Cobb County school board okays plan to hire 30 new teachers - CBS Atlanta 46
Member Center:
The Cobb County school board unanimously approved a plan to hire 30 new teachers several months after the district eliminated 350 positions.
School officials will begin hiring new teachers right away, said Jay Dillon, a spokesman for the school district.
Superintendent Michael Hinojosa recommended the board hire more teachers to alleviate overcrowding. Class sizes can swell to as many as 40 students, Hinojosa said.
"It's very significant at the middle schools in particular," Hinojosa said.
The district last spring announced it would furlough teachers for three days and eliminate 350 teacher positions to help close a $62 million budget gap for the current fiscal year.
Parents were happy with the decision to hire more teachers.
"It'll help. More one-on-one time with the kids and it'll do a good thing," said Lori Forman, whose four children attend Cobb County schools.
"It think it's a great idea," said Elaine Isley, president of the Campbell High School Parent-Teachers' Association. "Teachers are so important. (It is) one of the most important jobs there."
Asked how he could justify hiring more employees during a difficult economy, Hinojosa answered, "we have money available that we did not spend that will help us add new teachers where we need them. We spent less than we actually budgeted, so what we had left over, we can use it to fund these positions."
The district had a budget surplus of several million dollars, Dillon said.
Copyright 2012 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
 | 
|
