UNION CITY AND BEYOND — Just days after Mayor Brian Stack and his incumbent Board of Commissioners won another four years in the municipal election, approximately 25 percent of the 1,700 employees in the Union City School District lost their jobs.
According to a local daily newspaper, by Friday, 450 non-tenured employees (210 teachers and approximately 240 non-instructional staff) received notice that they will be fired at the end of the school year.
School district officials have said that the layoffs are in response to the $8.45 million in state aid the district stands to lose next year.
District officials had until May 15 to let non-tenured employees know that they would not be brought back next year and Superintendent of Schools Stanley Sanger reportedly informed the Board of Education about the layoffs on April 29.
In a local daily newspaper, Sanger denied that the timing of the layoff notices was related to the election.
Union City does not have an elected board of education. Rather, the mayor appoints members of the board, which oversees the superintendent.
News reports have said that no administrators were fired in the process, but there may be some who are set to retire.
Sanger did not return a call for comment prior to press time.