P'burg School District sends out pink slips Tuesday, May 13, 2008 • By ANDREA EILENBERGER • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | Most Phillipsburg School District employees caught in the elimination of 64 positions were notified within the past few days, school officials said Monday. About 12 nonprofessional staff members have yet to receive layoff notices. The district is losing 37.6 teaching positions, eight professional support positions and six administrative supervisory positions, acting Superintendent George Chando said. "It truly is a very sad day," said Barbara English, president of the Phillipsburg Education Association. The staff reductions are a painful part of an initial $10 million budget shortfall stemming largely from a new state funding formula, school officials said. A handful of the 64 positions included posts that were initially requested but never filled, Chando said. Business Administrator Bill Poch estimated the total reductions will save the district $3.6 million in salaries and benefits. The district proposed a $59.6 million 2008-09 budget. Eight tenured staff members are being laid off as part of a work force reduction. Those employees will remain on a preferred eligible list and could be recalled if an appropriate position opens up, a board document states. Those employees include two art teachers, two industrial technology teachers, a family consumer science teacher, a social worker and a Child Study Team supervisor. Other than those positions, school district officials Monday night did not identify employees facing elimination. The board approved lists of certificated elementary professional staff members and certificated district and secondary professional staff members for re-employment. The employee reductions "weighed heavily on our hearts and minds," board President Paul Rummerfield said. The district is losing valuable, productive members of its family, Rummerfield said. Rummerfield expects the cuts will hit home for students and parents when the next school year begins and a program they've been looking forward to is no longer available or an excellent teacher is gone. He and Chando stressed the changes were thoroughly reviewed, beginning with the administrators of each school building and progressing through the central office and the school board. Former teacher and Greenwich Township resident Diane Lein warned school officials that the "devil is in the details," and she hopes that programs, schedules and teachers' academic backgrounds were carefully considered. She said the district is losing a lot of top teachers. Reporter Andrea Eilenberger can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at aeilenberger@express-times.com.