Ethel E. Hammond Elementary is closing and Wareham High School is losing its cross country and boys volleyball teams in an effort to put teachers back in the classrooms.

The cuts were necessary after Proposition 2½ property tax increases that would have filled some of the school district's budget shortfalls were soundly defeated at the ballot on July 25.

A Proposition 2½ override -- a permanent property tax increase -- would have brought in approximately $780,000 the first year, and allowed the district to rehire the more than 20 teachers who were laid off in June due to the uncertain budget situation. The bulk of the staff cuts came from Wareham High School, Minot Forest Elementary, and John W. Decas Elementary. Each lost six teachers.

Administrators are now cutting elsewhere in hopes of getting at least four of those teaching positions back on the books. Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch told the School Committee on Wednesday that his priority is in both elementary schools, which had class sizes pushing nearly 30 students.

"When I'm looking at 30 faces in a classroom ... I'm thinking it's just way too much," said Rabinovitch.

Closing the Hammond school will save the district approximately $56,000, Rabinovitch said. The Onset building housed kindergarten classrooms.

With the increased space at Minot Forest Elementary due to the cuts of teachers, the kindergartners can be moved back to Minot.

"Because we have less teachers and higher class sizes, we now have room to have the kindergarten there," Rabinovitch explained.

An assistant principal was also cut from Hammond, which would have meant that if the school stayed open, there would be no administrator to supervise staff at that building.

"To say that the two administrators at Minot are going to run over to Hammond for every problem is not realistic," the superintendent said.

School Committee member Kenneth Fontes worried about what would happen to the building -- a concern that was echoed by parents at the School Committee's August 1 public hearing about budgetary issues.

Rabinovitch assured the School Committee that the building would be "mothballed," but maintained. Rabinovitch added that he's spoken with Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) Director Salvador Pina, who is "very interested in becoming the site manager of the Ethel Hammond School, to have it be an educational and business center for Onset," he said, noting that Pina may be able to get grants to repair the aging building for which the School Department would not be eligible.

Four members of the School Committee voted in favor of closing Hammond. Chair Geoff Swett abstained.

The reduction in sports, which is always a sore spot with School Committee members and the community at large, was not as easy a sell for Rabinovitch.

In addition to the boys and girls cross country teams and boys volleyball team, the high school will lose an assistant hockey coach, all teams will play fewer games, and the school will delay purchasing uniforms -- giving current uniforms an average age of 10 years. The district will save approximately $38,000.

School Committee members argued that it didn't make sense to cut games equally from each sport, as some sports, such as basketball and football, bring in more revenues than others.

"In terms of equity, we're doing things from a budgetary perspective that defy equity all over the place," School Committee member Cliff Sylvia argued, frustrated that "we have the chance to make another $3,000 to $4,000 and we don't do it for the sake of equity."

But Wareham High School Principal Scott Palladino stressed that he felt the cutsneeded to be fair.

"I don't think it's fair to penalize those sports that don't bring in revenue," Palladino said.

Three members voted in favor of the proposal. Fontes voted against the sports cuts. Swett abstained, as he coaches girls tennis at the high school.

The combination of Hammond Elementary closing, the sports cuts, and the approximately $120,000 the district recently learned the town will receive in extra state "Chapter 70" school aid totals nearly $215,000 -- still a far cry from the $780,000 the override would have generated.

And the School Department faces another hurdle. Town Meeting voters in October must be convinced that the schools should receive that extra Chapter 70 aid, as once it arrives, it will go into the town's coffers and technically could be used for school-related town expenses, such as healthcare.