The Saugus Union School District has been faced with some serious budget cuts that needed to be made and because of this, nearly 80 teachers and counselors were put out of work earlier this week, which led to a string of emotions and plenty of tears. The layoffs that have been made include 74 teachers, along with four counselors, and a teacher that was sent to the school district for a particular assignment. The teachers that have been laid off will finish out the year but once the school year ends, they will no longer be employed with the school district.

The assistant superintended of personnel, Rick Grove, made the announcement earlier this week, and was quite said to have to announce the resolution that was made. As he made the announcement, multiple teachers in the audience had eyes full of tears and with good reason. Grove continued on with his announcement, stating that the school district is hopeful and optimistic that there is a possibility to bring back these employees in the future. However, this does not make things better for those who are now being put out of work.

The decision to layoff these teachers passed in a vote of 4-0, although one board member was not present at the meeting. Even though the vote was unanimous, board members are still very sad about the decision and feel blessed to have had the opportunity to have these teachers work for the school district in the past. The school board members claim that it was tough to come to a decision but this is something that, at this moment in time, needed to be done.

Dozens of teachers came out to the meeting to express how they felt about the fact that they would be laid off. Of course, these teachers were very frustrated with the decision but they were also sad about it too. A third grade teacher at Rio Vista Elementary, Nancy Tomei, is one of the teachers that will be laid off. She made sure to tell the board members that with laying-off so many people, they are losing the strength of teaching, which is generally the most important for the students.

With the layoffs in place, the school district in Saugus plans to increase the amount of students per classroom to make up for the teachers that have been laid off. This means that teachers will not be able to focus as much attention on individual students because classroom sizes will be so large, which definitely causes some concerns. Some of the teachers may be hired back in the future if it is at all possible. In the meantime, the school board says they are proud of the teachers they have and they know it will be tough having to let go of so many quality teachers.