Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was a packed house to the brim, and then some for Tuesday night's Hamburg School Board meeting at Armor Elementary's cafeteria along Abbott Road.
A number of concerned Hamburg parents, students, faculty and community members gathered with lines out the doors to stand in solidarity to support the 20 staff and faculty members facing layoffs come the end of the 2023-24 school year.
"I am here today, because you are laying off my teachers. You gave my teachers no warning, pulled them out of their classes, told them they were laid off and expected them to go back to teaching normally. That was extremely irresponsible to the entire Hamburg community, not just my school," said one eighth grade student on Tuesday. "You caused chaos to arise among all in Hamburg, because our teachers were upset, which made us concerned, and it turned into a circus trying to figure out what happened."
"The potential loss of these resources and educational opportunities needs to be explained, and I would like to know where those funds have gone. I don't understand why you're cutting teachers, who are the main people who work with our children day-in and day-out," said one concerned parent to the Hamburg School Board on Tuesday.
Among the 20 Hamburg staff members set to be laid off effective July 1, 2024 includes 12 full-time teachers, a part-time teacher, and then some maintenance, mechanics and teacher aides, along with clerical positions, a district office employee and human resources manager position.
Jessica Reyna serves as the President of the Hamburg Central PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association), and was not surprised by the massive turnout at Abbott Elementary to stick up for the staff members set to be laid off.
"We have great people in Hamburg, we have a lot of people really invested in what's going on. And a lot of our faculty and staff live right in this village or in this town, so they live where they work," said Reyna in an interview with WBEN following the meeting. "It's not surprising that we had the turnout we did, and it's not surprising at all to hear the passion behind the speeches that were given tonight."
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In addition to the concerned parents speaking out at Tuesday's school board meeting, there were plenty of students from across the district letting their thoughts be known to leaders seated across from the massive crowd gathered in the cafeteria. Reyna says it's a product of the teachers and staff that are in the classroom with those kids every day.
"These kids feel empowered, they feel confident enough to be able to do these things, because of the people they interact with in these buildings every day. I'm not saying mom and dad don't play a huge role, but sometimes when you go to school, your teacher, your counselor, your aide, those are the people who give you those tools that you need to go out into the world and be successful," Reyna said. "So when they came here tonight, a lot of these students stepping up, willing to speak out on behalf of these teachers, it's not surprising at all, because those are the people that make such an impact."
This school year is the 10th year for Michael Cornell as superintendent of the Hamburg Central School District. He, too, was not caught off guard on Tuesday by the mass gathering of parents, students and others to voice their support for the teachers being let go come July.
"I love this community dearly. I love it because I love the people. It's not at all surprising they would turn out and support teachers and other employees who are being laid off," said Cornell following Tuesday's meeting with WBEN. "They're amazing people, they do great stuff for our school district every single day, the people who I personally have come to know and really care about and appreciate. So it's not at all surprising they would come out and be upset about the fact that they're going to lose their job."
To start off Tuesday's school board meeting and during a couple of other points throughout the evening, Cornell expressed how deeply sorry he was for the situation the district is in with the budget to have to let these staff members go. He adds it's been a painful and enormously difficult situation to say goodbye to people that he has come to know and respect in the district.
"We love and care for these people. When they have children, we celebrate with them. When they have a relative die, we go to the wake, we go to the funeral. That's all of us - our district office, administrative staff, our other administrators or board members. We love these people and care about them dearly, and it's really sad. I mean, everybody's sad about it, we're sad about it, too," Cornell said.
While some people who spoke and were in attendance for Tuesday's meeting were upset when the Hamburg School Board did not respond to some of the questions asked, it is often common practice for the board to take in the questions and address them later.
While parents, students and teachers are uncertain just how the board will respond to the questions and concerns, Reyna does express her trust in the people on the school board, and hopes there will be some action taken.
"I believe they are here to do what's best by the taxpayers, by our faculty, by our students. So I'm hoping that after tonight and listening to the feedback, they go through and really do a deep dive into this budget, listen to the concerns. Hopefully we can come to some sort of resolution that results in less cuts," Reyna said.
As for Cornell, it has been his practice in his 10 years as superintendent of Hamburg Central Schools to take personable action following these meetings and call everybody back.
"I have their name, I have their phone number. I took notes about what every person wrote, I have six or seven pages of notes. And sometime this week, every one of them will get a call back from me, and we'll have a conversation about it," Cornell said.
As for where things go from here, Cornell says they will continue to spend a lot of time looking into the construction of the draft budget that brings into balance the district's revenues and staffing, which is the biggest part of their expense. However, he admits it'll be difficult to imagine anything that could substantially change where the district is at, at this time.
Reyna also agrees with the uncertainty of what can be corrected, at this point, because the PTSA doesn't know how deep the hole exactly is for the district.
"I'm hoping they really scrutinize this budget every single dollar, because I know we're millions in the hole, but every dollar is going to count, at this point, when we're talking about saving a job," she said. "I think they really need to do a deep dive at every budget line. Bid things out, cut costs where they can to save as many jobs as possible."
In the meantime, Reyna knows the teachers and other staff members will continue show up every day and be amazing at their jobs going into the rest of the school year.
"That's what they do every single day, even when this is going on around them. I have no doubt that tomorrow, every faculty member will walk in with a smile on their face and show up for those kids, because that's what they do," Reyna said. "These are the kids that they invest so much of themselves in. But going into next year, I hope that we can reduce some of these cuts. I would hate to see so many professionals leave this district, because they will go somewhere else, and they'll make that impact that they could have made here. We don't want to miss out on that."