KIRTLAND, Ohio — A total of 25 jobs are being eliminated at Lakeland Community College, which include management and staff positions in what’s being called “cost-saving measures” to balance the budget.
“The college board of trustees approved the involuntary terminations at a special meeting Nov. 14,” Lakeland Community College confirms to 3News. “Impacted employees were notified immediately following the meeting of their employment ending Jan. 3, 2024.”
Lakeland says the college’s human resources department will assist the impacted employees.
“These are difficult decisions, but they are necessary to balance the budget as Lakeland, along with colleges across the nation, deals with the reality of lower enrollment,” said board chair Jerrie Lee Rispoli. “As stewards of the institution, the board has a responsibility to ensure the long-term sustainability of the college.”
The jobs being eliminated were across all areas of the college, including academic and student affairs, administrative technology, marketing, development, business services and human resources.
“We are committed to minimizing the impact on our students' educational experience and maintaining the excellence for which Lakeland is known,” said Lakeland President Morris W. Beverage Jr.
In addition to the cuts, Lakeland also offered a Voluntary Separation Program for management and staff with 10 or more years of experience. Lakeland says 29 employees chose to participate, leading to their separation from the college effective Jan. 3, 2024. Six additional affiliate employees will separate Feb. 13.
This makes for a total of 60 employees leaving the school, something that frustrates remaining students and staff.
"It kind of surprised me," student Edward Graves said. "Pretty scary and not something you want to hear."
"The writing center is being affected," Adan Tejada added. "I use the writing center as a second language student. That will hurt me."
"That's one of the biggest things about Lakeland is we have all the support staff," another student who didn't want to be named told 3News. "But when those resources go away, a lot of the interest is going to die."
Professor Tobin Terry has been teaching on campus for 12 years, and for the last three years has also served as the president of the Lakeland Faculty Association. Faculty positions were not impacted, but he says many of them are dismayed.
"[These are] folks that have been with the college for a really long time and know how it operates," Terry explained. "The campus has been reeling since it was announced."
According to Terry, college leadership notified him and the union on Nov. 5 that the administration would take a few weeks to balance the budget. In a meeting this past Tuesday, Terry tells us he gave letters to the board of trustees asking for more time, more input and for them to consider the consequences of layoffs on the students. The staffing announcement came out later that day.
"A $3.5 million deficit doesn't happen overnight," Terry said. "I think that there’s frustration due to the lack of transparency. I think that there's anger because these are people we work alongside every day for decades, in some cases, and I think that there is a desire for some accountability from the folks that make the decisions.
"We just don't see this as a necessary thing."
Per to Lakeland's website, there are 4,766 students this semester, a .7% increase from last fall. Full-time students are down 1% compared to last year.
"The ones that are getting hurt the most are students, at the end of the day," Tejada said.
Jonke wrote that after eliminating the 25 positions, the college's budget deficit is now down to $2.1 million. It's unclear whether administrators will fill or eliminate the other 29 positionsm and they also continue to consider options for things like campus dining after food service positions were eliminated. The cafeteria was underutilized, Jonke said.