Lansingburgh district, CSEA reach deal

Agreement averts layoffs, continues employee benefits

The Lansingburgh school district said Friday it has reached a furlough agreement with the CSEA units representing more than 120 district employees to avoid layoffs that were announced due to $6.5 million in state aid cuts resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

“I am grateful that our unions were able to work with the district in a very short amount of time to avoid layoffs and create a furlough agreement that still entitles employees to many of the benefits that they currently have,” Superintendent Antonio Abitabile said in a statement Friday.

The memorandum of agreement is between the district and the CSEA’S district Units 826000 and 8260-02, Rensselaer County Educational Local 871.

“CSEA has worked with the district to try and mitigate any need for more permanent layoffs or further harm to the workers we represent. This agreement is in the hopes of the district receiving federal aid needed to prevent further cuts,” said Therese Assalian, a CSEA spokeswoman.

The agreement covers all of the district’s teaching assistants, aides, clerical staff, security, maintenance, custodial and nurses. The district said, “The agreement outlines terms and conditions for a reduction in staff through the use of furloughs for 68 employees within these job titles. That number represents more than half of the union members in these units.”

The district announced in late August that it was shutting three of its four schools due to the anticipated 20 percent reduction in state aid. The Turnpike Elementary School will remain open.

The mostly urban district relies more on state aid for operations than nearby suburban districts, which are generally wealthier.

Lansingburgh has moved to remote learning for all students in third through 12th grades to deal with the loss of income. The staffing cuts make it impos

sible to bring all students back into the schools safely while dealing with COVID-19, the district said. The Albany and Schenectady city school districts are taking similar steps to handle cuts.

“The inequity of a flat 20 percent cut to districts that rely so heavily on state aid to provide the appropriate educational experiences that our students are entitled to is staggering,” Abitabile said. “I am hoping that our government officials can find a way to return funding to our schools so we are able to safely return to the reopening plan that we originally planned.”

Other Capital Region small urban districts, such as the Troy City School District, are sticking to their current opening plans hoping that the cuts will not be made. Troy Superintendent John Carmello told the Troy Board of Education Wednesday that classes will open as planned. Troy is waiting to see whether or not federal aid will become available to offset any state aid reductions.

The Lansingburgh furlough agreement means furloughed employees are eligible to receive state unemployment, will maintain their health, dental and vision benefits, all staff cuts are by seniority, call backs to work will be done by seniority, furloughs employees keep retirement benefits and the employees will retain accumulated time off.