Riverhead schools plan more staff cuts, reduction of dual language program

Riverhead schools plan to lay off 18 teacher assistants and reduce the size of their dual language program, in addition to eliminating nearly 38 faculty positions as announced last week, district officials said.

An assistant principal position also would be cut, bringing the total loss to the full-time equivalent of 56.8 positions, interim Assistant Superintendent for Business Marianne Cartisano said at a school board meeting Tuesday night.

School officials said the district must make the cuts because it added nearly 180 staff positions since 2018 and faces a “fiscal cliff” of nearly $20 million — the amount of COVID-19 recovery grant funding the district received over a three-year period that is set to run out this fall.

 The estimated savings from salaries and benefits would add up to more than $6.6 million, Cartisano said. The administration has proposed a $201 million budget for 2024-25, up nearly 5% from 2023-24.

Officials did not specify the size of the deficit faced by the district, but interim Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said Wednesday the $6.6 million savings would cover the deficit that came from the grant funding loss.

Elementary schools vulnerable

Eleven of the 18 teacher assistants would be “excessed” while the rest of the positions would not be filled, Cartisano said. 

She said the district could have proposed to reduce the high school’s nine-period day, raise elementary class sizes, diminish athletic programs or cut clubs but chose not to.

“That would have destroyed your district. And in my opinion, it would have taken you a decade to recover,” she said. “So we embarked on a journey to do this in a systematic way and minimize the impact as best as we could.”

The district’s four elementary schools and Pulaski Street Intermediate School face the deepest cuts: the 18 teacher assistants as well as 13 faculty positions, including 10 teachers, a psychologist, a guidance counselor and a one-year position for math.

Because many of the affected teachers are staffed in the dual language program, Cartisano said the program, which rotates classes in English and Spanish and is offered at the elementary schools, would be “restructured.”

“We will not have the staff who’s certified to maintain the program in four buildings,” she said.  

District officials said they anticipate consolidating it to Phillips Avenue Elementary School, where it originated. All elementary schoolchildren would be eligible to participate based on a lottery system. Transportation would be provided to bus the children to Phillips.

As of this week, 306 students from kindergarten through second grade are in the program, Pedisich said Wednesday. This year, Phillips offers the program in six classes from K-2 and each class is capped at 25 students. 

Parents question officials

Parents who attended Tuesday’s meeting questioned school officials on why they began a program when the district didn’t have the matching funds to sustain it. The dual language program was re-established in 2020 at Phillips and expanded to all four elementary schools last fall, according to Pedisich.

“Why did you introduce dual language when you knew the COVID funding was not going to be here next year?” Dianna Tanis asked.

Pedisich and Cartisano, who were appointed to their roles last October following the abrupt departures of Superintendent Augustine Tornatore and Assistant Superintendent for Business Rodney Asse, acknowledged those sentiments.

“Anytime that you introduce new programs, there needs to be a financial plan that is going to support that,” Cartisano said. “I don't have an answer for you because I don't think there is a good one.”

The district’s financial woes have left Sanna Hagley, a mother of three, wondering whether her youngest daughter would get into the same dual language classes that her sister is in.

Isabella, 6, has thrived in the program, Hagley said. The kindergartner knows how to count from zero to 100 in Spanish and even translated for another child who spoke Spanish at the library. 

Her sister Saniya, 4, will enter kindergarten in the fall, but a lottery system may mean that she won’t get a spot in the reduced program.

“Now I have one kid that's learning the dual languages and my next one coming into school and not having the dual language program. That's really unfair,” Hagley said.