SALEM - The roller-coaster ride at the School Department continued as 60 layoffs scheduled for yesterday were put on hold just before the closing bell.
The eleventh-hour stay was announced after Mayor Kim Driscoll and local legislators got a commitment from state officials for a last-minute bailout. The city hopes to get up to $500,000, or enough to retain all of the teachers slated to lose their jobs - but not every school worker.
"We did everything we can to try to save as many positions as we can, but certainly the teaching positions are a priority," Driscoll said.
The situation for teachers has changed dramatically over the past week.
A community fund drive raised $300,000 in a few days, which was enough to reduce the 29 announced teacher layoffs by half. As of yesterday morning, however, about 15 teachers in technology, physical education and other nonclassroom areas were still headed out the door.
Today, after the city lobbying effort on Beacon Hill, school officials are hopeful of saving all those teaching jobs. However, they don't know how many of the additional 45 teacher aides, custodians, secretaries and administrators will be retained. The only certainty yesterday was that a "substantial" number of jobs will be saved and that some workers still will be laid off.
The last-minute reprieve made for a rocky ride for school workers, many of whom spent yesterday hugging co-workers, saying farewells and shedding tears. Saltonstall School even held a farewell ceremony for employees scheduled to be laid off.
"It was hard coming here today," said Kay Hancock, a teacher aide at Carlton School, during an interview around 11 a.m. yesterday. "I knew when the budget cuts were coming I'd be one of them, and I was doing fine until today. I think today it just really hit me that this was it."
By early afternoon, Hancock and other school employees were told the layoffs had been delayed at least a week.
Although details are still being worked out, it appears Gov. Deval Patrick will file special legislation next week allowing Salem to receive around $500,000 for operational expenses. The city is expected to bond for the money and pay it back over several years.
It is a rare legislative action, an official said, one that has happened only a few other times.
The eleventh-hour stay was announced after Mayor Kim Driscoll and local legislators got a commitment from state officials for a last-minute bailout. The city hopes to get up to $500,000, or enough to retain all of the teachers slated to lose their jobs - but not every school worker.
"We did everything we can to try to save as many positions as we can, but certainly the teaching positions are a priority," Driscoll said.
The situation for teachers has changed dramatically over the past week.
A community fund drive raised $300,000 in a few days, which was enough to reduce the 29 announced teacher layoffs by half. As of yesterday morning, however, about 15 teachers in technology, physical education and other nonclassroom areas were still headed out the door.
Today, after the city lobbying effort on Beacon Hill, school officials are hopeful of saving all those teaching jobs. However, they don't know how many of the additional 45 teacher aides, custodians, secretaries and administrators will be retained. The only certainty yesterday was that a "substantial" number of jobs will be saved and that some workers still will be laid off.
The last-minute reprieve made for a rocky ride for school workers, many of whom spent yesterday hugging co-workers, saying farewells and shedding tears. Saltonstall School even held a farewell ceremony for employees scheduled to be laid off.
"It was hard coming here today," said Kay Hancock, a teacher aide at Carlton School, during an interview around 11 a.m. yesterday. "I knew when the budget cuts were coming I'd be one of them, and I was doing fine until today. I think today it just really hit me that this was it."
By early afternoon, Hancock and other school employees were told the layoffs had been delayed at least a week.
Although details are still being worked out, it appears Gov. Deval Patrick will file special legislation next week allowing Salem to receive around $500,000 for operational expenses. The city is expected to bond for the money and pay it back over several years.
It is a rare legislative action, an official said, one that has happened only a few other times.
While not placing financial controls over the city, the state is expected to require regular reports on city finances.
"Primarily, they want to make sure we don't get into a hole like this again," said state Rep. John Keenan of Salem.
Thursday was a whirlwind day for city leaders. Driscoll, Keenan and Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry of Peabody took part in a conference call around 4 p.m. with an official at the state Department of Revenue and a top aide to Gov. Patrick. A few hours later, the mayor and Keenan attended the governor's State of the State address on Beacon Hill, cornering key legislative leaders before and after the speech.
Before the night was out, local officials had spoken with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, Secretary of Administration and Finance Leslie Kirwin, and the chairmen of both the House and Senate ways and means committees.
"I think there were certainly very positive remarks made by all state officials, so we feel confident we'll be able to retain some of our positions," the mayor said.
Once it is known how much money is coming, and how much is left after the teaching jobs are saved, Superintendent William Cameron Jr. said he will sit down with the principals and decide what other positions can be retained.
Both Cameron and Driscoll apologized to school workers for putting them through a gut-wrenching few days but said it was unavoidable. They don't want to lay anyone off, they said, until they have done everything they can to prevent it.
"I understand this is stressful for people, and if there were another way to do this I would take the other way," the superintendent said.
"I certainly recognize the emotional impact this is having," the mayor said. "If there was any way to do it quicker or faster, believe me, we'd be doing that."
Driscoll said the city sought state aid earlier, but without success. Circumstances changed at the state level over the past few weeks, she said, and state officials were moved to act, in part, by the response of Salem residents and businesses, who contributed more than $250,000 over the past week to try to avert layoffs.
"This is really about the community's coming together," the mayor said. "I don't think we would have seen the outpouring of support at the state level if we didn't have the outpouring of support at the local level."
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