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Sep 18, 2008 6:24 pm US/Central
Amid Financial Disaster, DISD Super To Keep Job
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
The Dallas Independent School District is one day away from taking an unprecedented step. They will declare a financial emergency in order to cut hundreds of jobs.
The district finds itself
$64 million in the hole by spending money it didn't have on new teaching positions. Now the school board will have to give the go-ahead to
cut up to 700 teaching jobs.
Thursday, Superintendent Hinojosa provided a videotaped presentation to area school employees, acknowledging his plan to cut back jobs.
Some school board members say while they are critical of Dr. Hinojosa, they are not to the point of asking him to resign.
"To remove an educational leader for this would disrupt the education plan," said Jack Lowe, the Dallas ISD Board President. "It would not address the financial plan for a year, because we'd have an interim. It would be a horrible decision."
DISD Trustee Ron Price agrees. "For those folks who are yelling and screaming, 'We need to fire the superintendent,' we are not going to do that. This is not the time to make such a drastic move," he said.
Officials will now get an accurate count of students in every school in the district. From there, they will assess how many teachers will be cut. Those teachers were originally hired to improve educational programs.
"We lost track of the numbers," said Lowe. "Shame on him. Shame on me. Shame on us."
The process will begin Friday afternoon. The layoffs are expected to take place in October.
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