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Oct 15, 2008 4:36 pm US/Central
Amid Layoffs, Group Calls For DISD To Strike
Activist Group Also Calls For Superintendent's Resignation
463 DISD Teachers To Get Job Cut Notices Thursday
Compiled From Staff Reports
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Dallas Independent School District trustees are scheduled to meet Thursday to evaluate Superintendent Michael Hinojosa's performance.
In the wake of budget problems, a Hispanic activist group is calling for the superintendent's resignation. Accion America says Hinojosa failed to deal with DISD's problem with the drug called 'Cheese' and now the budget issues.
The group is also calling for a strike on October 29. They've asked teachers not to go to work and students not to go to school.
Despite the one day delay, hundreds of Dallas school teachers will receive formal termination notices Thursday afternoon. The school district says 463 teachers will receive pink slips by 3 p.m.
Teachers who have yet to complete academic requirements to teach and don't have state teachers' certifications are called probationary employees. They make up the vast majority targeted for termination.
Most veteran teachers, who are skilled in core areas such as math science or bilingual education, will keep their jobs.
The layoffs will help alleviate the $84-million budget shortfall. Years of accounting, budgeting and hiring errors at the district led to a deficit that's increasing by about a $1 million each week, the district said last month.
Dallas schools have let go 213 non-contract workers since Sept. 29 and eliminated another 197 vacant positions. School officials have said they expect 1,100 total cuts, including layoffs and eliminations of vacant positions.
State Rep. Tony Goolsby has asked Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott to oversee the district's budgeting and audit process.
"We've had major problems with DISD for a long time, and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better," Goolsby said. "It's time to start flexing some muscle."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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