East Orange demands answers following nearly 100 school district layoffs

EAST ORANGE, N.J. — East Orange parents are demanding transparency from their school district and city leaders after dozens of educators were laid off due to budget gaps.
On Monday, CBS News New York spoke to students and staff who fear the layoffs will cripple their education system.
Fifth grader Payton Matthews really likes math class, but says his math teacher is among the almost 100 school district employees to be laid off in December.
“I kind of think that’s just outrageous,” Matthews said.
He said he’s worried about changing teachers in the middle of the school year.
“What are they gonna teach us? They’re just gonna give us random worksheets that don’t teach us anything,” Matthews said.
He joined dozens of parents and teachers Monday in voicing their frustration to the East Orange City Council.
“We are a struggling district already,” one person said.
“Why did we not know about this money problem?” another said.
“I really hope we can figure out a way to remedy the situation without having the state come in,” another added.
Last week, the school board voted to cut nearly 100 positions. The superintendent said the district is facing a $25 million budget shortfall.
“This is the inner city. They already have the odds against them and then to do a budget cut like this is like, what’s next for these kids? And if they fall behind, whose fault is that?” parent Nibah Abdul said.
The East Orange mayor told CBS News New York that the budget gap was a matter of oversight, adding the new superintendent came in and realized without the cuts, the district would not have enough money for the payroll come spring.
“Every year, we go to the budget. It has to be approved at the county level, the state, so somewhere someone approved a balanced budget. So to come back in September to say we don’t know why we don’t have $25 million, it’s a shock,” said Dr. Thelma Ramsey-Bryant, principal of John L. Costley Middle School.
Ramsey-Bryant said two of her academic coaches are among those laid off.
“Every person being let go is a vital part of what we do to run our school day to day,” she said.
Representatives from New Jersey’s Department of Education met with the school district Monday. The Department of Education said the district has not followed the protocol to notify the DOE about the deficit, so the state is working to gather more information about the situation.