Latest casualty: substitute teachers

Cost-saving step at North, South highs

There will be no more unexpected faces appearing in the front of high school classrooms in Newton when the teacher calls in sick. At least, not this year.

Along with other staff cutbacks, daily substitute teachers at Newton North and Newton South high schools have been eliminated in the district's response to voters turning down a $12 million property-tax increase in May. Newton schools would have received $7.4 million had the Proposition 2 1/2 override request passed, officials said.

Substitutes will be employed for those occasions when teachers are absent for extended periods, but when a teacher calls in sick, or is out for a day to attend a conference or receive training, the affected students will be required to report to the cafeteria, sign in, and study on their own under the supervision of campus aides.

The decision, Newton North High School principal Jennifer Price said, came down to cutting either daily substitutes or two full-time teaching positions.

"These are difficult decisions you make in difficult fiscal times," Price said. "In the cost-benefit analysis, two full-time teachers is a significant amount of staffing and helps reduce class sizes."

School district officials are saying the most apparent result of this year's cutbacks, as far as students are concerned, will be an increase in class sizes at various grade levels. A total of 50 professional staff positions were eliminated, according to Paul Stein, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources. Of that total, 25 staffers were laid off or released. Hours were reduced for another 18 employees. About 102 retired or resigned. And the district hired 84 staff members for full-time and part-time positions, Stein said.

Superintendent Jeff Young said administrators s don't yet know which grade levels will be most affected or how much larger classes will be, with students still enrolling and classes being organized.

Along with larger class sizes and the elimination of substitutes, officials said, there will be fewer supplies, higher athletic fees, and fewer programs, such as drafting or sewing, at Newton North.

Last year, the high schools had four to six substitutes available on any given day to fill in for absent teachers. By dropping daily subs at the schools, the district cut $185, 337 from the budget.

"It will feel different not having substitutes, but much of this is a change in location and size," said Price, adding that she had to find savings of $1 million in staff cuts at Newton North. "As we get better at this system, teachers will be able to leave work for the students to do, which is what happens with substitutes."

Until then, the students will have structured and monitored study time, a necessity to meet the state's requirements for the number of hours students must spend in class every year.

Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said he wasn't surprised to hear Newton was taking the measure.

"When you have a finite amount of finances, and need to make cuts, you put all options on table and debate which will have more serious implications to kids and their learning and the activities they want as part of their school experience," Scott said.

"On numerous occasions, districts turn to substitutes as an option to deal with budget cuts."

He added, "A substitute, generally speaking, is not the same quality as a regular teacher."

Scott said students engaging in a structured academic activity under supervision and with assistance would receive an experience comparable to being in class with a substitute.

Price said school officials and parents agreed, but she recognized that "ideas and operationalizing something are different. . . . It's just for this fiscal year. If it doesn't work, we'll reexamine."

Rachana Rathi can be reached at rrathi@globe.com.