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Teacher cuts not as bad as previously feared There will be 70 fewer pink slips sent to Santa Rosa County school teachers this week than originally planned. Twenty-seven more support personnel will be added back to the ranks of the employed within the district. That was the word from Lewis Lynn, Santa Rosa County School District's Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, last week. "We originally thought we would need to lay off 262 teachers and 103 support personnel," Lynn said. "But with the actions of the state legislature and the federal stimulus money, we won't need to make cuts that deep." He said 21 teachers who had reached retirement age but did not have the seniority to retire with all their benefits took the early retirement severance package offered by the district, which gave them $10,000 in one lump sum. There were already 25 additional teachers in the drop program, which meant they were ready to retire anyway. The district also received notice earlier this month that it will receive $7.8 million in Title I funds earmarked for Exceptional Students Education (ESE). That allowed the district to add back 51.5 jobs from the original layoff plans. So now of the teachers receiving final layoff notices, at least 13 of those could get jobs in the district through the federal stimulus money to be used for instructional coaches. The district is planning to hire 12 math coaches for Title I schools and a math coach supervisor at the district level. Carol Calfee said the district wants to use its laid-off teachers if possible so they can "keep them in the district." "This federal money for the math coaches will only be allocated for two years," Calfee said. "We are hoping by then the teachers who stay with us in the math coaching positions can find positions elsewhere in the district." Lynn said the district used the same formula for each school in figuring out staffing numbers.
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