Schools

'Despicable' Cuts Will Have 'Detrimental Impact,' Par-Troy Teachers Say

One teacher was laid off and a dozen others had classes cut last week, according to education association.

The Parsippany School District laid off one teacher and cut classes from a dozen more last week, causing the Parsippany-Troy Hills Education Association to be “outraged at our District administration’s lack of concern for the lives of its students, teachers, and their families,” according to a statement made by the association’s executive board on Sunday.

“By taking this despicable action, which was the result of the administration’s own failure to identify staffing concerns prior to the school year, one teacher has been dismissed, nearly a dozen more have lost classes along with a corresponding loss of income, and others have been given new classes, impacting not only their lives during the school year, but also those of our students, who have spent the first month of the year developing strong relationships with their teachers,” said the PTHEA. “This complete upheaval of schedules will have a detrimental impact on all students, especially those with special needs.”

The district’s director of personnel, Helen Hoehne, told NJ.com a different set of numbers of affected personnel, saying that the number of teachers affected is 17. 

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The statement continues to say that the incomes of some teachers were cut by almost two-thirds of the salary they were hired at, which means a loss of tens of thousands of dollars per year.

“Many of these individuals turned down other full time jobs when they accepted a promise of employment from Parsippany in the form of a contract,” said the PTHEA, adding that one of these teachers has a 3-month old newborn son, another has a sick child who requires medical treatment and another was “on the verge of being granted tenure in another district but turned it down for the opportunity to work in Parsippany.”

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The PTHEA said that these “contractual promises clearly mean nothing to this district administration, which will doubtlessly impact qualified candidates thinking of taking a job in Parsippany in the future as well as parents thinking of moving to this school district.”

A Brooklawn teacher told a Patch reader that about about 25 teachers between the two middle schools were cut and that the district is “in favor of no longer using substitute teachers at the high schools.”


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