A crowd of community members and school district staff turned out for the Pleasant Valley School Board meeting Thursday evening to speak regarding the expected furloughs of no more than 40 teachers and administration, only to learn the vote was removed from the agenda.

Superintendent Lee Lesisko read a statement to the group as to why the item regarding the furloughs was removed.

“While I wish I could tell you that staff reduction resolutions will not be coming back for consideration in the near future, I can’t, in light of the issues that have been presented to the community surrounding our economic and enrollment issues in connection with our budget development process,” he said.

Lesisko said the pause on the vote was for a couple of reasons.

First, the district continues to receive resignations and retirements. When someone decides to leave, the administration has to reevaluate the situation, and it could affect the number of staff that would be furloughed.

“I would encourage any Pleasant Valley professional staff member considering retirement to advise the administration immediately so our numbers can be finalized,” he said.

The second reason is that the consideration of how professional staff is reduced is not just a seniority analysis, but also takes into account evaluation. These evaluations have not been completed. The evaluations must be considered as part of this analysis.

“Those evaluations must be considered and to approve names before this is completed would not allow the administration to complete this analysis as required by law,” Lesisko said.

The school district is continuing discussions with the teachers union, the Pleasant Valley Education Association.

“This is a challenging time for the school district, and understand that our decisions here are premised on ensuring maintenance of a full academic program for the students of Pleasant Valley while balancing the fiscal realities of the district’s budget,” Lesisko said.

The district is facing a deficit of $8.1 million for the 2021-2022 school year and a possible tax increase of 4.1%.

Several members of the community and teachers spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Rachel Frable from Polk Township said she retired from the school district as a music teacher in 2018 at the age of 36, due to poor management of furloughs then.

“Furloughs were handled poorly and you’ve made it worse,” she said.

Many credited the teachers for helping their students survive and succeed in their education during the pandemic.

Michelle Burns from Chestnuthill Township said, “I need you to look over there,” pointing to the section of the auditorium where a group of teachers sat. “Those people are what got all of our children through the pandemic.”

Others said that reducing the numbers of teachers will only increase class sizes not only with condensing classes, but also when students from the various cybercharter schools and the district’s own cyber academy return to the brick-and-mortar classrooms.

Frable said, “We don’t have concrete numbers for next year. How are you going to know how many people to cut?”