School District May Lay Off 14 Employees

The school district is expected to send notices of potential layoff to 14 employees, but district officials say the positions may be saved if state and federal grants are renewed during the summer.

School board members are expected to vote tonight on the recommended layoff notices.

The fate of the Irvine Unified School District employees depends on continued funding for a handful of programs, such as the Horizons youth employment program that helps high school students find jobs.

Most of the employees whose jobs are at risk are teaching assistants, among the district’s 700 classified employees who do not have teaching credentials.

“We go through this every single year,” said Linda O’Neal, career development coordinator for the school district. “We’re waiting to see what happens with the state budget.”

O’Neal said that only one of the 12 different grants the Horizons program receives is still in doubt.

The uncertainty of continued funding for grant programs is nothing new, according to Deputy Supt. Susan Long, who oversees school district personnel matters. Long said that most of the layoffs may be avoided.

“We’ll do as much as we can through natural attrition,” Long said. “When all is said and done, this will probably have a minimal impact on our employees. We just need to take precautionary steps.”

The district is legally required to issue the notices of potential layoff to warn employees that their jobs are at risk for the coming school year, Supt. Dennis M. Smith said.