Officials eliminate 100 district jobs

Columbia County school officials eliminated nearly 100 jobs Tuesday.

//

The school board approved dropping 60 non-teaching jobs, including 23 paraprofessionals in elementary schools, eight middle-school clerical positions and 10 technical support staff.

More than 25 teaching positions were eliminated in the elementary grades and another 22 in the middle grades.

The school board approved the creation of 8.5 high school teaching jobs for the new Grovetown High School.

To offset massive state budget cuts, Gov. Sonny Perdue raised class-size limits for the next school year, which made the teaching cuts possible.

Superintendent Charles Nagle said few if any layoffs will be required, as many of the positions can be cut through attrition.

"This is probably one of the most stressful things I've ever had to work with," Nagle said.

Last school year, the system hired about 170 new teachers, Human Resources Director Anthony Wright said. In the past, board members have hired as many as 200 teachers in a single year.

New teacher orientations were held at Savannah Rapids Pavilion, which is one of the few facilities in the county large enough to contain so many educators. For next school year, only 30 new teachers will be required, Wright said.

Also at the meeting, the school board approved a resolution chastising state lawmakers for eliminating the extra pay earned by National Board Certified teachers. The resolution will be sent to Perdue and the state Legislature. Columbia County boasts 58 Board Certified teachers, Nagle said.

The board also raised the price of renting school facilities.

Starting July 1, the rental price at a school will go up by as little as $10 or as much as $56 per hour, depending on the facility. There also is now a two-hour minimum rental time, and those renting facilities for as long as eight hours must also pay $50 in supervisory and custodial fees.