256 Anderson Community School Corp. teachers get tentative pink slips

ANDERSON­ — Initial layoff notices went out to about 265 Anderson Community School Corp. teachers on Tuesday, and some with as many as 24 years in the system will be receiving tentative pink slips.

Not everyone who receives an initial pink slip will be laid off — another round of notices will be mailed in the coming months that will formally notify those whose jobs will be cut in the next school year.

School counselors face the deepest cut by seniority. According to the Anderson Federation of Teachers, every school counselor hired after Aug. 19, 1986, will receive a tentative layoff notice. So will speech and drama teachers hired in 1989 or later.

Librarians and social studies teachers with nearly 20 years on the job also will receive notices, according to information provided by the AFT.

Dave Owens, a nine-year counselor at Highland High School, said it’s tough to see people with so much time invested in the system receiving notices that they might not be back next year.

“It’s disheartening for anyone at that level,” Owens said. “You become a difficult hire once you get a certain level of experience.

“I’m not holding my breath, that’s for sure,” he said about his chances of having a jobs at ACS next school year. “I’m not worrying about it. It will all work out one way or another.”

Owens said he is hopeful that ACS will offer early-retirement incentives to teachers as it did last year.