Student Newspaper, Drama Productions Among School Cuts In Recent Years

Port Chester schools have cut about a dozen programs and shed more than 20 jobs.

If it happened overnight, it would have been traumatic. But it's happened over five years, and Superintendent Edward Kliszus said the gradual belt-tightening means some parents don't realize how much has been lost.

"Someone said to me recently, 'Oh, nothing's changed, we haven't lost any programs,'" Kliszus said at a budget forum last month. "You try to spread it out equally so it has a minimal impact. But if you add it all up, it's considerable, and it's been going on for some time."

The superintendent, who is midway through his first year in Port Chester, presented a powerpoint slide with a list that included things like a photography dark room program, drama productions, and bus money to send elementary school kids to the middle school's planetarium.

Other cuts included librarians (three of them), teacher assistants and computer aides, a secretary and a district science coordinator.

Also eliminated: The Port Light, the student newspaper of Port Chester High School, and The Tamarack Tower, a student literary magazine.

"Both the school newspaper and literary magazine were casualties of our first round of serious budget cuts back in 2009," Mitchell Combs, the high school's principal, wrote in response to a Patch query.

The newspaper was produced by students in a formal journalism course, Combs said. It was printed in hard copy and had been featured as an insert in the Westmore News, the local weekly. It also cost the district thousands each year, and became an obvious target when the district needed to shed expenses.

There's positive news as well -- the student newspaper has been revived as an online publication financed by grants, according to Combs.

Facing a shortfall that could be as much as $4 million, depending on state aid figures and other to-be-determined factors, the district faces a new round of cuts and reductions. District leaders said early targets include money for bussing and building maintenance. Staffing changes could include elminating positions for nurses and aides and hiring part-timers.

By passing a property tax cap while keeping state aid frozen, the state shifted more of the burden to Port Chester schools, district leaders said. Because Port Chester depends more heavily on state cash than some its wealthier neighboring districts, they say it was a double whammy in difficult economic times.

They've urged parents and taxpayers to participate in a letter-writing campaign. Assemblyman George Latimer said he has a better chance of getting his colleagues in state government to soften their stance if he arrives armed with letters from concerned people in Port Chester.

"I represent six school districts," he said, "and Port Chester is the district that needs this assistance more than any of the others."

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