Unpaid Furlough Days On Table For K-6 Teachers

Members of the Norfolk elementary schools’ teach­ers union are expected to vote on whether to accept two furlough days next school year.

The two days have in recent years been set aside for professional development, and teachers have been paid at their regular salary rate for those days. But school officials are asking them to take the days as unpaid in­stead.

School officials project they can save $33,000 in sal­ary per furlough day, or $66,000 total. They are scram­bling to try to reduce a projected budget gap. During the Norfolk School Committee meeting this past Wednesday night, committee member Ross Gille­land

noted that professional development is supposed to make teachers better at what they do, so it’s not like the furlough days are painless.

“My point is there’s a value to professional develop­ment. It’s not that you’re just going to save $66,000 for doing nothing. You’re losing something, and I think we have to consider that,” Gilleland said. “I think it’s worth saying again that it’s not just an easy $66,000, because we are getting something for that money,” Gilleland said.

But School Committee member Linda Andrews not­ed that many school districts are pressing for furlough days as a means of avoiding more painful cuts. “This is the way most districts last year and this year are giving money back to their towns. It’s a very popu­lar move,” Andrews said. Andrews noted that the school district is offering teachers a chance to take advantage of professional de­velopment on their own time. “And in a time of crisis, you have to know where to make your cuts. And what’s more important: staffing your classrooms and your programs, or offering profes­sional development?” Andrews said.