SALEM - The principals met with teachers throughout the day, often behind closed classroom doors and shielded from student eyes. When the final bell rang Friday, 29 Salem public school teachers no longer had jobs; five others had their hours reduced.
More cuts are planned Monday - the result of a $4.7 million deficit caused by questionable bookkeeping. The cuts are expected to affect paraprofessionals, custodians, and clerical staff, administrators, and others. In all, school officials estimate that the jobs of more than 100 of the district's about 750 full-time employees will eventually be affected.
Jessica Hanson, a second-grade teacher at Bates Elementary School, lost the job she had started in September. Struggling with anger, sadness, and disappointment, Hanson said her first concern was for her pupils.
"They're so young - telling them they're moving into a new classroom . . . I think a lot of them are going to be blindsided," she said. "Hopefully someone is held to blame for this. It's the teachers and the students and the families really that are suffering."
At Collins Middle School, principal Mary Manning leaned wearily against a counter outside her office, chin in hand. She lost seven teachers.
"Today wasn't easy," Manning said. "For us, it's the personal relationship between the students and the teachers that's just - it takes a while to build that up, and now we're at midyear and things were solid . . . and most of the [laid-off] teachers were brokenhearted. They were crying, they were crying - much more for the students than for themselves."
Bates School principal Tom R. LaValley said the layoffs occurred on vocabulary day, when pupils dress up as a vocabulary word, share it with their classmates, and parade around the school. During the festivities, LaValley had to tell three of his teachers they were being let go.
"The principals, we've been calling it 'Black Friday,' " LaValley said in an interview yesterday. "It's been very difficult . . . a couple of the teachers were so upset and couldn't attend the parade right away until they could compose themselves."
The anxiety had been building for months. School officials have been struggling to cover the deficit since it was first discovered late last year, shortly after the former school business manager, Bruce Guy, departed his post at the end of September. The School Committee, which is chaired by Mayor Kim Driscoll, decided not to renew Guy's three-year contract because he lacked the necessary certification for the job.
An audit later found that Guy apparently used this year's money to pay old bills and that several budget items - mainly in areas of special education - had been significantly underfunded.
The deficit is approximately 11 percent of the district's $43 million budget, which makes up about half of Salem's financial obligations. Most of the gap already has been covered by the City Council, renegotiation of contracts, and other cost-saving measures. A shortfall of about $1.2 million remains and will be made up in job cuts, however.
"My original intent was to have this grim process completed by the end of the day today . . . that has proved impossible," Superintendent William J. Cameron Jr. said during an afternoon news conference. It was then, just before 4 p.m., that he revealed the number of teachers laid off: nine at Salem High School, seven at Collins, three at Bates Elementary, two at Bentley Elementary, four at Nathaniel Bowditch School, two at Saltonstall School, and two at Witchcraft Heights Elementary.
The waiting was not easy for teachers.
"You're trying to pay your mortgage and you're trying to pay your rent and your car payment. . . . It's devastating. It's emotionally upsetting to your life," said Joyce Harrington, president of the Salem Teachers Union, which represents 490 teachers and 160 paraprofessionals.
"People were told on Monday that today would be the day," Harrington said. "So it's like as the day progresses and it's almost lunchtime and people are wondering: 'Is it me? Isn't it me? Have I worried for nothing?' "
Parents were anxious, too.
"I just came here with a lump in my throat, and they still don't know anything yet," Jill Pabich said as she arrived at Horace Mann Laboratory School to pick up her 5-year-old daughter, Anya.
Nearby, Jennifer Barz-Snell explained to her daughter, Leah, why everyone looked worried.
"Remember how Mrs. Sylvester [a retiring school volunteer] is leaving her job? Well, other teachers are going to be leaving their jobs, as well," Barz-Snell said.
"Oh," Leah, 6, said with a frown.
"I don't want any teachers to leave my school. I think they're all pretty nice," added Jacob Barz-Snell, 8. "They made a pretty bad decision with the money."
In the end, officials at Horace Mann were able to avoid cuts because of unfilled grant positions. Meanwhile, Carlton Elementary School did not lose any of its teaching staff.
At the news conference, Driscoll attributed much of the district's financial turmoil to Guy, whom she did not directly name.
"We do clearly believe that there was mismanagement . . . [but] I think it's not only incompetence; there were also intentional acts meant to deceive," Driscoll said. "I'm the mayor, the buck stops with me. I think we all share a portion of the blame. . . . But if it weren't for the acts of one person, we clearly wouldn't be in this position."
Guy has not responded to Globe requests for comment.
Driscoll said the final audit of school finances, which is being done by the city's auditing firm, Powers & Sullivan, is expected at the end of the month. She said those findings would be turned over to the "appropriate authorities."
The district's financial situation is not sitting well with the state Department of Education, but spokeswoman Heidi Guarino said the department cannot offer much beyond administrative support. "Unfortunately, there is no secret pot of money we can use to bail them out," Guarino said.
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.
