ALTOONA, Pa (WJAC) – The Altoona Area School District is laying off dozens of employees after moving to virtual learning for the rest of the semester.
The district’s school board voted Monday to temporarily furlough 64 special education aides.
Superintendent Dr. Charles Prijatelj said it didn't make sense to keep them on the payroll.
“It’s not a question of wanting these employees, it’s not a question of not valuing these people, it’s a question of we have to have work for them to do,” he said.
On Dec. 1, the district moved all students to remove learning for the remainder of the semester.
That meant many of the district’s 130 special education aides no longer had a purpose, Prijatelj said.
“With the kids online, one-to-one, face-to-face support is only necessary in certain situations,” Prijatelj said.
The impacted aides will be furloughed until Feb. 1 and will receive unemployment compensation from the district during that time.
To decide which staff would go, the district took volunteers.
“For some of our personnel, it was better for them to voluntarily take the layoff than to try to juggle all the pieces of the lines,” Prijatelj said. “Especially when you’re dealing with a pandemic and you’re dealing with the holiday season all rolled into one.”
Some aides opted to take a new role in the district, running a technical help desk or assisting the district with its sanitation needs.
Prijatelj expects the district to hire all the aides back in the future, it's just a matter of when.
“The district has a need for 160 special education aids daily when we are running normal operations,” he said. “We know we’re bringing all these people back, it’s just a question of what the pandemic does and how it impacts school.”
Prijatelj said all parents of special education students have been contacted and the district is tailoring the learning experience to the individual needs of the student.
He said the district’s special education department is always available to parents if they have concerns.
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