2,600 School Workers Face September Layoffs

VERONICA COSTA: Members' jobs on line.

The Department of Education is reportedly planning to lay off 2,600 school workers this September, among them School Aides, Family Counselors and Hall Monitors, represented by District Council 37 Local 372, and Education Paraprofessionals and School Secretaries, who are represented by the United Federation of Teachers.

Specifics are not yet known, as Principals do not have to submit their individual school budgets to the DOE until June 18, but the Daily News June 12 reported that the unions had been warned that jobs were at risk.

Union Sets June 17 Protest

DC 37 has scheduled a rally at City Hall against the cuts June 17.

The DOE is planning reductions of 5 percent across the board, as dictated in the executive budget, although the numbers could change if the City Council restores funding in final budget negotiations.

"In March, when [Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein] testified before the City Council's budget hearing, he announced anticipation of 3,000 to 4,000 non-teaching school-based layoffs," said DOE spokeswoman Anne Forte. "That number has been estimated down because the cuts weren't as large as we anticipated. . . the estimate now is about 2,600."

Ms. Forte also noted that "Principals have another week to submit their budget proposals to us. Until then, it's too soon for us to know how many non-teaching school-based jobs could be at risk."

Although the News' report identified Local 372 as the main target of layoffs, Ms. Forte said that UFT non- teaching personnel could also be affected, depending on where Principals decided to make cuts.

Questions Whether City Will Save

Local 372 President Veronica Montgomery Costa could not be reached for comment, and union Vice President Santos Crespo declined to comment when contacted by phone, but DC 37 Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal decried the cuts, saying that the city would save no money as a result of them.

"They're really poor workers, and all you're going to manage to do is put them on welfare," he said. "There isn't going to be much savings for the city, and it's going to hurt the children . . . it's time for them to sit down and try to figure something out. There needs to be dialogue."