Chicago Suburb School District Lays Off 132 Employees; 53 Teachers

The Chicago suburb of Elgin’s School District U-46 will undergo 132 layoffs in the Spring of 2011. Layoff notices are sent two months in advance in accordance with state guidelines that dictate cuts must be made two months before the end of the school year.

“These are the usual and customary ones,” said Superintendent Jose Torres. “But we take them very seriously

Last year U-46 suffered over 1,000 employee layoffs with just over 750 teachers among them.

“It won’t even get close to that,” according to Torres. Of the 132 layoffs set to take effect this Spring, 53 are teachers.

Tony Sanders, the district spokesman, stated that many of these teachers were paid with grant money, and were hired contingent with the length of the grant.