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Teachers and counselors urge community to back budget, warn cuts would worsen class sizes and mental‑health services
Summary
Educators and counselors told the Berlin Central School District board that staffing losses, open positions and possible cuts under a contingency budget would increase class sizes, reduce interventions and strain already stretched counseling services; speakers urged voters to support the proposed budget.
Multiple educators and mental‑health staff urged the Berlin Central School District community to approve the proposed budget, saying program and staffing cuts would directly harm students.
Samantha Colbert, identifying herself as an educator and teachers‑union co‑president, told the board membership fell from 92 to 78 over two years and argued there is no viable place left to make further teaching cuts without pushing elementary class sizes higher and eliminating programs. "Unless the voting community would like to have larger class sizes for their kids, cuts to programs they love, cuts to opportunities for our kids... cutting any more teachers than what we have already done is not a viable option," Colbert said.
James Taylor Shaw, a school counselor at Berlin, described the student assistance counselor role (prevention lessons, multi‑session drug interventions, crisis counseling) and said reductions to that position would have a negative impact on students who rely on in‑school mental‑health supports. "Miss Davner is an integral part of our counseling team... Losing Miss Davner even during part of the week would have a negative impact on our school community," Shaw said.
Rachel, a school psychologist, told the board existing mental‑health staff are at capacity and warned that cutting the student assistance counselor or failing to fill vacancies would force remaining counselors and psychologists to carry districtwide duties, reducing availability for both mandated and non‑mandated services. She noted recent turnover among service staff, including resignations from a social worker, a counselor and two school psychologists over the last three years.
A written statement read on behalf of an elementary‑school author summarized reductions at Berlin Elementary over recent years — from three classrooms per grade to two in most grades — and warned that a contingency budget could eliminate non‑mandated programs such as art, music, after‑school enrichment, drama and some athletic offerings.
Board members acknowledged the concerns and said they are communicating with county partners about the schedule and hours for the county‑provided student assistance counselor. Staff agreed to post submitted public comments online with authors' consent.
Speakers requested the board weigh the long‑term consequences of a contingency budget, including impacts on student supports, interventions and extracurricular programs. The board did not take action on program eliminations during the meeting.
