Overview
- Twenty-three employees were laid off Friday after reduction-in-force notices, including five teachers, two long-term substitutes, 11 paraprofessionals and five non-union staff.
- The midyear deficit of about $1.4 million followed the business manager’s resignation and an outside review that recommended $800,000 in immediate cuts.
- Hundreds of Whitman–Hanson Regional High School students walked out Monday morning in protest, with organizers calling the staff cuts unacceptable.
- Superintendent Jeff Szymaniak said the decisions were not performance-based and acknowledged he failed to closely monitor payroll in FY25, saying the cuts aim to avoid a deficit in FY26.
- The Whitman–Hanson Teachers Union issued a vote of no confidence in the superintendent, and the district says some positions could be reinstated as finances are reviewed, with principals alerting families to any classroom changes.