School board directs superintendent to reverse layoffs

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A Connecticut school board says it will direct the superintendent to reverse layoff notices that surprised more than 1,000 part-time employees shortly before the fall semester began.

New Haven Board of Education President Darnell Goldson said Monday they should have been notified before Superintendent Carol Birks’ decision to send the layoff notices June 22.

Goldson says Birks has been directed to rescind layoff notices sent to 764 part-time employees.

He says the remaining 400 people who received notices were in the school district’s online system, but they were not paid for work in the last school year.

According to Goldson, the board will continue to provide guidance to the superintendent.

Birks says she welcomes the guidance, as the district is in a “crisis situation financially.”