480 Fulton County teacher positions on the chopping block

By Gracie Bonds Staples

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Nearly 500 Fulton County teachers could lose their jobs as part of a budget tightening plan to shave nearly $140 million from the districts' 2011 budget.

The cuts were approved Feb. 18 when the board voted to increase class size to the state maximum across all grades, saving the district some $31 million.

The teacher posts are among 1,000 proposed positions slated for elimination. The recommended cuts will be announced Tuesday night, when Superintendent Cindy Loe goes before the school board with an additional $27.7 million in cuts for the school year. Board members could vote on them as early as their March 18 meeting.

Also included in the recommendations is as many as 100 custodian jobs, 26 social workers, 37 counselors, 28 psychologists, 42 instructional support teachers and 59 positions in the district’s popular band and orchestra program.

“No matter how one comes at this problem, every possible solution requires us to further reduce positions,” Loe said in a video message to employees Thursday.

The superintendent recommended starting at the district level, where she has already eliminated 33 positions, including the assistant superintendent in charge of support services; the principal of the virtual school and several secretaries.

Despite support from elementary school principals to slash the band and orchestra program and convert it into a fee-based after-school program for fourth and fifth graders, nearly 4,000 parents have signed an online petition urging the board to reconsider before the vote on March 18.

“We are truly surprised and disappointed in our county's school board consideration to eliminate instrumental music from elementary schools,” the petition states. “The discipline gained through learning an instrument carries into all areas of study for kids.”

Some parents signing the petition, also lefts comments about the recommendation.

"Removing music from public school would be a travesty since it is scientifically proven that a child who plays music learns better academically," one parent wrote, for instance. "Please do not deprive our children of learning music in school -- my daughter plans to be a music major because of her musical experience that began in 4th grade band."

In the event the recommended cuts are approved, officials hope that many of the employees will be able to find jobs through normal attrition in the system.

The collective impact will be the loss of about 1,000 jobs in a system that has 12,000 full-time employees and about 90,000 students, said Allison Toller, district spokeswoman.

“In the event the board approves the job cuts, we’ll work very hard to place people in available positions,” Toller said.

Toller said the district is getting new revenue estimates and it appears our deficit is closer to about $120 million than $140 million.

The recommendations would save nearly $1 million by cutting back the number of school resource officers (police officers) to one in north Fulton high schools and two in south Fulton high schools. And it would save another $867,000 by reducing media specialist positions to one per high school.

Nearly 140 paraprofessionals in grades 1 to 3 would be eliminated, for a savings of $3.8 million; and $4.1 million in savings by cutting the elementary school band and orchestra programs. Loe said in the video that the after-school band programs could be expanded to include any interested third-graders.

Employees who lose their jobs will be on the school system payroll through June 30, Toller said.