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Whitman-Hanson Staff Mark Final Day as Students Protest and School Committee Member Resigns

The layoffs follow a midyear $1.4 million shortfall that district leaders describe as the first phase of reductions.

Overview

  • Twenty-three employees — five teachers, two long-term substitutes, 11 paraprofessionals and five non-union staff — were notified last week and finish work Friday.
  • Students planned a pre-school protest with custom T-shirts after hundreds staged a walkout on Monday opposing the cuts.
  • School Committee member Kara Moser resigned, citing breakdowns in communication and trust across town and school leadership.
  • A packed committee meeting ran more than two and a half hours in executive session without public disclosures, and the superintendent did not attend.
  • District leaders say decisions were not performance-based, call the reductions 'phase 1,' and will review finances with a restructuring meeting scheduled for Tuesday.