West Seneca students walk out of school to protest teacher layoffs
WEST SENECA, N.Y. (WIVB) – Dozens of students walked out of West Seneca East and West high schools Friday morning in a sign of protest against proposed teacher layoffs.
The district has said it is facing a $5 million budget shortfall.
West Seneca teachers demand answers on layoff rumors
Last month, West Seneca teachers held a district-wide teacher walk-in demanding transparency about potential layoffs. Teachers and students brought those concerns directly to the board on Tuesday during its 2024-25 budget draft meeting.
Interim superintendent Jeffrey Rabey didn’t offer details to media on Tuesday about how many cuts will be made. He did however state in the budget presentation that inflation, the uncertainty of state aid, and the loss of Covid funding factored into the situation.
Well over 100 students participated in Friday’s walkouts. Numerous students held handmade signs in support of their educators: “You can’t put students first if you put teachers last,” one sign read.
News 4 reported Tuesday that the budget is expected to be adopted by the board next week with a public hearing on May 7 and a vote on May 21.
A district spokesperson told News 4 Friday that they “understand the students’ concerns.” You can view the rest of the statement below:
“It is with students in mind that we formed our draft budget. With Federal Funding through Pandemic Recovery funds, we were able to hire 105 teachers and 132 non-certified staff. We will be able to maintain 74.5 of those teachers and 118 non-certified hires. The reduction in positions will come through attrition first and then layoffs. There will be approximately 19 teaching layoffs and approximately 10 non-teaching layoffs. Though it would be optimal to have the funding to keep everyone on staff, we knew that Covid funding was temporary. As a District, we must remain fiscally responsible and maintain our pre-covid array of programs and opportunities for our students.”
West Seneca Schools Statement on Student Walkout
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Nick Veronica is a Buffalo native who joined the News 4 team as the Digital Executive Producer in 2021. He previously worked at NBC Sports and The Buffalo News. You can follow Nick on Facebook, Twitter and Threads. See more of his work here.
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