Copyright MassLive
More than two dozen Massachusetts educators’ jobs are at stake as the Whitman-Hanson School District scrambles to fix a $1.39 million budget deficit — without a clear explanation on how it happened. Notification letters for layoffs impacting 30 district positions had been scheduled to go out Friday morning, but were delayed for 30 school days after a tense School Committee meeting was held Thursday night. Teachers, families and members called out the district during the meeting for a lack of transparency, saying the news has them “blindsided.” “The recent budget crisis and resulting layoffs have caused deep concern, frustration, unrest across the district ... There are still unanswered questions regarding the situation and how we got here as a district,” a representative for the Whitman-Hanson union said. Superintendent Jeff Szymaniak told the heated crowd the projected $1.39 million budget deficit was “recently discovered” and came from a $1.13 million fiscal year 2025 deficit. This deficit has now rolled into FY26 to create a projected $1.393 million payroll and expense deficit, Szymaniak said — and to mitigate this, the district planned to cut over $800,000 in its budget, therefore laying off dozens of staff. “This is a situation no school leader wants to be in. Yet, almost every school district and municipality is experiencing at different levels,” Szymaniak said. “I understand and I share the frustration, sadness, and anger that many of you are feeling. As superintendent, I take full responsibility for ensuring the community understands how we got here and what we’re going to do to move forward,” he said. However, he said that as the district’s acting business manager, Brain Hyde, was not present on Thursday night, he could not comment on the reason behind the deficit. The layoffs were put on hold for 30 school days after a unanimous vote from the committee, proposed by member Rosemary Hill, who cited the need for due diligence and the need for “a little more than a 45 minutes’ notice.” “We are being asked to reduce... 30 positions on the basis of ‘trust me,’ and I got to be honest, I don’t right now, and I don’t know why anybody else should,” school committee member Christopher Marks said. Committee members heavily questioned Szymaniak, saying that hints of a deficit had actually appeared in March but that members weren’t told of a deficit until last month — and that the full scope of the problem wasn’t communicated until just before Thursday’s emergency meeting. “I can appreciate that you didn’t know the exact number, but to not come before us and tell us that there was something that needed to be investigated and checked into is malpractice,” Marks said. Tense exchanges took place between members throughout the meeting, with the crowd applauding loudly at certain comments, holding uncomfortable silences at others and even booing or crying out in objection. At the end of the meeting, the committee demanded full access to all budget documentation and asked that business manager Hyde be present at future meetings to answer questions. Szymaniak also agreed to provide weekly community updates on the situation. More meetings will be held Nov. 5 and Nov. 19.
