Spring-Ford board votes to furlough 42 workers

ROYERSFORD » The SpringFord Area School Board followed in the footsteps of other area school districts and voted 5-4 Monday to furlough 42 workers.

Voting no were Vice President Tom DiBello and board members Clinton Jackson, David Shafer and Margaret Wright.

The furlough affects primarily food workers, who have no work because students are starting the year by learning online from home due to health concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic, said Superintendent David Goodin.

Many only work a few hours a day, he said.

“Nobody at this table wants to furlough anybody, but we’re a point where that may not be realistic,” said board member Christina Melton.

Board member Margaret Wright said the board has a “responsibility to the taxpayers to not be carrying employees who don’t have meaningful work.”

There was some discussion during the marathon four-hour meeting Monday about whether furloughing was the right choice, given that the district will have to pay unemployment costs.

Board member Tom DiBello noted that because they are hourly workers, they would not be paid if there was no work.

However, he noted a furlough will allow those workers to get unemployment benefits.

Personnel Director Elizabeth Leiss explained that because of a partial refund the district will receive from COVID-19 relief funds. The savings to the district will be about $83,000.

That calculation is based on the possibility that some students will return Nov. 12, the end of the first semester, which the school board has set as the date when some students may return to physical classes, depending on the status of COVID-19 cases.

Goodin said “meaningful work” has been identified for most other employees in the school buildings, something school board member Clinton Jackson questioned.

“This district has between 1,200 to 1,300 employees, and half of them are teachers,” said Jackson. “So out of roughly 600 people, the only people who don’t have ‘meaningful work’ are food workers and one security guard?”

“This board raised taxes, gave raises to administrators, but we want to furlough the people who make the least,” he observed. “Somewhere among those 600 people, there will be those who don’t have a full workload,” he said.

After the vote, the board tasked Goodin with continuing to review if there is enough “meaningful work” for employees once school begins Sept. 8.

IMAGE FROM SCREENSHOT Spring-Ford Superintendent David Goodin addresses the school board during Monday’s meeting.