Incomplete list of publicly announced education layoffs & school shutdowns from January to June 2014:
Alabama: Hoover City Schools laid off nine employees. School officials said that despite a growing student population, local taxes began declining suddenly in 2009-10 (isn’t that when the ‘recession’ officially ended?) and it doesn’t help that Obama Care has drastically increased the costs of employee benefits. In Birmingham, God refused to stop the Parkway Christian Academy from shutting down. This time it’s blamed on church members not paying their dues, as a result the church has to sell the school! The John Essex School shutting down before the 2014-15 school year. Student population has dropped to less than 100. School officials say families are getting the hell out of the country: “The enrollment just kept dwindling. This is the trend….Families are moving away and the families aren’t as big as they used to be.”-Luke Hallmark
Alaska: University of Fairbanks warned of 100 job cuts! It’s blamed on crashing taxpayer funding and increasing healthcare costs for employees due to Obama Care.
Arizona: The Blue Ridge Unified School District warned of layoffs. Sunnyside Unified School District eliminated seven full time librarians. Six librarians now forced to work at two different school libraries. Coconino Community College District killed 15 jobs. This leaves only two full time positions for the college. University of Phoenix (Apollo Education Group) laid off less than 50 employees. Company officials say it’s part of their restructuring.
California: Coachella Valley Unified School District killed 96 positions, on top of the previous 51 employees let go. School district officials admitted they are trying to avoid bankruptcy, however, employees and taxpayers are confused because the district was able to give students 18-thousand iPads last year. On top of that the Golden State government is supposed to be giving schools extra money for the school year. Local news reports said district officials made the layoff decision without public discussion. Galt Joint Union High School District says it must layoff five employees, due to what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS). BEST (Barstow Employment Specialized Training) Opportunities killed 98 jobs, guess their job training wasn’t good enough. CDIHS/OMI Head Start laying off 76 people in July.
Colorado: Colorado State University-Pueblo laid off 22 employees. 19 vacant positions have been eliminated. Durango School District laid off 24 people. School officials say that despite increasing student enrollment the state has drastically cut funding.
Connecticut: God refusing to stop the Christian Ledyard Center Nursery School from shutting down. It’s blamed on a steady but snowballing decline in students. This school year they have only 40 students, after years of having hundreds! I asked this before, where are all the grade school and college students going? Is there some kind-o-cover up regarding a massive population decline in the U.S.? In Lemont, God refused to stop the all Christian girls (hey isn’t that discrimination against boys?) Mount Assisi Academy from shutting down. Same reason, what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS). Is it the rapture?
Florida: Manatee County Schools laid off 12 employees. God refused to stop the shutdown of Wellington Christian School, 50 jobs lost. The Christian parents are pissed saying “Terrible. Out of the blue. Nothing. Just an e-mail to everybody. It was very upsetting.” Another parent says they just busted their butts raising donations to save the school, and now they want that money back, saying “Sure, well, I don’t know about that honestly in terms of the last few days, but if the money was designated to save our high school that money should be returned to our families!” However, greedy church officials now say that money is staying with the church! The ‘interim’ pastor says he wants to sell off the school property! Broward County School District shutting down three charter schools (including The Obama Academy for Boys). This is on top of the 12 charter schools the district has already killed! This time school officials say the charter schools being closed broke their contracts, by not operating at the locations stipulated in the contracts, and, they failed to get permits (they were apparently permitted as day care centers, not schools). Duval County Head Start more than 300 jobs affected due to loss of funding! The education program is now forced to rely on cheap contractors.
Georgia: Jackson County School District wants to kill 42 jobs. District officials say reduced taxpayer funding and increased Obama Care insurance costs have created a $4.6-million USD shortfall! Muscogee County School District eliminated 113 jobs (69 occupied positions and 44 vacant positions)! It’s due to funding problems, but 19 teachers were fired specifically for poor performance.
Illinois: Bushnell-Prairie City School District laid at least 16 employees, ended two sports programs and ended elementary summer school for the 2014-15 school year. It’s blamed on massive funding cuts at the states level. Dunlap School District laid off 17 employees. It was revealed the district is in the hole $2.1-million. Employees are pissed because last year the district led everybody to believe the district was in good shape. The Prairie State Superintendent of Schools warned 13-thousand 4-hundred teachers could become unemployed! In Galeberg, after 35 years the Carl Sandburg College Children’s School shutdown in June: “…the college simply no longer offers the accompanying programs and no longer has the resources available to continue to support it financially given the reduced funding we’ve received from the state in recent years.”
Chicago Public Schools laid off 1150 employees! School administrators claim the number of layoffs are the lowest in the past five years! The job killing is blamed on the ever increasing Disappearing Students Syndrome and a new per-pupil funding formula. Belleville School District laid off 12 teachers, as a “precaution”. School administrators say the state and federal governments have not been paying what they are supposed to pay under school funding laws. As an example; the state of Illinois still owes the school district $2.1-million! Taxpayers need to get pissed and ask their elected officials “why?” Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 laid off four of their ten art teachers. Peoria School District 150 killing 200 jobs! District officials blamed crashing funding from federal and state tax revenues, and even crashing local property tax revenues. In other words, the economy sucks ass! Rockford School District shutting down nine schools, and tearing them down to created “green space”! It’s not clear why, even a local news source stated “parents expressed extreme curiosity in the district’s plans”.
Iowa: Wesleyan College warned of layoffs. At least 45 people will lose their jobs. 16 programs are being shutdown, affecting at least 50 students who thought they were close to graduating. College administrators blame what I call DSS and lack of money! In Galesburg, Cooke Elementary school being shutdown. School district officials say student enrollment is so low the school can barley maintain 15 students per class, making it a waste of money to keep the school open. It also doesn’t help that the district is in the hole by $4.4-million! Iowa City Community School District eliminated 36 teacher and administrator positions. 47 teachers are expected to retire and those positions will not be filled, but school district officials said some layoffs might still be necessary. It’s blamed on state mandated education spending cuts. West Des Moines’ Johnston Community School District voted to shutdown an elementary school and possibly kill 14 jobs. Administrators say they must shutdown an elementary school, then turn a Junior High into an elementary school, plus raise property taxes/fees in order to build a new High School. (Hey they pulled that crap here in Chubbuck/Pocatello, Idaho, and it was nothing but a big mess and a scam for local taxpayers!) West Des Moines says they must shutdown the Phenix Early Childhood Center in order to deal with education funding cuts. 180 students and 12 teachers affected!
Kansas: God can’t stop Christian non-profit Ottawa University from laying off 18 employees. School officials say the layoffs are “a preventive measure” against the growing number of disappearing (raptured?) students.
Kentucky: University of Louisville warned of massive layoffs. It’s blamed on what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS). School officials revealed that due to declining enrollments they’ve cut $114-million out of their operating budget over the past ten years! Now the Governor wants to slash state funding of higher education by 2.5%. Fort Knox to shutdown four schools; Kingsolver Elementary, Mudge Elementary, Pierce Elementary and Walker Intermediate School. That’s half their schools! 130 jobs will be lost! It’s blamed on the de-activation of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Brigade. Georgetown College laying off an undisclosed number of employees and eliminating French, German, Computer Science, and Music majors. They say it’s part of their two year “strategic” plan to adjust to Obama Care, which drastically increases the cost of employee retirement and health insurance benefits. In Louisville, Jefferson County Public Schools officials blames disappointing student performance for why Myers Middle School (Junior High) must be closed. Students consistently rank in the bottom 1% for the whole state! Northern Kentucky University laid off 20 employees, blaming “financial challenges”.
Louisiana: The University of New Orleans announced they will kill an undisclosed number of their 84 degree programs, which will result in layoffs. The university laid off 28 people back in February. Since 2012 more than 110 employees have been laid off, and they shutdown their child daycare! It’s blamed on what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome, for example; in 2003 the university had more than 17-thousand students, in 2013 they had only 9323, an almost 50% reduction over ten years! Louisiana Delta Community College wants to layoff 28 employees. The college has been forced to cut its operating budget by millions of dollars for the past several school years. Loyola University killed more than 24 jobs. In Baton Rouge, The Career Academy charter school forced to shutdown, despite their five year contract with East Baton Rouge Parish School System. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System claims they need the property.
Maine: The York School District killed nine jobs. The University of Maine wants to kill 165 to 255 jobs! Administrators say it will have to be, if the state government goes through with draconian budget cuts. University of Southern Maine shutdown Dickey Wood Hall. It’s blamed on DSS. The Hall was designed to accommodate 360 students, but this past spring there were only 40 living in the dorm!
Maryland: University of Maryland University College warned of 70 layoffs. It’s blamed on what I call Disappearing Student Syndrome (DSS) and increased Obama Care costs for employees. Loyola University eliminated 37 jobs.
Massachusetts: Wareham School District warned of massive restructuring and layoffs. The District is short $2.4-million! In Worchester, God refused to stop the killing of 15 jobs at the Catholic Assumption College. School officials said the layoffs were the only way they could keep from raising tuition. Parents have told school officials the number one reason why student enrollment is declining is because of the skyrocketing costs of higher education (or is it the Rapture?). Amherst Regional School Committee eliminated 12 jobs, blamed “mainly to declining enrollment”. After only 11 years, Center for Digital Imaging Arts now chapter 7 bankrupt busted. Chapter 7 bankruptcy indicates they are toast and will be liqudated. In Norwood, That Which Cannot Be Named refused to stop the shutdown of the Jewish elementary school Kehillah Schechter Academy. It’s blamed on disappearing Jewish students (it also doesn’t help that the school is millions of dollars in debt).
Michigan: Lansing Public School District warned it might have to shutdown Eastern High School. It’s blamed on decreasing students and increasing employee costs caused by Obama Care health insurance and retirement increases. To add to that, The Lansing Public School District privatizing their school bus system, trying to cut more than $700-thousand from their budget. School bus drivers make about $12 per hour, part time, so just imagine what kind of contracted drivers they’re going to get for minimum wage. School bus driver Keisha Boose is pissed, saying “I feel like I have been a loyal employee and the Lansing School District does not have my back!” After first announcing (in March) they would not privatize their school bus system, Battle Creek Public Schools privatized their school bus system! 41 jobs affected. The Charlotte Public Schools could shutdown the Charlotte Performing Arts Center. Administrators revealed the taxpayer funded Arts Center has been losing tens of thousands of dollars since 2010. Detroit Public Schools (DPS) warned they might shutdown 26 schools! Apparently DPS is in the hole by $120-million! Eastern Michigan University is laying off 10 of its 11 full time lecturers! It’s blamed on what I call DSS, which is making budget problems even worse. The troubled and possibly thieving Saginaw School District warned of school shutdowns in order to save money. The District is already being sued by one of its own board members, is already in the hole by $6.1-million, and last year it was forced by state officials to take over and shutdown the Buena Vista School District. And even though Buena Vista School District is dead, the local residents are still forking over local school taxes to pay off $6-million in district debt! Flint School District is considering getting rid of all 41 administrators! It all depends on the actual student population, Flint has been hemorrhaging students. So far four school have been closed and hundreds of jobs lost! Pontiac Education Association laid off 63 teachers. It’s being blamed on the disappearance of 300 students for the 2014-15 school year! (and don’t forget the increased benefit costs caused by Obama Care). Pontiac schools are in so much financial trouble they are now being overseen by Oakland Intermediate School District. The Ferndale Public Schools warned they must eliminate 30 jobs. Administrators say they will go into the 2014-15 school year missing 300 students!
Minnesota: The Minnesota School of Business shutdown their Shakopee branch, blaming disappearing students: “…in the past few years the number of students taking classes at the Shakopee campus has decreased dramatically.”-note taped to door at the Shakopee branch
The Willmar School District laid off 87 teachers and administrators. They hope it will be temporary. Minnesota State University Moorhead laid off 20 employees, and forced 21 employees to retire early, due to being short $5-million! University officials warned that if things don’t get better they will be short $8-million by 2016! The Elmore Academy and the Wildcat Cafe shutdown to assess “programmatic needs”. After only nine years the only two Christian Camden Music Schools shutdown. God didn’t stop the ‘great recession’ from killing off the schools: “The revenues were not sufficient for me to sustain it.”-Janet Zahn, founder
Mississippi: In McComb, God refused to stop the shutdown of Saint Alphonsus Catholic School, 22 jobs lost. It’s blamed on a the steady disappearance of students over the past seven years (Rapture?).
Missouri: In Ozora, God refuses to stop 115 years old Sacred Heart Catholic School from shutting down. Only 15 students enrolled for the 2014-15 school year! Blame their DSS on the Rapture? Troubled Saint Joseph School District killed more jobs, this time six employees were laid off. School board officials blame it on disappearing students. However, the school district is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI wants to know why the administrators secretly gave themselves $200-thousand in bonuses!
New Hampshire: In Goffstown, after 96 years (and surviving the Great Depression) God refused to stop the shutdown of Villa Augustina School. It’s blamed on disappearing Catholic students. In 2008-09 the Catholic parents tried to save the school by buying it from the Catholic church. However, the students just wouldn’t show up (maybe they’re all in heaven now. Oh no, the rapture?): “A community embracing Christian Values, Academic Excellence, and Loving Service consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church and the charism of St. Claudine Thevenet.”-school mission statement
New Jersey: Port Jervis School District warned of job cuts for the 2014-15 school year, blaming state and federal funding cuts and Obama Care insurance increases for district employees. In Pennsauken Township, God can’t stop Saint Steven’s Christian school from shutting down. Church leaders blame it on what I call DSS (is it the Rapture?). The Newark School system warned it will kill 30% of their 32-hundred teaching jobs over the next three years! Administrators blame crashing revenues which are caused by what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome. It turns out the Salem County One-Stop Career Center is a dead end for six employees who got laid off. It’s blamed on the loss of a community college grant.
New Mexico: Western New Mexico University warned of layoffs and tuition increases, due to what I call DSS.
New York: Rochester City School District warned of massive layoffs due to the loss of 900 students for the 2014-15 school year! The Hempstead School District killed 59 education jobs, in a secret vote. The teachers union went to local news media to report that 47 teachers, 10 teacher assistants and two administrators had received layoff notices. In May school officials declared many teaching positions were going to be “excessed”, which basically means there’s not enough money to cover them all. Wilson Central School District laid off two employees. Rome City School District warned 60 teachers of layoff, and is asking another 40 to retire early. Lockport City School District laid off five employees and eliminated six vacant positions. Glens Falls City School District killing 25 jobs, and reducing the hours for ten employees. The district blames it on declining tax revenues from the state and federal level, and will now push local school taxes/fees to their legal limit. Trumansburg Central School District might layoff seven employees. Utica City School District killing 94 jobs. The district is in the hole by $6.4-million, and this is despite the fact that the district is one of the rare few that actually has increasing student enrollment! Canisius College warned it will layoff an undisclosed number of employees, blaming years of what I call Disappearing Student Syndrome (DSS) and increasing benefit costs caused by Obama Care. After spending $23-thousand dollars to find out why the Guilderland schools are losing students, the shutdown of Altamont Elementary School is now being discussed. The study blamed “Declining community population”, “Declining job market” and “underemployment”, “44% less growth in property values”, as well as blaming the federal government for “Unfunded mandates” and Obama Care for “Increasing health insurance and employee pension costs”! South Colonie Central Schools jacking up property taxes and eliminating 35 jobs. Upset parents don’t understand that Obama Care is jacking up insurance costs astronomically for schools. Administrators are hoping the federal and state government will kick in some extra money to help pay for their financial rape. Queensbury Union Free School District warned of job cuts, blaming continued reduction in funding, and of course they want the cash strapped local property owners to fork over more money. Saranac Lake Central School District wants to layoff at least 20 employees. Trenton School District to layoff 77 employees. Administrators blamed part of their $10.5-million shortfall on charter schools. Buffalo School District warned of layoffs for the 2014-15 school year, as many as 390 jobs could be culled! They’re short nearly $50-million. Teachers in the district are pissed because in the past they’ve taken huge pay cuts, by as much as $15-thousand per teacher! Utica City School District wants to kill 90 jobs, due to a shortfall of $6.4-million, and that’s with an increase in student population and taxes. Local property owners are pissed because the district (along with the city) has been jacking up their taxes, and apparently it’s still not enough! However, one district official revealed that 61% of elitist property owners are exempted from paying taxes! The other 39% are burdened with funding local government. Sounds like a f*cked up place to live. For the first time ever, Cazenovia School District had to kill jobs. 16 positions eliminated due to disappearing students (20% decline over the past 10 years). In Getzville, bus service First Student shutdown, killing 80 jobs. In Brooklyn, after 52 years God refused to stop the shutdown of Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School. Administrators blamed it on a 75% drop in student enrollment (is it the Christian Rapture?)! After 151 years (and surviving the Great Depression as well as dozens of recessions) snooty upscale prep school Adelphi Academy now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. Administrators blame it on disappearing students. Court documents show current K through 12 enrollment at only 100! Tufaro Transit laid off 46 school bus employees due to loss of contract. School Days also warned of 45 school bus employee layoffs due to loss of contract. In Long Island, All American School Bus shutdown, 990 jobs lost! The Schenectady City School District chief, Larry Spring, warned “We’re going to have staff layoffs, we’re going to have program cuts, absolutely.” The district is short $10-million! Employees were also laid off last school year. In Amherst, Medaille College shutdown: “The market environment has changed so much that the most obvious thing to do is return to the mother campus and adjust accordingly.”-Richard Jurasek , president
North Carolina: Elizabeth City State University laid off 34 employees. The interim chancellor says the university must cut costs by $3.7-million per year! ECSU eliminated 46 positions last school year. School officials say disappearing students caused the university to lose $4.2-million in the 2013-14 school year! In Wilmington, after 32 years Teacher’s Aid shutdown. The owner of the education supply store blamed the past five years of declining sales. North Carolina Central University eliminated 55 positions. University of North Carolina at Greensboro warns it might have to destroy 120 jobs and 600 classes in July! It already killed 390 classes for the 2013-14 school year! It’s blamed on increasing disappearing students, 2014-15 school year enrollment is already down by 2.6%. It’s also blamed on decreasing taxpayer funding and increased costs, like increased employee health insurance cost due to Obama Care.
Ohio: Mansfield School Committee eliminated 149 positions and raised up front school fees for parents! It’s blamed on declining tax revenues and increased insurance costs caused by Obama Care. The Columbus City School District warned it will have to close seven schools, in order to cut $50-million from next school year’s budget! Central State University laid off 17 employees, and plans on reducing pay for everybody else. Marietta College killed 20 jobs. Parma City School District warned of layoffs as they and the teachers union battle it out in arbitration. If U.S. teachers are so important why is the United States now among the dumbest countries in the world? After only two years in operations, Believe to Achieve Academy shutdown two schools, 63 jobs lost. Ohio State University eliminated 13 jobs. Administrators said it’s either the layoffs or jacking up tuition. In Toledo, Community Development Institute-Head Start killing 280 jobs in July! The 2014-15 Head Start contract went to another contractor.
Oregon: Southern Oregon University eliminating 80 jobs by 2018. It’s blamed on what I call DSS: “We have to be as lean as possible. We’re trying to save enough so we can reinvest.”-Mary Cullinan, SOU president
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia School District warned of 1-thousand layoffs in September! It’s blamed on massive funding cuts and massive insurance cost increases caused by Obama Care. Administrators said the combination causes them to be short $440-million for 2014-15 school year! They begged city, county and state officials to raise taxes in order to fund the district’s budget shortfall: “We cannot have another year where we’re cutting. We have to get stable…so we can fight for the future instead of worrying about every single year….We can’t go any further! We’ll be in the mud at the bottom of the hill, and it’s a very steep hill!”-Bill Green, School Reform Commission Chairman
Pittsburgh based Education Management Corporation (EDMC) laid off 80 HQ employees, and more are expected. The for-profit higher education system (half owned by Goldman-Sachs) operates in the U.S. and Canada through Argosy University, The Art Institutes (200 employees laid off earlier this year!), Brown Mackie College and South University. EMDC has been losing money for the past three years due to disappearing students (enrollment dropped almost 10% just from last year). EMDC is also facing U.S. federal charges for paying recruiters based on student headcount, which is a violation of U.S. education laws. The Allentown School District laid off 101 employees, including teachers! The district has already killed 350 jobs over the past four years! It’s blamed on what I call DSS, and Obama Care increases insurance and retirement costs for the school district by $4.3-million! Chartiers-Houston School District warned of layoffs, and they blamed the state for withholding payments on recent construction and renovations, and the federal government for increasing health care and retirement costs (Obama Care). Administrators say the result is that they are now $1-million in the hole! The Easton Area School District to layoff 56 employees. Officials need to make up a $5-million shortfall in the 2014-15 budget! West York Area School District killed 29 jobs, on top of the 40 positions eliminated through attrition. Taxpayers question the job cuts because the school district is spending money on building renovations. The Southern Lehigh School Board tearing down the Lower Milford Elementary School. Lower Milford parents are pissed, saying the K-5 school is not only the only school in the area, but doubles as a community center! School board officials say they cannot afford the $15-million needed to renovate the school. Bethlehem Area School District eliminating 22 teacher positions, despite local tax increases. Apparently Pennsylvania school districts cannot layoff employees due to economic reasons, so the district is blaming the ongoing trend of disappearing students. Administrators also pointed out that even at maximum local taxes they still won’t have enough money to pay all the bills! Camden City School District eliminating 575 jobs! Administrators blamed it on disappearing students and on prior administrators “overspending” taxpayer funding. In Bridgeville, God refused to stop the closing of Holy Child Catholic School, church officials blame it on disappearing (Raptured?) Christians! The Correy Area School District shut down two elementary schools. Superintendent William Nichols blames it on what I call the mysterious DSS: “The board built two buildings here in the past six or seven years that house all of the elementary students and that becomes possible because we have a declining enrollment of 35%…”
Tennessee: God refused to stop for profit Christian Victory University (Crichton College) from shutting down! A wealthy California Christian investor says his family has lost millions trying to float the university for the past five years! The problem is declining enrollment due to Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS), and the fact that the majority of enrolled students are there on scholarships.
Texas: Rio Hondo School District killed 23 jobs. It’s blamed on funding cuts which are blamed on what I call DSS. Copperas Cove Independent School District killing 75 jobs. The district no longer qualifies for the federal Heavy Impact Aid, which equates to a $12-million loss. The aid is for schools located near federal installations like military bases. However, 35% of the student population must meet certain qualifications, and apparently declining enrollment has resulted in not enough students to meet that 35% requirement. The El Paso Independent School District warned it could be killing 172 teaching positions! It’s blamed on rising insurance and retirement costs caused by Obama Care, and the DSS of 33-hundred students over the past four years!
Vermont: The Vermont Technical College eliminating six positions due to increased costs caused by Obama Care, and three years of DSS. Norwich University announced it will kill an undisclosed number of jobs, blaming DSS. Burlington School District plans to layoff 23 employees for the 2014-15 school year.
Virginia: Patrick Henry Community College laid off 22 employees. Since 2013 the college has experienced declining enrollment, lower tuition revenues, increased costs and decreases in taxpayer funding.
Washington DC: Howard University laid off 200 employees! The jobs are being outsourced. University employees protested, but of course they were ignored.
Wisconsin: Delavan-Darien School District eliminated 18 positions, mainly teachers. God refuses to stop Marquette University from killing 25 jobs. The Catholic university says it’s necessary to keep tuition affordable, but never mind that they raised the tuition the month prior (you see you can’t trust Christians)! Blackhawk Technical College laid off 11 employees. It’s blamed on reduced tax funding. In De Pere, Wisconsin International School shutdown without notice! Local news reports stated that teachers had not been paid! Administrators with the privately run grade school stated “The Wisconsin International School has closed due to declining enrollment and mounting financial pressures.”
Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): A phrase created by me to describe a phenomenon taking place across the United States, affecting both privately and publicly funded schools, from Kindergarten all the way through University levels.