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Friday, April 15, 2011

Detroit to send layoff notices to all its public teachers | Reuters

Detroit to send layoff notices to all its public teachers | Reuters

Detroit to send layoff notices to all its public teachers

A child colors a Chinese mask in Elementary School, April 11, 2011. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A child colors a Chinese mask in Elementary School, April 11, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

CHICAGO | Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:38pm EDT

(Reuters) - The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit's troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district's 5,466 unionized employees.

In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district's temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers "in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district's declining student enrollment."

Bobb said nearly 250 administrators were receiving the notices, too.

The district is unlikely to eliminate all the teachers. Last year, it sent out