Cobb board spares teachers, nurses’ jobs in 2010 budget

A handful of school nurses scheduled for layoffs in Cobb County were rescued Wednesday when the school board voted to keep their jobs.

But the school board approved a 2010 budget that contains a 2 percent across-the-board pay cut, delayed raises for teachers, furloughs for non-teachers and layoffs for about 12 people. The board faced a $58 million deficit.

“We’ve made a concerted effort to preserve teaching jobs and benefits,” Cobb County School Superintendent Fred Sanderson said. No teachers were laid off.

“It has not been easy. It has not been without pain,” Sanderson said.

The Cobb County School Board unanimously approved the $907 million budget, which takes effect July 1.

As many as 33 people, including five school nurses, originally faced losing their jobs. The school board was able to place several workers in vacancies.

The approved budget now cuts 12 people, among them the school system’s lobbyist, two secretaries in the transportation department, a technology director, a secretary for social workers, a recruiting supervisor and a special education supervisor.

The proposal to cut three consulting nurses and two backup nurses stirred fears among parents, many of whom protested at school board meetings in the past month. The school board took about $284,000 from reserves to reinstate the nurses.

“It’s a matter of life and death,” said Debbie Parsons, a teacher and mother who attended the meeting Wednesday to support the nurses. Her 10-year-old son has a peanut allergy and has stopped breathing and needed an epinephrine shot on occasion when exposed to peanuts, Parsons said.