Teachers rally against budget cuts

NJEA members from across the county demonstrate against losses, By Ray Smith SPARTA — On Friday, May 21, approximately 150 educators from Sussex County lined Route 15 near Houses Corner Road in protest of the cuts made to area schools. Some came dressed in black as a symbolic protest of the losses their schools face, others seemed hesitantly cheerful, waving back to the drivers who beeped, inching by in the slow moving traffic on Route 15. “We want to show exactly what we’re losing,” said Susan Davis, president of the Sussex County Education Association. “We’re here today for the children.” In addition to academic programs, Davis said the schools in Sussex County are losing sports and music programs, food services and custodians. “We’ve always had wonderful support,” Davis said. “To be able to provide the quality we have in the past is going to be difficult.” Davis is hopeful that all levels of government — local, state and federal — will work in collaboration to help restore funding. What teachers say The rally was attended mostly by teachers from the surrounding area. One such teacher was Omar Mendez, who teaches Spanish at the Byram Intermediate School. “I’d like people to know that we’re not evil,” Mendez said. “We’re just fighting for our jobs. We love our profession. We’re not out to steal money or to hurt anybody. We’re here to help.” Mendez believes Gov. Christie has antagonized teachers throughout the budget cuts process. “It’s sad, the way that Christie has turned this around and we’ve somehow become the villain,” Mendez said. One casualty of the budget cuts is MariAnne Allen, a former third-grade teacher at the Hamburg School, who stood alongside Route 15 with Gail Baum, a special education teacher at Hamburg for 29 years. Like Mendez, Baum was hoping to attract the attention of Gov. Christie on Friday. “We’re trying to show him that by cutting state aid it has affected the schools, the children and the programs,” Baum said. MaryAnn Simpson, the school nurse and health teacher at Stanhope’s Valley Road Elementary School, stood with colleagues carrying posters that displayed the names of the programs that Valley Road has lost as a result of the budget cuts. “I’m trying to speak to the residents of New Jersey so they can realize the impact this is having on the kids, not so much the impact it’s having on us,” Simpson said. Andrea Kovalsky, who teaches history and math to fifth through eighth graders at Franklin Elementary School, said the message the group wants to send is that education is being affected negatively by the cuts to school budgets. Pro and con There were not only teachers along Route 15 on the balmy afternoon. John Ropars, a union representative with the New Jersey Education Association, was among the crowd. Ropars believes that if state funding is cut, teachers will be blamed if test scores drop. “The fault belongs at the feet of the governor and the commissioner and the legislature for cutting the funding,” Ropars said. Among the waves and honks of support from passing drivers, were a few thumbs-down and yells of “Christie” from passing motorists. The demonstration, starting at 4:45 p.m. and finishing at 5:30 p.m., took place without incident.

We’re trying to send a message to Gov. Christie that cutting teachers increases class size and decreases the education in the classroom.” Andrea Kovalsky Franklin Elementary School teacher