30 Port Chester Teachers Get Pink Slips

Friday brought bad news for more than two dozen teachers in Port Chester schools.

In all, 30 school employees received "Reduction In Force" letters from their principals and managers. Their jobs were eliminated in the school district's preliminary budget as part of an effort to cover a for the 2012-2013 school year.

The early budget draft is $80,897,493, up more than $1.3 million from last year.

School pink slips differ from private-sector termination letters in that they aren't set in stone until the Board of Education presents its final budget to voters. That won't happen until after April 1, when New York State's budget is due.

That gives the district less than a month to find funds to save those positions and avoid other major cuts.

Parents, teachers and taxpayers are in the third month of an aggressive to . In addition to sending thousands of letters as of earlier this month, some have traveled to Albany to personally lobby on behalf of Port Chester schools.

On Monday, school board member Bob Johnson returned from a lobbying trip to Albany, and teachers are organizing groups to visit state representatives.

The Board of Education will convene for a special meeting this afternoon, possibly to renegotiate with the Port Chester Schools Administrators and Supervisors Association.

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