Cleveland Metropolitan School District Board of Education votes to cut 410 full time jobs

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The Cleveland Metropolitan School District board of education was met with a fired up crowd of parents, teachers, and students during their Tuesday night work session.

The board voted unanimously to lay off 410 full time employees.

CMSD CEO Dr. Warren Morgan told 19 News the lay offs were unavoidable due to the district needing to cut $150 million from its budget over the next three years.

Starting next school year, the district will also have 29 fewer schools.

“Right now, if we were to do nothing even after closing 29 schools, we would enter fiscal precaution in the fall because in 2029 we are operating under a deficit of unencumbered cash so it’s necessary,” Morgan said.

Errol Savage, the teachers union president, said the layoffs are devastating for students.

“It’s going to hurt staff members absolutely, but this is going to affect children’s education and I truly wish the board of education would have directed the district to sit down with me and stop this from happening,” Savage said.

On Friday, 146 teachers and 86 administrators were told they were getting laid off.

Kadira Sahic was one of those teachers who received the news.

“The love that I received when I walked into that room where every child was crying, like I’ll never be able to explain how much that meant to me that these kids cared so much not just about themselves having to say goodbye to this teacher at the end of the year, but that they care about all of the teachers that are being affected by this,” Sahic said.

Stacey Steggert says she worries about how these layoffs will affect her children in the classroom.

“What is going to happen with their education being disrupted by all of these changes?” Steggert said.

CMSD says it intends to help the impacted employees find job placements.