West Seneca, N.Y. (WBEN) - In light of Tuesday's school board meeting highlighting the potential reduction of 47.5 full-time staff members across the West Seneca Central School District, students at West Seneca West High School staged a walkout Friday morning as a showing of support for staff members facing the potential loss of jobs.
"We really appreciate them for all the hard work they've done for us, and to see them getting threats of laying off is very disappointing because of how much they've shown us and cared for us. I wouldn't want to see that happen to anyone with their jobs," said Ella Schurr, a Freshman at West Seneca West High School.
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Despite the colder and windy conditions on Friday morning, it didn't stop the large group of students from leaving their classrooms at around 10:20 a.m. ET to take part in a 25-minute protest.
"I was coming out here rain or shine. I don't care what happened, I was supporting our teachers," said Jacob Knox, a Junior at West High School. "I'm so glad I have so many people behind this for the teacher. It's incredible."
"This is all in support of our teachers. It might not make any changes, but it shows that we do support our teachers 100%. We're on their side," added Ciera Mikolajek, a Senior at West Seneca West.
The possibility of staff members being laid off for budgetary reasons is heartbreaking to some of the students of the West Seneca School District. Junior Logan Sitarek says it's sad to think about some of the more popular staff members being let go.
"We really don't want to see them go, we love them. We want them to stay, and them being here for us, as well as us being here for them really makes the relationship," said Sitarek with WBEN on Friday. "A teacher once told me that teaching is 70% relationship and 30% curriculum, and I absolutely agree with that."
"So many of these teachers have changed so many of our lives, and I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am now without some of them. I know most of the people here wouldn't even be, so they deserve everything," added West Seneca West Senior Michael Brown.
Meanwhile, the potential staffing cuts of some of the teachers and staff at West Seneca Schools has students like Sophomore Thomas Dobson looking for some clarity on the matter.
"Transparency is what this nation is built on. If we can't have it in our communities, where else is it gonna go? Who appointed you, [Interim Superintendent Jeffrey] Rabey? Why are you doing this? You have $22 million to your disposal, and you're laying off teachers. Listen to Craig Ersing and implement the budget plan," said Dobson emphatically.
Where staffing cuts like this will heavily affect things, according to Sophomore Alison Martin, is with the classrooms now likely to see more students being packed in with one teacher.
"Education is what should be helping us, and this is only going to be ruining our education more. Because what is going to happen? We already have a short staff, and now you want to take more of them out. And then, what, we're going to have jam-packed classrooms, no individuality in the classroom anymore? It's really unfair to them," said Martin with WBEN on Friday. "Teachers already don't get paid that much, and now it's going to be a struggle for them to paying mortgages, paying their houses. Some of them have children that they need to take care of. It's just really unfair and devastating to see, because they always do so much for us. We're just trying to do what we can for them."
So what's next for students of West Seneca West? Could this be a common occurrence to see students walking out of the classroom in protest of staffing layoffs?
"I think until things start changing, it's not going to get any better. We're going to keep doing this. Every other kid in every other school is going to keep doing this," Brown said.
"I really hope we can change their minds, because like [Alison] said, we were going to have many full classes, and that can be hard to learn with some people that need smaller classes to focus. That'll just distract other people and disrupt their learning experiences," added Schurr.
Meanwhile, Janessa Cusimano is a teacher's aide at West Seneca West, and says its disheartening to hear of the potential layoffs in store across the district.
"It's really sad, because a lot of these teachers are beloved by a lot of our students," said Cusimano, surrounded by supportive students on Friday. "We have one who went to high school here, he is now a teacher here, so it's really sad that he's gonna have to go. The students are especially really sad, so we're not getting a lot of the information either, which is really upsetting."
West Seneca is now the second school in the span of weeks to see students protesting the idea of layoffs within the district in Western New York, joining Hamburg Central School District, which is set to let go of 20 staff members come the end of the school year.
There is concern among many teachers and staff like Cusimano that this issue will continue to pop up at several school districts across the region in the coming months.
"As far as we know, locally, but we have a feeling that it's going to be more-and-more schools that are probably popping up around Western New York. We're hoping that's not the case. We're hoping that seeing the student support, staff support make some kind of difference, some kind of change," Cusimano said.
West Seneca Central Schools is expected to make an announcement on Monday regarding a new superintendent to replace Matthew Bystrak, who left the district recently to become an assistant superintendent in the Ken-Ton School District.