By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Department will be forced to layoff 56 employees and fees significantly if voters don’t approve a Proposition 2 ½ override at Spring Town Meeting, Superintendent Tom Geary said during the School Committee’s April 16 meeting.
The proposed $4.65 million override that will be voted on during Spring Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 29, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Lynnfield Middle School auditorium includes the School Department’s recommended $34,196,514 operating budget for fiscal year 2026. The proposed spending plan is an 11 percent increase over FY25’s $30,806,245 appropriation. The override also includes $650,000 for school technology replacements and upgrades.
If the larger budget is approved by Town Meeting, a Special Town Election will be held on Wednesday, June 4 to determine the override proposal’s fate.
Geary said 56 School Department employees will lose their jobs if the override fails. He informed the Villager that he and the principals at Huckleberry Hill School, Lynnfield Middle School and Lynnfield High School notified the teachers and paraprofessionals who would be laid off in-person. He said Assistant Superintendent Adam Federico and Summer Street Principal Karen Cronin notified the teachers and paraprofessionals who would lose their jobs in-person.
“We wanted to make sure to meet with everyone in as short of a window as possible,” Geary stated in an email sent to the Villager.
The Administrative Leadership Team and a large number of school employees attended the School Committee’s meeting to learn more about the potential cuts.
While Geary originally estimated that the School Department’s FY26 budget would increase between 2 and 3 percent if the override fails, he recalled that Town Administrator Rob Dolan announced last month that the district would receive a zero percent increase if the override gets rejected. As a result, he said the School Department will need to reduce its budget by $3.4 million.
“I don’t support any of it,” said Geary. “It will be detrimental to us if it goes into effect.”
Geary gave a breakdown of the staff layoffs that would occur if the override does not pass. He said four classroom teachers, one shared physical education teacher with Summer Street School, four kindergarten paraprofessionals, seven interventionists and one special education paraprofessional will lose their jobs at Huckleberry Hill School if the override fails.
The superintendent said four classroom teachers, the shared PE teacher with Huckleberry Hill, four kindergarten paraprofessionals, two preschool paraprofessionals, five interventionists and one special education paraprofessional will be laid off from Summer Street/Lynnfield Preschool if the override gets rejected.
Geary said class sizes at both elementary schools “will blow by” the School Committee’s class size guidelines that were updated last summer if the positions are eliminated. He also said the kindergarten paraprofessionals at both schools play a key role with students’ academic progress.
“Twenty-four kids in a kindergarten classroom without a paraprofessional is a recipe for disaster,” said Geary. “It will not be a great learning environment.”
Geary said the interventionists at the two elementary schools work with 273 general education students.
“This is not pullout tutoring that happens with a small handful of 10 or 12 students,” said Geary. “We have a little over 700 general education students. These positions touch a third of our kids. It is completely unacceptable to eliminate them.”
Geary said 10 LMS teachers will be laid off if the override fails. He said eight classroom teachers, two each in grades 5-8, will lose their jobs.
“We will then be down to six at each grade level,” said Geary.
Geary also said the middle school’s French teacher will lose their job if voters don’t approve the override.
“Our French program will be fully eliminated,” said Geary. “We will be down to one foreign language offering at the middle school for grades 7 and 8.”
Geary also said one PE teacher will be laid off from the middle school if the override gets rejected.
“We will only have one physical education teacher for 700 kids,” said Geary.
Geary said three interventionists and one special education paraprofessional at LMS will lose their jobs. He also said there will be LMS general education teachers who will be “involuntarily transferred” to other schools. He said two LMS educators will be transferred to Huckleberry Hill, one will be transferred to Summer Street and one will be transferred to Lynnfield High.
“Based on our contract with the LTA (Lynnfield Teachers Association), teachers can be moved to protect senior teachers,” said Geary. “They have never taught in these areas before, and it certainly isn’t their preference. We know that they will work hard to do a great job like everyone does, but similar to a team; you want to put your players in the best position to win. We want to put our teachers in the best position to do great things for our students. Involuntarily transferring four teachers out of their teaching level is not the formula to do that.”
Geary also said each class at LMS will have over 30 students in them if the layoffs occur.
“This age group of students, ages 10-14, is going through the most changes, and we are going to give them less resources,” said Geary. “Thirty-two kids in a classroom turns into crowd control.”
Geary said three classroom teachers in the English, Math and Science Departments as well as the French teacher at Lynnfield High School will be laid off if the override gets rejected.
“The French program will be eliminated,” said Geary. “Fifty-five students are slated to take French next year. We will work with them one-by-one to do what is best for them. We will individualize it as best we can.”
Geary recalled that LHS was forced to eliminate the Italian and Latin programs two years ago due to budgetary constraints.
“This will bring us down to one world language,” said Geary. “For French, the decision was made because it is a smaller program. It’s 55 kids compared to 500ish kids taking Spanish, but that doesn’t mean the right thing to do is to eliminate it, but there would potentially be class sizes in the single digits to low teens. It is ridiculous that a school district like this would only offer one world language.”
Geary also said one adjustment counselor at LHS will lose their job if the override fails.
“This is the age where students are having the greatest mental health issues, and we are going to take things away,” said Geary. “This position is also tied to a special education program.”
Geary said two LHS special education paraprofessionals will lose their jobs if the override gets rejected. He also said the high school will have “larger class sizes and reduced elective offerings.”
“It is not a good combination,” said Geary. “College prep and honors classes will likely go from the high teens to the low to mid-20s. We will also have reduced AP (Advanced Placement) offerings. It is not where we want to be. It’s the wrong direction.”
In addition to the layoffs at all four schools, Geary said District Lead Nurse Toni Rebelo will lose her job if the override is rejected. He recalled that Rebelo’s position was almost cut this current fiscal year.
“We worked hard and the public worked hard to get our district nurse back into the budget this year,” said Geary. “We listened to public comments last year and responded by reestablishing this position.”
Geary also said one special education BCBA position will be eliminated if the override fails. He said Orton Gillingham Reading Tutoring Services, special education music therapy, professional development opportunities for teachers and department stipends for art, music and media centers will be reduced.
Additionally, Geary said the School Department will be receiving $250,000 for school technology in the FY26 capital budget instead of $650,000 included in the proposed $4.65 million override if the proposal gets voted down during Spring Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 29 and/or the Special Town Election on Wednesday, June 4.
“If the override passes, we will receive $650,000 to really address a lot of our infrastructure issues as well as hardware needs,” said Geary. “This will reduce us to $250,000, which hasn’t been enough in the past and it certainly isn’t enough now.”
Geary also said athletic and extracurricular fees will increase if the override fails. He said the School Department currently charges $600 as an annual fee for all sports.
“It encourages participation,” said Geary.
If the override is rejected, Geary said the School Department will charge $600 for the first sport, $400 for the second sport and $300 for the third sport. He also said an additional $200 fee will be added for football and ice hockey “because those are our two most expensive sports.” He said the athletic fee would cost families more than the average annual $898.72 tax impact on a house assessed at $1,045,013 if voters approve the override.
“If you play two sports, the override would be cheaper,” said Geary.
The extracurricular fee will also increase from $300 to $400, said Geary.
Geary said two buses will be eliminated from the Department of Public Works’ school bus transportation program if the override fails, which would reduce the fleet from 12 to 10 buses. As a result, he said the School Committee will need to change the district’s busing policy to comply with the state’s guideline.
“The state guideline is we have to bus anybody who lives over two miles for grades K-6,” said Geary. “That is all we are required to do.”
Geary called all of the 56 layoffs and program reductions “awful.”
“I am hopeful that the community sees how deep this will go,” said Geary. “Once you cut things, it is very, very difficult, nearly impossible, to get them back. This isn’t a one-year thing we have to get through and then magically it is all back. These cuts are forever if the funding isn’t there.”