In what has become a yearly ritual, the Portsmouth school committee last night held its "pre-deprivation hearing" and voted to send 45 notices of non-renewal, displacement, and termination to teachers and administrators in advance of the March 1 deadline.

Both school Committee Chair Dick Carpender and Superintendent Susan Lusi talked about how difficult this process is for all concerned, and noted that this was done to comply with the notification requirements of state law.

And Lusi took the opportunity to state her position on staff reductions as a cost-saving measure. "Sometimes people talk about we should look at where our real costs are and not programs that affect kids. I want to say clearly and strongly that I completely disagree with that. When you look at the research on quality of teaching and learning, [the most important factor is] the quality of the person in classroom. Very publicly I want to state that I do not view layoffs as not affecting kids."

Indeed, those who have sat through the two finance subcommittee meetings so far have heard the notion advanced at each — by certain members of the public — that the schools should start looking at staff costs as the first place to cut. I'm going to second Lusi's position here. Education is ultimately about kids in front of a teacher, so it's natural that the vast majority of costs are going to be for staff. Buildings and technology don't teach kids. Teachers do.

And to those who say that businesses are cutting back so schools should as well, I would note one important difference: schools are regulated by law. A school can no more exceed the classroom size cap than a manufacturer could decide not to comply with EPA regulations simply because they were too expensive. If businesses have an unprofitable division, they close it. Schools are required by law to service all their customers, and there are no offshoring or outsourcing alternatives.

As you can tell, I really, really hate covering these pre-deprivation hearings. Anyone who has ever been fired knows how much it sucks to get that pink slip, even if you end up keeping your job. I just want to say to any of the teachers and staff reading this: the people of Portsmouth do care. Please don't take the comments of a few as representative of our town.

The other major item on the agenda last night was a slew of teacher and staff retirements, 14 in all, prompted by changes proposed by Governor Carcieri to the state pension system. Fortunately, the schools and NEA were able to execute a memorandum of understanding (MOA), Lusi, said, allowing staff to change their mind up to May 1 depending on what happens at the state level.

"Individuals who have served us long and well were being asked to make life-altering decisions with little or no information," said Lusi, noting that the MOA also protected our students, since in exchange for the flexibility, teachers agreed to continue serving through the end of the school year in the event they did opt to retire.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm going to lament the short-sightedness of forcing teachers with the most experience to choose to retire rather than continue to serve our community. Granted, not every Step 10 teacher is a saint. Sure, there are those who are punching the clock. But I will gladly accept the occasional dud to get the experience in the classroom that long-time teachers bring.

Here's a little thought experiment. You're getting on a commercial flight. Would you rather your pilot has 3,000 hours or 19,000 hours of flight time, like USAirways Captain Chesley Sullenberger? Do you believe that experience was a factor in the safe ending to that flight? Did you hear his testimony before the House Transportation committee yesterday, arguing that cuts to salaries and pensions are driving "the best and the brightest" away from the profession?

A staff of low-time pilots — or teachers — is not something to aspire to.