Diocese to cut more teachers

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.comEducation Reporter

SCRANTON – Citing an enrollment loss of 653 students in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties and a budget deficit totaling $1.8 million, the Diocese of announced the elimination of 55 teaching positions in the school systems that serve the two counties.

The previously announced closing of three schools accounts for 36 of the lost teaching positions. In the Holy Redeemer System, which covers all Luzerne County schools, closing SS. Peter & Paul in Plains Township eliminates 10 positions and closing St. Aloysius in Wilkes-Barre eliminates 16. In the Holy Cross System covering Lackawanna County, closing St. Vincent in Honesdale eliminates 10 positions.

But an article in Thursday’s edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Light, notes that enrollment declines throughout the two systems require the elimination of 19 additional teaching posts.

In the Holy Redeemer System, the diocese projects a loss of 357 students, slightly more than 10 percent, from the school year that just ended and the one that will begin this fall. Total projected enrollment for the upcoming school year is 3,139. The system also has a budget deficit this year of $700,000. The two school closures plus the overall enrollment decline will result in a total loss of 23 elementary and six high school teaching positions.

In the Holy Cross System, total enrollment is projected to be 2,902, a decline of 296 students. The system has a budget deficit of $1.1 million for the 2008-09 school year. The one school closing coupled with the overall enrollment decline will result in the elimination of 22 elementary and four high school positions.

Teachers losing their jobs were notified by letter mailed June 8. They will receive pay until Aug. 21 and retain medical insurance coverage through the end of August.

Salaries for all teachers in the two systems also have been frozen as a result of the budget deficits.

Teachers were laid off based on a system the diocese set up previously. Some teachers who saw their positions eliminated could assume others within their regional system and their grade range. That is, high school teachers and elementary teachers must remain in high schools or elementary schools.

The main criteria used to determine who was laid off are seniority based on years of continuous service within the diocese, field of competence, and religious and state certifications.