Lawrence School District layoffs stirs up union anger

Posted

After the Lawrence School District laid off and furloughed employees as of April 15, a firestorm of anger followed led by the Lawrence Teachers Association and Teamsters Local 237, the union that represents the aides, assistants, cleaners, monitors and nurses who are no longer working.

Lori Skonberg, president of the LTA, first sent a letter to the school district’s Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Business Jeremy Feder in opposition to the layoffs which included 80 school aides and 22 full-time employees. Five employees were furloughed.

“The LTA vehemently opposes the district’s decision to fire 102 employees in the wake of the current pandemic,” Skonberg wrote. “These are people who served the Lawrence community for many years, people who now face a loss of income and health care benefits at the worst possible time.” Schools across New York state have been closed since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.   

Skonberg also asked Feder nine questions ranging from whether the employees were laid off to help pay for the $200,000 worth of Chromebooks that were bought because of the increased need as the district moved to remote learning to the possibility that the layoffs violate the governor’s executive orders that districts were required to have non-essential staff either work from home or take leave without having to use personal, sick or vacation time and the employees were entitled to remain on the payroll and do not have the authority to furlough or layoff staff through May 15, per the governor’s extension of New York on Pause.  

“Over the years, much has been said about Lawrence employees being a part of a ‘family,’” Skonberg wrote. “In times of trouble, family members help each other. Would you say that the district’s decision to fire these workers lay bare their true feelings towards their employees?” Skonberg said she is yet to receive a response.  

Following up on the claim that the furloughs and layoffs violated the executive orders, the LTA sent a letter to State Attorney General Letitia James. “It is my strongest desire that you investigate the district’s actions, and should you find my allegations to be accurate, require the district to make all 107 fired or furloughed whole again, at least through May 15, and perhaps even further, should Governor Cuomo issue more executive orders extending the date further,” Skonberg wrote. The attorney general is yet to respond.

“Under the advice of our attorney we don’t believe that is an accurate statement,” Lawrence Superintendent Dr. Ann Pedersen said, referring to the LTA’s claim that the school district violated the executive orders.

A portion of Executive Order 202.4 reads: “Any local government or political subdivision shall, effective March 17, 2020, allow non-essential personnel as determined by the local government, to be able to work from home or take leave without charging accruals, except for those personnel essential to the locality’s response to the Covid-19 emergency.”

Ben Carenza, deputy Long Island director of Local 237, also sent a letter to Pedersen. “The district’s reliance on ‘unanticipated costs’ and spending related to technology in the media, is spurious at best,” Carenza wrote. “The salaries and benefits belonging to the terminated employees were already budgeted for the year.”   

Pedersen noted that the laid off and furloughed employees cost the district $365,000 per month. “Because of the anticipated revenue loss and all indications are that we will lose revenue for this year and next and our focus is always preserving the programs for the kids,” she said.

Board of Education President Murray Forman strongly defended the decision and noted that budget cuts of at least 20 percent are coming, based on what Cuomo has said. “We truly believe the interests in terms of the kids is to husband the resources of the district to be in the best position to maintain programs,” Forman said, adding that fortunately that currently there are enhanced government unemployment benefits to soften the sting of being unemployed. “Programs are driven by employees. These are unprecedented times. In the long-term we fully expect to restore virtually all the employees when things are more normalized.”