Meranda Watling, Journal & Courier
When Mickey Penrod stood before the Tippecanoe School Corp. board on Monday night, she asked members to rethink how laying off 150 teachers would affect her students and her own child’s education.
She turned to the audience and asked teachers to stand up and be seen among the crowd of more than 250 people gathered at East Tipp Middle School. Dozens rose.
“These are not dollar bills out there. These are human beings,” said Penrod, a McCutcheon High School teacher and middle school parent.
Several of those teachers — the youngest and the ones in specialty areas, including elementary art, music and physical education — will soon receive “reduction in force” letters stating that their jobs may no longer exist in TSC this fall. Those 150 teachers represent 20.5 percent of all TSC teaching staff.