Methuen residents, educators press council to prevent school layoffs as budget talks move forward

Dozens of parents, teachers and union leaders urged the Methuen City Council on Monday to reject the mayor’s proposed budget and prevent planned layoffs that speakers said would cut classrooms and student services.

Public commenters said the cuts — variously described during the meeting as affecting between roughly 40 and more than 100 positions depending on counting method — would hollow out reading specialists, counseling, special education supports and arts and elective offerings. The comments came during the council’s regular meeting at the Great Hall, where the mayor also defended parts of his budget and the council approved multiple short-term transfers funded from free cash.

The push to preserve positions gained repeated, emotional testimony. “These layoffs, they don’t save money, they will cost us,” said John Drew, a Methuen homeowner and parent, who told the council that delaying votes past contractual layoff deadlines amounted to “political gamesmanship.”

Educators spoke in detail about how staffing reductions would change classroom conditions. “Without these strong literacy skills, a student’s path forward becomes steep and uncertain,” said Jillian Sullivan, a reading specialist at the Tenney Grammar School, describing how…