After Layoffs, Schools Reshuffle

As the school district rearranges staff in the wake of 42 job cuts, Medria Blue-Ellis will leave Edgewood Magnet School to take the helm of the city’s ​“geeky” science-themed magnet and two other assistant principals are returning to teaching posts.

Blue-Ellis (pictured) is currently the assistant principal at the Edgewood Magnet School.

Starting next Monday, she’ll take over as the interim acting principal of the Engineering Science University Magnet School (ESUMS). The school, which is awaiting a permanent home at the University of New Haven in West Haven, is currently housed in a swing space on State Street.

Meanwhile, two laid-off assistant principals have returned to work as teachers, bumping one teacher out of a job.

Michelle Bonora, one of three assistant principals at Hill Regional Career High School, and Shanta Morrison Smith, one of two assistant principals at King/Robinson Magnet School, were both laid off on Feb. 17. Because of a clause in their labor contract that insulates administrators from layoffs, they were both hired back on Feb. 18 as teachers with only a $1,000 pay cut, leaving them each with a salary of $103,498.

Bonora was rehired as a business teacher at Career High, displacing teacher Lisa Huber, who made a salary of $42,875. Smith bumped into a vacant position as an itinerant instructional coach in math. According to their contract, Bonora and Smith will have their salaries reduced by $1,000 per year until they reach the teacher pay grade.

The shakeup was detailed in a personnel report released at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, during which next year’s school budget was approved.

The shake-up comes as the district reacts to the latest round of layoffs last month. Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo and Mayor John DeStefano together cut 96 positions, 82 of them filled, to close a $5.5 million budget gap this fiscal year. More cuts are likely to come next year, according to the budget DeStefano is unveiling Tuesday — including up to 190 Board of Ed layoffs.

ESUMS Principal Marjorie Edmonds-Lloyd was one of 33 school employees who lost their jobs on Feb. 17. The district also eliminated nine vacant positions. In total, the 42 education job cuts will save $1.8 million annually, according to schools spokesman Christopher Hoffman. If no new revenue is found, the school district may face up to 148 layoffs more next fiscal year, Mayo said.

ESUMS parents who showed up to the school board said they hoped their school’s new leader would bring stability in a year of many staff changes and uncertainties over the future site of the school. 

“It’s been a rocky road,” acknowledged Mayo. Principal Edmonds-Lloyd missed a lot of school this year due to illness, he said.

Edmonds-Lloyd was ESUMS’ first principal when it opened in 2008 with just a sixth grade. The school now serves 226 students in grades 6 to 8, and plans to add another grade per year until it becomes a full high school. 

After two years of school of Edmonds-Lloyd’s leadership, students returned in the fall to find her gone. The school has no assistant principals, and there was no replacement principal, parents said. In her absence, the school’s two magnet resource teachers stepped up into leadership roles. Eric Yuhas, an assistant principal at Sound School, joined the school for a month-long stint as acting principal at ESUMS in the fall. Citing personal reasons, he returned to Sound School in December instead of seeking a permanent job there.

Edmonds-Lloyd was ​“great with the kids,” said parent Darlene Flynn, one of four parents who showed up to the school board meeting Monday.

In her absence, the atmosphere in the school this year has been ​“chaotic,” Flynn said. She said those left in charge did the best they could, but the school needs permanent leadership.

Adding to the uncertainty, plan to move ESUMS to a new building in West Haven has been delayed, and school officials are scrambling to look for a new spot to accommodate expansion into the 9th grade.

The combination of not having a building for next year and not having a principal has been stressful, said Michelle Lebell, mother of an 8th-grade student.

“We just hope somebody stays past the interim,” she said.

“We’re hoping for more stability, direction and honest answers on the future of the school,” Flynn added.

Edmonds-Lloyd took a voluntary layoff and will not bump anyone out of a job, according to Superintendent Mayo. With 20 years’ experience in education, she made a salary of $124,560.

Her replacement, who has 15 years’ experience, will stay on at her current assistant principal salary of $111,077.

Mayo said he chose Blue-Ellis for the job because she has a strong grasp of math/science curriculum and has a ​“personality and interpersonal skills” that will fit will with the school.

“She did a great job at Edgewood,” Mayo said. Her position will be temporary, at least at first.

“We’re just asking her to fill in until the end of the year,” Mayo said. ​“She may very well wind up with the job. We’ll see.”

Blue-Ellis joins ESUMS after a series of teaching and administrative jobs. Before working at Edgewood, she was an instructional coach and assistant principal of Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy. She has a B.A. from Howard University, a Master of Arts in Education from the University of New Haven, and a sixth-year degree in School Administration from Southern Connecticut State University.

In her spare time, she’s also been known to pitch in as a volunteer teacher at Davis Street Magnet School.

Despite their concerns, the parents were quick to add that they still think ESUMS academics are top-notch. Flynn’s eighth-grade daughter is learning trigonometry and aeronautical engineering — ​“aeronautical engineering!” — she said.

Students, who hail from New Haven and surrounding towns, have posted high marks on standardized tests. She said the school is a supportive environment for bright students who like school.

“They’re geeky kids under one roof,” Flynn said.

“It’s a great school and I’m hoping that the Board of Ed cultivates it” into a full high school. If so, she said, ​“these kids can go anywhere after they graduate.”

School Budget Stays Level

The school boar voted Monday night on its own proposed new $370 million education budget for the coming year. Some $173 million of that budget comes from the city’s general fund, a figure that would remain the same for a third consecutive year if approved by aldermen.

The budget includes $142 million in Education Cost Sharing money from the state and $22.7 million in a so-called city contribution, which means city taxpayer dollars. On top of that contribution, the city would pay $37 million in school-related debt service and $44 million on medical benefits, pensions and workers compensation for school employees.

Schools Chief Operating Officer Will Clark rattled off those final figures Monday in a brief presentation before the board. Board members asked no questions about the budget. With no discussion, they voted 7 – 0 to approve the budget as Clark presented it. All members were present except the mayor, who came in about an hour late.

The budget includes a $14.5 million gap, projected savings that need to come from somewhere.

In a public comment portion of the meeting, ESUMS PTO President Andrea Frasier (pictured) offered a cost-cutting suggestion.

Frasier said she noticed that during the summer, 12-month school employees report to the building five days a week.

If those workers changed to a four-day-a-week shift, she suggested, it might free up some money by lowering utility costs.

Board member Alex Johnston acknowledged there wouldn’t be a lot of money saved, but he welcomed her idea. Workers in other lines of work have enjoyed that kind of flexibility in their schedules, he pointed out.

Superintendent Mayo said the proposal may be taking the cost-cutting quest too far.

“We’ll look elsewhere” before ​“we go to something so drastic,” Mayo said.

“I consider layoffs to be drastic,” replied Johnston.

Mayo later said the number of layoffs will be less than 190, but he couldn’t predict the number. The 42 job cuts that were made on Feb. 17 will save $1.8 million per year, narrowing next year’s budget gap to $12.7 million and cutting next year’s layoffs to 148. The final number will depend on whether the district can find new sources of revenue and how many people leave their jobs at the end of the school year, Mayo said.

“As we save dollars, less people will be laid off.”

Mayo said he remains committed to the city’s school change initiative, which aims to cut the dropout rate in half and close the achievement gap by 2015.

“We’re going to find the money for school change as best we can.”