Talk about being thrown into the fire without a hose. Facing a $39 million hole, Acting Superintendent of Schools Royce Avery has proposed, so far, $10.5 million in job cuts to the school district that he projects will take years to realize. The 80-plus cuts do not touch teaching positions.
More on this from Richard Chumney, CT Post:
Avery, who was named to the acting position last month after the departure of Superintendent Carmela Levy-David, said the list of jobs is largely made up of administrative and support roles instead of teaching positions.
The yet-to-be-approved cuts are a “small start” toward offsetting the $39 million shortfall for the district, Avery said “but we have to start somewhere. And we felt that we needed to start at the top.”
School officials announced plans to freeze spending and lay off several employees last month due to the massive deficit, which officials have said was fueled by a sharp jump in special education costs and the expiration of millions of dollars in COVID-related federal aid.
Nestor Nkwo, the district’s chief financial officer, has proposed to reign in spending by first eliminating relatively new roles that were created after the district was awarded the federal aid during the pandemic.
Full story here
