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Beyond personal pain, teacher layoffs have rippling effects on schools
By Sue Frey and Louis Freedberg ~ EdSource Extra
Of all the budget-cutting remedies that school districts have to undertake, laying off teachers — or even the threat of being laid off — has a rippling effect on schools and students that goes far beyond the pain being experienced by individual teachers faced with losing their jobs.
Layoffs create anxiety in the weeks leading up to the March 15 deadline for issuing preliminary layoff notices, and then for months afterwards. It can strain staff relationships, affect morale, and cause stress and anxiety among those threatened with joblessness during a period of high unemployment.
The impact is felt throughout the entire school and in classrooms, beginning with the day pink slips are issued, according to both school administrators and teachers who have received them.
“The March 15 deadline is just a killer,” lamented Jonathan Raymond, superintendent of Sacramento City Unified at a school finance hearing