By Joshua Phelps
The Scene staff
Michelle Parrinello-Cason is losing her job with St. Louis Community College because of budget cuts.
The assistant professor of English at Forest Park found out Dec. 13 that she’s one of nearly 20 faculty members being laid off at the end of the semester. Her department was hit particularly hard.
Parrinello-Cason, 32, likened the atmosphere at the college to a funeral.
“Everybody is quiet and sad,” she said. “It’s like the life has been sucked out of the place.”
Other faculty members have reported similar feelings.
“If you didn’t get terminated this semester, maybe they’ll apply the same thing next year,” said Donald Cusumano, a psychology professor at Forest Park. “Morale is very low.”
Cusumano, 78, has been teaching since 1968. He decided to take a voluntary-separation incentive package, also known as a buyout.
“If I retire, hopefully someone will be recalled,” Cusumano said. “… I don’t want to leave. I love teaching. I may be able to teach some more as an adjunct later on.”
Last fall, the STLCC Board of Trustees approved plans to lay off up to 70 full-time faculty members. The college also offered buyouts.
Administrators said budget cuts were necessary to deal with a $5 million reduction in state funds, a 35 percent enrollment drop between 2011 and 2015 and changes in federal-accounting standards.
Since December, the college has sent 58 faculty members “notices of a reduction in force,” according to Kedra Tolson, STLCC executive director of marketing and communications. By Feb. 20, more than 100 faculty and staff members had submitted election forms for one of two buyout packages.
“We estimate that less than 20 full-time continuing or probationary faculty will involuntarily separate from the college in May 2018 due to the reduction in force,” according a February email update from Chancellor Jeff Pittman.
Full-time STLCC faculty are unionized with the National Education Association. Adjuncts are unionized with the Service Employees International Union.
The college’s NEA vice president is Emily Neal, an associate professor of political science on the Meramec campus. She agreed with Parrinello-Cason and Cusumano that the budget cuts have been painful.
“We’re watching our colleagues being upset, crying,” she said. “It makes coming to work very difficult when you know that a colleague in your own department is not going to be here in the fall.
That affects everybody.”
Parrinello-Cason has been working for the college since 2012, but she is too young for a buyout. Her last day will be May 14. She’s not sure what she will do next.
“This is my dream job,” Parrinello-Cason said. “I intentionally came to the Forest Park campus. I like working with at-risk student populations.
“I’ve specifically built my expertise around developmental education. To lose the opportunity to do the work that I love is heartbreaking.”
Since Parrinello-Cason’s focus is on developmental education, she’s worried about getting another job.
“I’m limited to community colleges, as far as where my expertise is,” she said.
Cusumano’s last day will be July 31. He plans to volunteer at Missouri Botanical Garden because of his interest in flowers and to spend more time with his grandchildren and great-grandchild.
One of the reasons why Cusumano enjoys working at STLCC is the diversity of students he teaches.
“That’s more than just race,” he said. “That’s age, sex and all kinds of variables that I find interesting in class.”