At a glance
Numbers of layoffs of certified employees by department in Anderson Community Schools
  • Elementary: 67
  • Alternative: 7
  • Arts and crafts: 1
  • Business: 6
  • Counseling: 4
  • English: 15
  • Foreign language: 2
  • Health and physical education: 10
  • Home economics: 1
  •  Industrial technology: 3
  •  Library: 3
  • Mathematics: 3
  •  Music: 8
  • Science: 6
  • Social studies: 7
  • Special education: 20
ANDERSON — The Anderson Community School Corp. Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to lay off 163 certified employees at the end of the school year.

Layoffs will come from nearly every educational level and subject matter within the school system as board members try to find solutions to a budget shortfall amounting to millions of dollars.

In addition to the layoffs of certified employees, ACS also will decline to renew the contracts of seven teachers, most in the special education department, who are working under emergency contracts, ACS Personnel Director Beth Clark said.

Sixteen other non-certified employees were on the layoff list approved at Tuesday’s special board meeting. Those layoffs include positions filled by in-school detention supervisors, media aides, school nurses and secretaries.

In a show of solidarity, teachers and employees on the layoff list wore pink as part of the Pink Hearts, Not Pink Slips campaign sponsored by the Anderson Federation of Teachers to support the contributions of educators. As teachers’ names were called as Clark read the layoff list, they left their seats in the bleachers of the Administrative Building gym and made their way to the center of the gym, where empty chairs were decorated with pink hearts and pink carnations.

Board member Tobi Jones was visibly upset when she addressed the board after the layoff list was read.

“That’s 165 teachers and each one has 20 kids in their classroom,” Jones said after the meeting. “That’s 165 households and 165 classrooms. I look at my kids and it’s not just numbers, it’s real. It’s not just ACS. Education should not be pushed to the back, and that’s why I’m affected.”

Teachers received a standing ovation from the audience after the list was read and board President P.T. Morgan thanked the laid-off teachers for their service and noted that those most affected by the layoffs, the students, were not at the meeting.

“This board has sat through some pretty tumultuous times in the past few years, but this just breaks my heart,” Morgan said. “I see so much talent in front of me.”

Despite their expressed regrets, all the board members voted in favor of the layoffs. Erskine Elementary School teacher Whitney Constant said she realized she likely would be laid off before she received her first pink slip.

“It means lots of overfilled classrooms next year,” she said.

Clark said there was a chance some of the laid-off teachers could be recalled over the summer but she tried to get the layoff list as close to reality as possible. Some areas, such as special education, that require special licensing will be more likely to be recalled.

The list of 163 is within 10-12 percent of the number of teachers who actually will be laid off next year, Clark said.

Elementary school teachers Matt and Christy Goen, who are married, both were on the layoff list. They are expecting a child in four weeks, and Matt Goen said the couple had been aware of their likely employment situation and had made preparations.

“The school was very up-front in letting us know there would be potential cuts that could be deep,” he said.

The Goens, who started working for ACS in 2007, have 26 people in front of them on the seniority list, so they are not hopeful they will return to the school system as employees. Matt Goen said he is prepared to do what he has to do to support his family, even if it means returning to construction work.

Despite the layoffs, the Goens were able to find one silver lining in their situation: Christy Goen plans to use her time while laid off to take care of their new baby.
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