WHITMAN, MASS. (WHDH) - Students at Whitman-Hanson High School walked out of school in protest Monday after layoffs were officially announced Sunday. The walk out took place around 9:15 a.m.
The layoffs came after an outside business manager said they found the district was short $1.4M in next year’s budget. The business manager said if change wasn’t made now, things would only get worse for the students.
“The education of these young children will be disrupted. these children are the future of Whitman-Hanson and if our upper administration cared that much, this would not have happened,” Ella Leach said, a student. “That’s why we are here today protesting for our teachers who work so hard to support their families and our students whose education is on the line.”
Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak announced Sunday that the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District has issued Reduction-in-Force notifications to staff members as part of the district’s plan to address a significant budget deficit.
RIF notifications were issued Friday to impacted staff members, which included five teachers, two long-term substitutes, 11 paraprofessionals, and five non-union staffers.
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