[jyl]

That does suck, I’m sorry.

600 cuts out of 1100 total employees – isn’t that like ¾ of the teachers? Sounds like something a lot worse that simply the budget woes that most school districts are going through.

If they end up simply re-hiring most of the people laid off but at lower salary/benefits and/or loss of pension vesting, especially if you see a pattern of rehiring only the younger teachers, you might want to investigate potential legal claims. One could conceive of a maneuver like this used as part of an age discrimination scheme.

Federal govt money protected many school districts from the worst of the recession last year, but it won’t do so this year.

My kids’ private school has cut some teaching hours and headcount too, so far it has been sort of logical (lower enrollment = fewer teaching hours needed) but in the 2011/12 budget I foresee a harder choice between teaching staff and administrative staff.