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WS/FCS cuts nearly 200 school-based positions

WFDD File Photo
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Education Building.

After learning the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school district massively overspent on staff last year, officials asked school principals to identify positions that could be cut to better align with state and federal funding.

That process resulted in a reduction of nearly 200 school-based positions.

Kindergarten through first-grade teacher assistants took the biggest hit, with a loss of 44.

Middle and high school teachers and testing coordinators had the second and third highest reductions, with about 27 and 19, respectively.

District officials said they expect to offer all of these affected employees other jobs within existing vacancies.

These reductions, plus the 81 positions cut from Central Office earlier this spring, will save about $16.5 million.

In total, the district will have about 300 fewer full-time positions this year compared to last.

Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

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