"At some point, you have to say, `How much of this can I take?' "
Ohanian Comment: Read this and weep. Libraries locked up, programs for at-risk students scrapped. And more. It is driving this experienced educator out of education. Look at how many superintendent openings there are statewide.
WINTHROP -- On good nights, the superintendent fretted. On the bad nights, sleep vanished. Hours before dawn, thoughts of dollars and cents reeled in his head. Thomas Giancristiano would lie in bed in his Peabody home, eyes open and red, and make deals with the school finance devil.
How many custodians do we need? the Winthrop superintendent would ask. How many secretaries? If we keep the libraries closed, can we keep one more kindergarten teacher?
Winthrop's education leader had hoped that voters would pass a $6 million budget override, close an estimated $850,000 school deficit, and preserve the frame of a school system that long ago was whittled to bones. But on Feb. 9, the override lost. Four days later, Giancristiano, 55, announced at a School Committee meeting that he will leave in December.
It was a hard moment to watch: A confident, likable, optimist with 30 years of education experience was faced with cutting 17 teaching jobs. He chose instead to cut himself.
Giancristiano's voice was steady, his pique never showing. Only his reddening eyes displayed his anger.
"Either you do not support me, or you do not support your children," he read from his notes. "I would never stay anywhere under those conditions."
In the audience, Eileen Hegarty, a Winthrop parent who worked for the override vote, saw a man's insides torn up.
"He felt because he wasn't able to be part of the resolution, he felt he must be part of the problem," Hegarty said. "To see such a dignified, respected man reduced to tears was absolutely heartwrenching."
Those who know Giancristiano say they were not surprised by his choice, because it is emblematic of the state of school leadership. The state has 25 superintendent vacancies, a number expected to balloon to 50 next year, said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. The exodus is fueled by attractive retirement offers, as well as the stress of trying to fulfill more government mandates with less state money, he said.
"Superintendents are talking about getting out and they're counting the months," Koocher said.
Giancristiano arrived in Winthrop eight years ago, a 20-year veteran of Boston's public schools. When he was principal at Winthrop Middle School, Giancristiano shrugged it off when the administration cut his assistant's job. The cuts continued as he rose to superintendent four years ago.
A big part of Winthrop's aversion to spending money is rooted in the town's history. It is a bedroom community that, for years, received millions of dollars from the state during the massive and inconvenient construction of a waste water treatment plant. During that time, town administrators spent the minimum per-student amount set by the state, said Lester Towlson, the school finance director. Now that the state aid is gone, taxpayers are balking at the large increases necessary to run the system. If the override had passed, the average tax bill in Winthrop would have increased by an estimated $1,152 per year.
Giancristiano responded by slashing programs and personnel. He has eliminated librarians, foreign language teachers, teachers in grades kindergarten through four, a program for the gifted, music theory, home economics, remedial reading, business education, programs for at-risk youths, curriculum coordinators, secretaries, nurses, and crossing guards. In all, he cut 22.5 positions last school year.
The libraries are shuttered at each of the town's four schools. Step into the school district headquarters, and you can walk down a corridor without seeing a soul.
"Tell me a place in the private sector that has that kind of operating budget [of $14 million] that's run by two people and a secretary," said a frustrated Peter Finn, Winthrop's former school superintendent. Giancristiano "became a lightning rod for people who are frustrated."
The ire continues in town, now that Giancristiano and the School Committee say the next thing to go is sports. Residents are objecting, but Giancristiano says he has no choice.
"On one hand, they're absolutely invaluable," he said in an interview this week. "On the other hand, to keep that, do you keep the teachers, cut the sports, and hope the community will rally to fund-raise for sports?"
In recent years, friends and colleagues have watched the job take its toll on the superintendent. Giancristiano looked wan and haggard.
He acknowledges he hasn't slept well in a long time. "He doesn't smile as much as he used to," said his wife of 11 years, Mary Watson.
Neither he nor his wife, Northeastern University's dean of the School of Health Professions, say they know what he'll do next. For now, it's reading literature.
The outgoing superintendent says he will not return to education, although he laughs and says he's too old to never say never.
"My intent at this point is to leave education," Giancristiano said. "At some point, you have to say, `How much of this can I take?' "
— Suzanne Sataline
Deep cut in school systems taking a toll on educators
Boston Globe
2004-02-19
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/02/19/deep_cut_in_school_systems_taking_a_toll_on_educators/
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
