athletic fee and extracurricular fee. If the override gets rejected, Geary will propose increasing the athletic fee significantly and will also recommend that the extracurricular fee be increased from $300 to $400.
School Committee member Jim Dillon said it was “very noble” that Geary and members of the Administrative Leadership Team met with the district’s employees to notify them individually that they will lose their jobs if the override fails.
“These are death by nuclear strike,” said Dillon about the potential layoffs and budget cuts. “This will be so damaging if the community does not pass this override. It is so critically important to get out there and vote for this override if we want to maintain what we have, be fair with the people who are working here, treat them with respect, not put them into positions that are very difficult and be fair to all of the kids who live here and go to school to here.”
Dillon said eliminating the French program and reducing the number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes at LHS is “going to impact a child’s college application process.”
“There is no doubt,” said Dillon.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman said all of the potential layoffs and budget reductions “just stinks.”
“I don’t think it is death by a thousand cuts,” said Hayman. “I think it is taking four hand grenades, throwing one in each school and blowing the whole thing up. I hate to use that analogy. It’s sad. It makes me sad for the kids. We need to think about where our priorities really are.”
Hayman said he hopes that the School Department “won’t be in this position.”
“But I feel like we need to talk as if we will be in this position,” added Hayman. “I know different people have different motivations. When we look at some of the consequences of no override and you look at busing over two miles for grades K-6, we are saying there is no busing for grades 7-12. That is the state law and we are going to go down to the minimum. I will also point that, especially for grades K-4, the other side of Route 1 is within two miles of Huckleberry Hill School. That is a safety issue.”
Hayman said eliminating the French program at Lynnfield Middle School and LHS “fundamentally goes against our values.”
“If our participation is too small, I think it is absolutely worth looking at why that is,” said Hayman.
Hayman said most colleges and universities, particularly “the top schools,” require students to take “four years of the same language in high school.”
“This is what we want our students to be striving for,” said Hayman. “By eliminating a language, we are putting our students at a disadvantage as they think about applying to those top schools.”
Hayman recalled that budget cuts forced LHS to eliminate the Italian and Latin programs two years ago. He said there are sophomores and juniors who began their high school tenures taking Italian and had to switch to French after the program was eliminated. He said the same situation will occur if the French program gets eliminated and students then have to enroll in Spanish.
“When we are talking about elite colleges who have tens of thousands of applicants and they are looking at two applicants who have similar profiles and one has taken four years of language in three different languages and one has taken four, that could be all it takes to eliminate that kid’s chances,” said Hayman. “That is just fundamentally unfair for our students.”