'Chaos-bomb': Hundreds of Brockton High teachers sign petition decrying layoffs

BROCKTON — Joshua Brown, a Brockton High School alumni and parent of three students in Brocton Public Schools, said he pulled his oldest daughter from the district and enrolled her at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School in Easton due to growing class sizes and safety concerns at the high school.

"The decision for my oldest to attend Southeastern Voc Tech over BHS, despite the absence of a music program she adores, was made all the easier when class sizes and student safety were considered," Brown said at Brockton's school committee meeting Tuesday night.

As Brockton Public Schools (BPS) grapples with an $18 million budget deficit for Fiscal Year 24, and as student enrollment drops, the district has laid off at least 130 teachers and staff.

At Tuesday's meeting, several BPS students, teachers and parents spoke to the committee, urging Brockton City Council to fully fund the district's missing $18 million. Over 200 school staff, including "multiple admin," signed a petition to redistribute funds to BPS.

"If you all go through with these wholesale changes of closing a building, rearranging the administration & reducing the number of positions, you will be risking the detonation of a chaos-bomb," the petition reads in part.

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A Brockton High student, along with a small group of other students standing behind her at the podium Tuesday night, began chanting "fund schools first."

"We are demanding that the city of Brockton fund schools first," the student said. "We need to continue to rebuild, not tear down."

"When I tell people I go to Brockton High School, I want to feel proud of that statement," she said.

Teachers in Brockton contacted Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, directly and requested the help of her and the organization, which advocates for children and families across the country. Rodriguez attended Tuesday's meeting to speak to the board.

"The city of Brockton has been losing hundreds of students every year for the past several years," she said. "This means that parents and families are actively voting with their feet."

Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, enrollment in the district decreased by over 350 students. Enrollment in Brockton High dropped by 260 students. The district has lost roughly 1,400 students since 2019.

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Over the last five years, the student-to-teacher ratio within BPS has decreased from 16.9 students per one teacher to 13.6 students per one teacher.

"Now is not the time for cuts," said Michael Ippolito, a math teacher at BHS who graduated from the school in 2000. Ippolito said he didn't receive a notice that he'd be impacted by the layoffs.

"Now is the time to make schools the top priority when setting the city budget," Ippolito said.

How did Superintendent Mike Thomas respond?

During the pandemic, Brockton Public Schools received money from the federal government through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), which the district spent to give each student a laptop and access to wireless internet to attend school remotely.

"I want you to see every dime that was spent through ESSER money," said Brockton Superintendent of Schools Mike Thomas said in a passionate speech following the meeting's public comment section. "Every dime went towards kids, programs for kids."

"I hear the word mismanagement. It's absurd," he said.

Over the last four years, including during the pandemic, over 400 teachers were hired in the district — many of whom are teachers of color — according to Thomas.

Aldo Petronio, BPS' chief financial officer, said that staff salaries are a restricted part of the BPS budget that's dependent on student enrollment. The fewer students in BPS, the less money the school can spend on paying teachers.

"It's not so much laying off because we don't have the money. It's more the fact that our enrollment is reducing, and it's not reducing by a little bit," said Aldo Petronio at a school district finance subcommittee meeting on May 2.

"As you reduce the number of students, you have to reduce your staff. There's no way to offset that."