All employees slated to lose their jobs as part of the Orange County School Board's grim budget prospects have been notified of their termination.
Over the past several weeks, Superintendent Bob Grimesey has met personally with the one part-time and 81 full-time employees affected by the budget cuts and presented each a termination letter.
The adopted School Board budget calls for 53.5 positions to be eliminated. Grimesey's supplemental budget-reduction plan calls for 28 more.
The School Board has requested $17.2 million in local funds--the same amount it received this year. But the system is expected to get less money from the state, which is looking at $4 billion in budget cuts.
The exact amount of school cuts needed cannot be determined until final funding decisions are made by the General Assembly and the county's Board of Supervisors.
According to Grimesey, employees who are to be terminated must be notified before April 15.
"Given that the Board of Supervisors will not approve the final budget until April 13, it will be impossible to issue so many notifications within a 48-hour period," he said.
"Therefore, we must assume the positions will be eliminated until we can be certain of the necessary funding.
"That said, we may be able to identify some positions for recall following the conclusion of the General Assembly."
Some positions may be recalled before supervisors adopt a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, depending on how the budget process goes, he said.
Regardless of the April 15 deadline, Grimesey said, any employee listed on a reduction list deserves to be given as much advanced notice as possible.
"This is a professional courtesy," he said. "Such early notification empowers the individual by giving the employee an opportunity to participate in the budget development process in an effort to restore his or her position.
"Early notification also provides the employee with up to two additional months to begin seeking alternative employment. Simply put, our early notification is the moral thing to do."
School Board Chairman Jerry Bledsoe supports Grimesey's decision to handle the matter personally.
"Several people have talked to me about this," he said. "They weren't happy about losing their jobs, but they thought they were treated with respect.
"It's a tough situation, but the superintendent showed his interest in their welfare and it was handled very professionally."
Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net