Layoffs continue in the Pleasant Valley School District.

Thursday night, the school board directors approved the layoff of 52 part-time paraprofessionals.

A paraprofessional assists the teacher in the classroom. They can help the students who need extra help or assist the teacher with classroom activities.

The layoffs affect paraprofessionals in all four of the district’s schools. Pleasant Valley Elementary School has 20 who were let go. Another 20 were let go at the intermediate school, five at the middle school and seven at the high school.

School board President Donna Yozwiak read a statement at the beginning of the meeting. She said the school board understands the concerns of the community.

“I can tell you, as an educator, and leader of this board, it is agenda items like the one this evening that I dread most. However, we as the elected nine board members of this district, are obligated to address the deteriorating fiscal condition of this district, and therefore hard decisions, such as this one tonight must be made,” she said.

Yozwiak said that the school district has been looking at ways to cut costs since the winter. Budget projections show that the fund balance of the school district will be running into the negative within a few years. For this reason, each department was asked to look for areas to cut costs so that the board would not have to pull from the fund balance in order to balance the budget.

“The resulting events of the pandemic and the economic catastrophe in its wake will result in reduced revenue for this district, in the areas of real estate transfer tax, Earned Income Tax, and interest earning. Revenue that as late as March we were relying on,” she said. “To add insult to injury, the unbudgeted costs to open schools safely this fall may be catastrophic and we will be preparing for possible millions of dollars in expense that we cannot even forecast this evening.”

Budget losses

Superintendent Lee Lesisko said during his report that in the beginning of the budget process for the 2020-2021 school year, the district was looking at a $8.5 million deficit. They were able to decrease that deficit projection to $3.8 million in January, then the pandemic hit. Now, they project the deficit to rise to $6.1 million.

“Folks, we can’t cut anything else, unless we cut programs,” he said. “This is a difficult time for public education.”

In addition to costs and losses related to COVID-19, Lesisko said funding charter schools, out-of-district placements and costs with transportation all play a role in the district’s financial woes. He added that 70 percent of the budget is money paid out in salaries and benefits.

“The board and I have dealt with the facts in these decisions,” he said. “I urge the board and the public to support the budget.”

During the public comment portions of the meeting, one woman expressed concern for the students who are assisted by the paraprofessionals.

“The only people who are hurt are the kids,” said Jennifer Pandolfo of Ross Township.

Yozwiak said in her statement that the school district has been looking for other routes to assist those being let go.

“However, in the weeks leading up to this, our administration has worked diligently with the leadership of the support association in order to provide opportunities for the impacted employees to rejoin the organization over time, possibly in a larger role as a full-time paraprofessional,” she said.

Information to residents

One resident expressed frustration that committee reports were not available or easily accessible to the public online. And others said they were concerned that the school board directors were getting information required for a vote too close to the time of the meeting.

Some of the school board members commented before the votes were taken that they were not happy with receiving information the same day as the meeting, and found the requests confusing.

“There are things you don’t have full knowledge of and that concerns me,” said Kathleen Maltez of Polk Township.

Job changes

The agenda included approval of definitions of several job positions and changing of job titles, then approval of hiring people in those new positions.

One such position is that of director of pupil services. A.J. Kise held this position, but resigned in May. His last day is July 12. The position title is being changed to director of special education and Julie Harris was hired for the position with a salary of $90,000. Harris originally held the position of educational consultant for the school district.

Similarly, the job title of director of buildings and grounds was being changed to supervisor of transportation and administrative services. Doug Palmieri is being moved from his position as supervisor of special education to that position with no change in his salary.

The school board directors also approved the hiring of a new human resource director, Jessica Tomon, at a salary of $100,000, and Tammy Smale as an assistant business manager at a salary of $75,000. Tomon replaces John Burrus, who resigned in May, and Robert Mauro, who has been filling in temporarily. Smale replaces Stacy Stair, who also resigned in May.

Joshua Ziatyk, assistant to the superintendent, and Nadia Gauronsky, head coach of the girls basketball team, also resigned in May, but have not been replaced. Ziatyk’s last day is July 5. Gauronsky’s last day was effective May 14.