25 jobs at JCPS central office eliminated
More than two dozen Jefferson County Public Schools employees who work in the district's central offices have been informed that their positions have been eliminated as part of a move to free up money.
According to new organizational charts up for approval at Tuesday's board meeting, several central office staffers may also end up with new job titles or in a different department. Other jobs that are currently vacant are also being eliminated.
The district imposed a $2.4 million reduction in how much its departments were spending on job positions, and is slated to trim a total of nearly $3 million from central office in the 2016-17 school year once cuts to flexible spending are added.
May 15 is the date by which teachers and other JCPS employees need to be notified of overstaffing or other changes to their employment for the coming year.
JCPS spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said that at least some of the 25 individuals who were notified their jobs are being eliminated will be able to apply for other positions. She pointed out that some new positions - including a human resources processing coordinator - have been created with the new organizational charts up for approval Tuesday.
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Among the positions being eliminated: all eight of the district's business machine technicians, who maintain and repair business, office and teaching machines in the district such as copiers, laminators and poster printers, according to the district's job descriptions.
Brislin said the district is trying to reorganize to be more efficient. She said the district currently has IT technicians and field technicians in addition to the business machine techs. "In a modern day, they need someone who can work on all three," Brislin said.
Other jobs that were stricken from the organizational charts include clerk, secretary, custodian, supervisor and director-level positions.
Meanwhile, the district appears to also be making major organizational shifts in the early childhood department, and hundreds of early childhood employees are also receiving overstaff notices right now, but those notices are unrelated to the budget cuts. JCPS' nearly $15 million annual grant for Head Start is still up in the air, and with the May 15 employment notification looming, overstaff notices have gone out, Brislin said. If the district does receive the grant, it would bring back the early childhood employees that had been overstaffed.
JCPS officials plan to have a 4 p.m. Tuesday work session at district headquarters, 3332 Newburg Road, to update the school board on the tentative budget, which is up for board approval later this month. The regular board meeting, where the board is slated to vote on the redone organizational charts, is at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Reporter Allison Ross can be reached at (502) 582-4241. Follow the Courier-Journal's education team at Facebook.com/SchooledCJ.