In a move that has stunned staff, Lakeland Community College board members voted last week to cut 66 employees, about 10 percent of its workforce, with the hopes that the layoffs will save the institution from further dire financial straits.
Dozens of part- and full-time workers — janitors, career services specialists, IT techs, groundskeepers, and others — will lose their jobs come January 3rd.
The layoff notices, coming abruptly and without much warning in the eyes of some staff, arrived in inboxes Tuesday evening following an executive board meeting on campus that was not publicly announced. In order to "balance the 2024 budget without using reserves," an email blast read shortly after the meeting, those 66 would be let go in the new year, 25 of those without benefit packages.
LCC President Morris Beverage laid the groundwork for the announcement in an earlier email the previous Sunday as he wrote, "This is where a magic wand would be most appreciated. As it does appear that, despite our efforts over the preceding years, we are likely looking at balancing the budget through a reduction in employees."
Staff told Scene they know not much more about Lakeland's budget than the general public. Those, for example, across Lake County that provide the college $21 million in tax revenue every year.
"It was sad," one part-time staff member who will be laid off, told Scene. "Coming in Wednesday morning, it was like a funeral."
Many of those interviewed for this article said they had witnessed worrying changes across campus in the past two semesters.
Secretaries started bringing in trash bags to make up for the overflowing rubbish bins that weren't being emptied. Other staff were yelled at for spending $50 over their supply budgets, or for buying coffee for a faculty award ceremony. HVAC quit working in some classrooms.
"We've been freezing, we've been hot. I actually had a student get ill in the classroom," one part-time teacher told Scene. "They've been letting the school get dilapidated. It's all a facade."
According to data reviewed by Scene, Lakeland has cut 57 percent of its part-time staff and 34 percent of its full-time staff in the past four years. In the same span of time, the college sliced its spending on staff salaries by 21 percent, from $9.1 million in 2019 to $7.2 million in 2023.
And yet enrollment hasn't really fluctuated. Tobin Terry, president of the Lakeland Faculty Association and a LCC English professor for the past 12 years, said that Lakeland's full-time student population dropped "just 1 percent" in the past year, and .7 percent in part-timers.
The loss of services Terry sees as essential, like the Men's and Women's Centers, the network administrators and a fully-stocked cafeteria (which could be gone next year), could lead to an actual dire enrollment drop.
"The thing is, enrollment trends are predictable," he said. "I mean, why
now? Why do $3.5 million in cuts in the middle of the semester? I just don't get it."
In a release to media, LCC Board Chair Jerrie Lee Rispoli contradicted the belief of some employees that LCC enrollment is not the problem.
“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,” she said. “As stewards of the institution, the board has a responsibility to ensure the long-term sustainability of the college.”
More cuts are scheduled to be announced next year.
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