Connellsville recalls 21 employees
?CONNELLSVILLE — The Connellsville Area School Board Wednesday recalled 21 of 23 professional employees who were furloughed in May in conjunction with the shortfall in state funding for the 2011-2012 school budget.
Gene Cunningham, district business manager, said Connellsville received an additional $1.1 million in state funding than initially proposed in Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget, amounting to $785,000 in basic education and $460,000 in Accountability Block Grant money.
The board used $5.57 million to offset the deficit needed to balance the district’s $65.5 million budget passed last month.
According to Dr. Tammy Stern, interim superintendent, three of the furloughed positions included guidance counselors.
Stern added that a French teacher wasn’t called back because the district eliminated the program, while administrators are waiting to see if there is enough interest in the culinary arts program this year at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center.
According to some teachers, the furloughs would have created larger classroom sizes.
“We’re very grateful they did recall the teachers and were very concerned about large class sizes with the increase in testing demands every year,” said Judy Mitchell, a Bullskin elementary teacher who was initially furloughed. “We want to make sure that we can provide the individual instruction each student needs.”