Fewer teachers and bigger class sizes as Enfield starts a new school year NBC Connecticut [Video]

Students in Enfield headed back into the classroom on Thursday, and while families were excited to start a new year, teachers this year will have to do more with less.

In the spring, there were multiple rallies as teachers tried to convince the town council to approve additional funding for the board of education. The board denied that request and as a result, the district was able to call back tenured staff, but 44 staff members lost their jobs, according to Emily Hulevitch, a teacher in Enfield and the local union president.

Those cuts have led to teachers switching to different positions or facing larger class sizes.

“We’ve never been through cuts like this. We’ve never faced a budget this dire and sparse,” Hulevitch said.

Hulevitch was one of nine computer science teachers at the elementary level. The board of education eliminated six of those positions. Hulevitch was moved to a fifth-grade classroom with 28 students and that …