Parents this past week asked the Wellesley School Committee to reconsider proposed budget cuts to school mental health staff saying that students have not yet recovered from the pandemic and need continued social and emotional support.
“Reducing these professionals will not only jeopardize our children’s mental health, social emotional learning and academic success, but it will also increase the burden on teachers, potentially leading to burnout,” parent Sara Townsend said during an online public hearing held at the start of the Jan. 21 School Committee meeting (see Wellesley Media video beginning at 3:00). “I urge the School Committee to reconsider the proposed staffing reductions to school psychologists.”
Wellesley has proposed cutting two district-level mental health staff and eliminating partial positions at the high school, middle school and two elementary schools in the proposed $94 million fiscal year 2026 budget. (See Full Budget, page 380)
The school district said the staff reductions will not change the level of services from what is currently offered, but instead are adjustments for the closure of Upham Elementary School and declining enrollment at the middle and high school.
The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the budget Tuesday, Jan. 28.
“I think its a very strange time to be pulling back on mental health services at our school, even if it’s just a 0.2 reduction,” said parent Joelle Reidy, who has three students in the Wellesley public schools and is the vice president of the Wellesley Middle School PTO. “We’ve come out of the pandemic just three years ago. This is a mental health crisis and it’s not getting better. Now is not the time to cut.”
What is Changing
The school district presented charts to show the proposed changes to the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) staff. (See Jan. 21 School Committee meeting video on Wellesley Media beginning at 1:26:00).
In explaining the changes, Wellesley Director of Student Services Kat Bernklow said the district evaluates staffing every year based on enrollment and need. Among the data considered is case loads, hours of service delivery and the number of evaluations needed weekly for special educators, liaisons, school psychologists, and all related service providers.
Here are the proposed staff reductions and what the district said about each:
● 1 district-level school psychologist and 1 district level school adjustment counselor –These two district-level positions were eliminated because, “We prioritized student-facing positions,” Bernklow said. “We’re going to be redeploying those tasks back to other staff in the building.”
● 0.2 school psychologist at Wellesley High School – reduction due to lower enrollment projected at the high school
● 0.5 school counselor at Wellesley Middle School – “This was an enrollment calibration” recommended by WMS Principal Mark Ito based on projected lower enrollment at the middle school, Superintendent David Lussier said.
● 0.5 school psychologist at Hunnewell Elementary School + 0.3 school psychologist at Hardy Elementary School – “This was a carryover school psychologist for when Upham was closed,” Bernklow said.
Not all reductions will mean a person will be laid off. The reductions described here are for the portion of a full-time equivalent position, which is counted differently than headcount. So, for example, there is no change in headcount due to the 0.5 reduction of the WMS counselor or 0.2 reduction of a WHS school psychologist (See Full Budget, page 380). However, the two district-level reductions are two headcount reductions.
Despite the district’s data-heavy presentation, some School Committee members still had questions about why this decision was made.
“We’ve heard from so many teachers, parents that they are concerned about the loss of staff,” School Committee member Sharon Clarke said. “I am concerned that we’re missing data, or time that is needed with these students. Are we missing something?”
School Committee member Christina Horner said she had heard about increased needs since the pandemic. “How does reducing psychologists help with these increasing challenges that our students are exhibiting,” Horner said.
School Committee member Craig Mack suggested that if removing district-level staff left the schools needing additional help, the district could increase hours from a privately contracted service provider in the next fiscal year.
Neighborhood Schools
In comparing Wellesley to peer school districts, “Wellesley’s model seemingly was more robustly staffed than any of our alike communities,” Bernklow said. However, this staffing is necessary because we have six elementary schools, some with as few as 250 students.
“There’s a premium with wanting to have neighborhood schools. You have to have a staff to support that school,” said School Committee Chairwoman Linda Chow. “Peer communities that don’t have that model, they have a much more efficient model for that school because they have more students and perhaps don’t have to have as much staff.”
Budget Is Higher, So Why Cuts?
The proposed budget increase of 3.24 percent is within the 3.25 percent guideline set by the Select Board in October 2024. However, even without any other changes, the district faced an additional $3.5 million in salary increases for existing teachers and staff due to the Wellesley Educators Association contracts signed in May 2023.
“The result is that rising compensation costs increase the district’s base budget by 3.86 percent before any other proposed adjustments,” Lussier said in his letter to the community about the budget.
In addition, out-of-district special education placements increased $796,000 over last year due to state-mandated cost increases.
Reidy said she doesn’t blame the school district for trying to find ways to reduce spending–she blames town officials.
“My real frustration is with the Select Board. I don’t think they know what it takes to run a successful school system. It’s given them [the school district] this percentage that I don’t think is reasonable. Schools are still why people move here,” Reidy said.
What’s Next
The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the budget at its Jan. 28 meeting. The budget then must be reviewed by the Advisory Committee and approved by Town Meeting in April.
YES, sign me up for Swellesley’s free weekday email newsletter
