ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS) is facing budgetary challenges that have resulted in layoffs prompted by the administration, according to Les Atkins, ABSS spokesperson.
Atkins said more than 60 people will be impacted by the layoffs.
The administration is to bring a reduction in force (RIF) proposal before the Board of Education for consideration. The board will review the proposal at a meeting on Feb. 13 and vote on whether to proceed with the recommended staffing changes.
"While we understand this potential RIF may create uncertainty for some employees, out of respect for all involved, the district will not be releasing any details or commenting on specifics of the proposal until the Board has had a chance to review and vote on the matter formerly," Atkins wrote in a statement.
Several viewers reached out to us today about these possible layoffs after WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman did some digging, it turns out certain people in certain positions within ABSS could lose their jobs.
The main two positions being looked at are nurses and assistant principals.
The district says this isn't the first round of cuts either, last year the superintendent made $7 million worth of cuts within the district's central office. As the school system continues to face financial issues, they are now taking a look at who they can cut from the schools. Nurses are on that list.
"As you might recall, schools in the aftermath of COVID and during COVID we received lots of funding, additional funding, and that was to bring new people on to help in the aftermath of COVID and a lot of those funds are no longer available. So, we can not sustain those positions because we simply don't have the funds," Atkins said.
WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman also spoke with two ABSS school nurses who told me they were notified of these possible layoffs just two days ago. They asked to remain anonymous to keep any job security they may have left.
One nurse explained she was called into a meeting where she found out that there was a plan for cuts to deal with the budget crisis and that her position was one of those cuts. She said the encounter took all of two minutes.
She is heartbroken by the news saying quote, "I love my kiddos at this school as if they are my own, and it breaks my heart to leave them without knowing who and how they will be medically cared for. I did not become a school nurse for the money. I became a school nurse to be able to be present with my family and community. My children attend ABSS schools."
As for assistant principals, ABSS is given funding for principals and assistant principals for every 1,000 students, Atkins uses Eastern Alamance High School as an example when talking about how these cuts may be made, "we have multiple assistant principals at that school for example, because we felt like as a district it was not safe to have 1,100 students in a building with only two administrators. So, that's one of the things we've had to look at in terms of funding and we don't have the funding to sustain those multiple extra positions.
Again, things aren't set in stone just yet. The Alamance-Burlington's Board of Education has to make a vote on these layoffs.
That vote is expected on Feb. 13th.