The Human Toll Of Budget Cuts

Recently we received a letter from James Zeitler, a junior at Sachem High School East in response to the news that one of his foreign language teachers was being let go because of budget reductions. The current budget proposal, if passed, calls for a little more than 100 teachers to be terminated. If the budget fails, more layoffs could be on the way, according to the Board of Education. 

Upon hearing of the termination of Salvatore Dipuma, Zeitler crafted the following letter:

My name is James Zeitler and I am becoming a Senior at East. This morning I found out that one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Dipuma (Salvatore Dipuma) has been let go of a job at Sachem.

I had the pleasure of meeting him as a 7th grader in Sagamore and although I did not have him until freshman year at East, he was always one of my favorites. I know there is nothing I, nor Sachem Patch can do to change this, but he deserves to be commended on his amazing career in Sachem.

If you ask anyone in East who takes Spanish as a language they would tell you how unbelievable Mr. Dipuma is. His teaching skills, the way he relates and interacts with the students and his kind heart puts him at the top of my 'favorite teachers' list.

I do not like how, when teachers are let go, they take the teachers who haven't worked lots of years in the district and let them go first. Most of the 'younger' teachers are the better teachers. I do agree that the longer the teacher works in the district the 'safer' they should be... However, it should be based on performance or some other way. It doesn't seem fair, but i guess life isn't fair.

Besides this I would just like to thank Mr. Dipuma and I know that even though he will not be in Sachem anymore, he will always help me and my peers out. Although this is a rough time for him he is staying positive and optimistic. Thank you for starting off my Spanish honors education and helping me get into AP Spanish.