175 Kansas City Teachers Laid Off Before 2010-11 School Year

175 Kansas City School teacher received layoff notices on Wednesday. This is just another step in the trend of layoffs afflicting the Kansas City School District. Over 1,000 employees at the district have had their jobs cut throughout the past year.

At the start of the 2009 school year, the district had 3,380 employees. As the district heads into the 2010-11 school year, there will be approximately 2,220 employees working at the district.

Troy Sawyers, an elementary school teacher at the district who has been laid off, spoke out. “The worst thing is to find out with a week left before everything starts. I feel like everyone is going to be substituting.”

The district relegated $5 million in order to buy out teachers and principals who were eligible for retirement. 217 employees accepted the offer.

Union President Andrea Flinders says that the union is currently reviewing the layoffs and helping to fix some errors.