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Newton School Librarians Face LayoffsHalf of the library media specialist positions in public elementary schools in the upscale Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts, will be eliminated next year to accommodate a budget crunch caused by increases in special education, utility bills, and benefits pay. In a budget proposal announced March 7 by School Superintendent Jeffrey M. Young, the 6.9 FTE librarians will be among the positions cut “as equitably and surgically as possible” to help close a gap of about $4.8 million in the 2006 budget.“We’re just in shock and disbelief,” one Newton school staff member said in the March 8 Boston Herald. “Cutting the librarians is so short-sighted, so devastating.” Lincoln-Eliot School Principal Vivian Swoboda told the Newton TAB that the cuts were “a real loss. . . . It’s so important for kids to learn research skills” to navigate the internet. Other positions eliminated are 54 teacher aides and 29 teachers in the elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as 14 support staff. The Herald noted that Newton’s well-regarded school system had settled on a new contract with its union the previous week, giving teachers a 6% raise over the next two years. Posted March 11, 2005. |
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