Some Laid-Off Staffers Being Brought Back To Philadelphia Schools
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - With the start of school a little more than two weeks away, the Philadelphia School District is restoring some laid-off staffers with the money it has available.
With the assurance of $50-million in city funding to open schools, the district has money to hire back 1,600 of the nearly 4,000 school workers laid-off in June.
Most are noontime aides, says Superintendent Wililam Hite:
"Some were music teachers. Some were secretaries. We are looking to bring back approximately 100 guidance counselors. between 40 and 50 assistant principals."
Not every school will get a guidance counselor. Hite says a pool of teachers will be hired to alleviate some split classes in the lower grades -- for example, where second and third grade classes are combined.
Parents told the School Reform Commission this week that it's not enough just to open schools on time. They need to know whether their school will have a counselor or a nurse or whether classrooms will be at capacity.
