ELPS Jobs at Risk Amid Student Shortages, Budget Cuts

Parents and district staff poured into the East Lansing High School Board Meeting Room on Monday, May 19 to show their support for Madison Cummins-Freund, a third grade teacher at Red Cedar Elementary School.

Cummins-Freund, or Ms. C-F as several parents referred to her, was informed earlier this year that her services will likely not be needed for the 2025-2026 school year. The parents of second grade students at Red Cedar were also told that instead of two third grade classrooms, there will only be one next year.

Speakers at the meeting objected to the larger class size that will accompany the elimination of a third grade class and the district’s treatment of staff, as some still do not know if they will have jobs next school year and are being told to “hang tight” by administration. 

Amanda Schneider, a fifth grade teacher at Robert L. Green Elementary, spoke as a representative of the East Lansing Education Association, the district’s teacher union.

“I do have more of a concern to raise with the staff members who have been notified of displacement,” she said. “They’re told they are not necessarily without a job next year, that their positions are being removed and there is the possibility that if other staff don’t leave, they won’t have a job to move into. We are concerned about that as a union trying to represent our members to be able to stay here. 

“When our goal is to recruit and retain competent dedicated professionals who can help us to nurture each child, educate all students, and build world citizens, we need to continue to stand out as a supportive district that cares about our staff, whether or not they are tenured.”

Schneider also spoke of the benefits of smaller classrooms, citing a resolution by the Michigan State Board of Education asking the legislature to limit K-3 grades to no more than 20 students.

“Many studies show that class size reduction leads to better student outcomes in every way that can be measured,” Schneider said, “including better grades and test scores, fewer behavior problems, greater likelihood to graduate from high school on time and subsequently enroll in college.” 

Sherlyn Brown, a parent of two at Red Cedar, spoke in defense of Cummins-Freund.

“For three years both of them have experienced Ms. C-F,” she said. “She’s one of the best teachers I’ve ever experienced in my life.

“She’s so good with them. She boosts their self-confidence… you can search high and low, but it’s hard to find a teacher like that, that relates to children that way, that gets children to relate to them that way.”

Parent Shannon Delap added her own observations.

“I’ve seen her use Google Translate on her phone to communicate with students,” she said. “We’ve had students come into Red Cedar who knew no English and she helped make them feel at home.” 

ELi spoke with ELPS Superintendent Dori Leyko last week to learn more about the situation at Red Cedar.

“We haven’t collapsed classes much in the past,” she said, “but it’s based on enrollment. Red Cedar is unique in that all of our other five buildings have two sections of every grade, K through five. Red Cedar’s boundary doesn’t have the resident enrollment to have two classrooms per grade.”

Leyko explained that in the past, Red Cedar classes have been supplemented with school of choice students who live outside the district. However, because of fewer applications and fewer families of international students from Michigan State University who typically live in the area surrounding Red Cedar Elementary, there would be no need for a second third grade classroom.

The remaining third grade classroom at Red Cedar will likely see 29 students, Leyko said. That is one more than the cap set in a contract negotiated between the district and teacher union. If that happens, the teacher would receive increased pay.

“We’re required to give [the impacted teachers] notification by June 15 if we are going to lay them off,” Leyko said. “So we’ve said all along hold tight for a little while. Just hang tight. Things change quickly in the spring. We have a couple other positions we’re interviewing for right now with some internal candidates and that may result in shuffling and vacancies.”

Leyko also confirmed that district Director of Health and Safety Matt Morales has been informed that his position is to be cut, “unless significant health and safety funding continued to come through from the state.”

Morales was was one of three positions added in 2023 that were made possible by grant funds. Leyko said that Morales’ position was being eliminated a year earlier than expected. When asked if the early elimination had anything to do with Morales’ job performance she said that it did not.

“We never can predict the future around funding,” she said. 

Morales was hired at the same time as District Mental Health Coordinator Heather Findley and Behavior Systems Specialist Paul Shanks. According to Leyko, Findley and Shanks still have another year of funding for their positions.

ELi reached out to both Cummins-Freund, and Morales for comment but they did not respond.