Teachers decry new round of layoffs in Camden

Camden teachers on Tuesday decried the school district's latest round of layoffs, saying the city's students will suffer from the loss of more educators in schools that already are stretched thin.

"I just don't understand how we are going to meet the needs of our student population," said Karen Borrelli Luke, a health and physical education teacher who is not facing a layoff. She was among those at the advisory school board's meeting Tuesday in East Camden who spoke to the board. "These layoffs impact all of us."

The state-run district is laying off 31 teachers, 46 student services staffers, and 12 members of the central office staff for budgetary reasons. An additional 47 teachers, 21 student services staff, and three central office employees will be laid off for performance-related reasons, district officials said.

Arthur Leo Taylor, who is losing his job after having been a dance teacher at Creative Arts Morgan Village Academy for 14 years, told the board and Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard that his students had to wait years to get a dance floor, and that they still didn't have a proper sound system. Now, one teacher will serve all of the school's dance students instead of two.

"This is atrocious, and it's sad that it's happening to the children of Camden, who are some of the most talented children in the world," he said.

Rouhanifard, appointed by Gov. Christie to lead the struggling district after the state took it over in 2013, has said the district must spend less to offset years of declining enrollment and financial mismanagement.

Some departments in the district are overstaffed, he said, while others, like special education, are often in need of more teachers.

Rouhanifard said the schools affected by layoffs still would be adequately staffed.

Student services staff include positions such as clerk, guidance counselor and aide. After layoffs, at least one guidance counselor will remain in each school, district spokesman Brendan Lowe said, as well as at least one nurse per school.

Tuesday's meeting was attended by about 75 people, a significantly smaller turnout than last May's board meeting, when the district announced layoffs of 206 teachers. About 100 teachers were ultimately recalled.

This year, Rouhanifard said, he worked with the teachers' union to get earlier numbers for how many teachers were retiring or resigning.

Robert Farmer, president of the about 1,500-member teachers' union, acknowledged that he had worked with Rouhanifard to limit the number of layoffs but said the teachers who got notices had poured their lives into their jobs.

"They do not deserve to be thrown out like yesterday's trash," he said.

Enrollment has been declining for years in Camden's traditional public schools, due in part to parents who send their children elsewhere, and the expansion of charter and charter-public hybrid "Renaissance" schools.

This year, about 10,000 students attended traditional public schools; next year that number is expected to drop by about 1,500.

An estimated 4,200 students will attend charter schools next school year, officials said, and 2,000 will move to Renaissance schools following the district's decision to change five of the city's schools into Renaissance models.

Unlike charter schools, Renaissance schools have contracts with the district mandating that they provide wraparound services for students, such as special education and mental health support; that they guarantee seats to every child in the school's neighborhood; and that they operate in new or renovated buildings.