More pink slips headed for U-46 employees

Nearly 330 Elgin Area School District U-46 employees will have received termination notices by the end of this week.

School board members Monday night approved the second and final wave of 27 pink slips for teachers, substitutes, teaching assistants and secretaries. The board approved 300 other notices in February.

Reducing work force numbers, an annual task of the district, must be completed 60 days before the end of the school year, according to state law.

"This happens every year," said Tony Sanders, district spokesman. "It doesn't mean all of these people will not be coming back."

Reducing staff allows U-46 to remain fiscally flexible, said Lalo Ponce, assistant superintendent for administrative services.

Positions are cut for a number of reasons, Ponce said. "Some positions are based on the grant money we receive or our enrollment counts," he said. Long-term substitutes for staff members on maternity or medical leave are often no longer needed in the same capacity.

"If we hired everyone back for next year in their same positions we'd be overstaffed in the fall," he said.

Last school year, school board members approved 464 termination notices.

"All staff members who received termination notices but expressed an interest in returning were called to work in again by last November," Ponce said.

It is likely that a number of the individuals who received notices will be rehired next year, Ponce said.