Layoffs hit home ahead of school year

WINSTED — For more than three decades, JoAnne Showl has been a fixture within the Winchester Public School’s administration.

Taking her first secretarial position with the district’s central office in 1974, over the years Showl — who graduated from The Gilbert School in 1962 — has worked with more than 10 superintendents of schools during her 36-year tenure there.

But this fall, when the students, teachers and other staff members return to Winchester schools, they will not find the longtime Winsted resident among the friendly faces welcoming them back.

Showl was among 25 employees who had their positions eliminated as part of sweeping districtwide layoffs, as the school administration implemented deep cost-cutting measures for the 2010-11 budget in response to the town’s current financial difficulties.

The cuts included several classroom teachers as well as administrators.

The longtime Winsted resident, who will celebrate her 67th birthday Aug. 8, said she was “shocked� when she was told earlier this month that she would be among those not returning to school this year.

“I’m very hurt and very bitter that this happened,� Showl told The Journal during an interview Tuesday at her Boyd Street home.

“I was not ready to retire yet,� she said, adding that in her 35 years with the district there have never been layoffs in the central office or that affected such a wide swath of teachers and staff members.

“I wanted to work another couple of years to pay off all my bills and save a little money,� she said.

Since her last day in the central office, July 16, Showl said she has received a lot of positive support from members of the school family, friends and community members.

“People have said to me, ‘I can’t believe you were let go, JoAnne,�’ she said.

Showl is not alone.

At their July 20 special meeting, Superintendent of Schools Blaise Salerno told Board of Education members the layoffs amount to a 10-percent reduction in the district’s overall employee pool.

“The bulk of this group is coming from non-tenured teachers,� he said.

Salerno said the eliminations and layoffs would amount to a reduction of $700,000 in salary and benefits this year.

The superintendent added, however, that while the lower staffing levels would result in larger class sizes throughout the district, he was confident that they would go no higher than the mid-20s.

“We have nowhere else to make cuts,� Salerno said. “We’re really down.�

The final approved budget for the 2010-11 school year, which began July 1, is $19,944,584. That number includes a $1.5 million cut made to district’s original proposal made by the Board of Selectmen before the town budget went to the voters in May.

The district’s 2009-10 budget now stands at $19.043 million, after the selectmen reduced it to the state-mandated minimum budget requirement in April. The original approved budget for the 2009-10 school years which ended June 30, was $19,492,397.

“The budget is very, very tight,� Salerno said at last week’s meeting. “And there will be very close monitoring throughout the year.�

While school administration officials continue to wrestle with the numbers, Showl said she is hopeful that she will find a new job sometime soon. Although, she acknowledged, it will be tough in the current financial climate.

“I don’t want to stay home,� she said.

But Showl said she is most likely better off than many of the teachers and staff members who lost their jobs, several of whom had only just begun their careers and have young families.

“We lost a lot of good teachers,� she said, adding that many of the younger, non-tenured staff members are those who brought “a lot of great ideas� to the education table.

“It’s devastating,� she said.

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