SALEM - The second round of layoffs was no easier than the first.
Following last week's staffing cutbacks involving more than two-dozen teachers, principals in the Salem public schools met with paraprofessionals and clerical staff yesterday to tell them they were also losing jobs.
The cuts are the result of a $4.7 million deficit discovered by auditors late last year. Bad bookkeeping and significant underfunding of certain school budget items have been blamed for the shortfall.
"I am losing my job," said Arabelis Luciano, a paraprofessional at Bates Elementary School. "I kind of knew it was coming only because I was one of the last ones to be hired."
Luciano, who started part time in Paul Angersbach's classroom in September, got the phone call yesterday to meet with principal Thomas R. LaValley and a union representative. "Obviously, these last few days, you knew what it was for when they called you to the principal's office," she said.
Last Friday, 29 teachers lost their jobs and five others had their hours reduced. The total number of yesterday's layoffs was not immediately available, but school officials have estimated that the equivalent of 40 to 45 jobs would be cut.
The layoffs and reduced hours are meant to close a $1.2 million gap in the total deficit that school and city officials were not able to cover with money from the City Council, renegotiated contracts, and other cost-saving measures such as lowering the heat by 2 degrees in all school buildings.
Angersbach said he did not know how his class would cope without Luciano. He is also losing another paraprofessional who helped out with his second-graders.
"It's bittersweet for me because I'm keeping my job, but three of my very close friends are losing them," Angersbach said as he watched parents pick up their children.
The situation also upset pupils. Eight-year-old Andrew Mosko said he and his friends do not want Luciano to leave. "She helps wicked good," Andrew said.
City and school officials have blamed Bruce Guy, the former school business manager, for much of the deficit. Guy left at the end of September after the School Committee, which is chaired by Mayor Kim Driscoll, decided not to renew his three-year contract.
Shortly after, accountants with the city's auditing firm, Powers & Sullivan, discovered the shortfall. They said it was caused by underbudgeting, as well as Guy's apparent practice of paying last year's bills with money from the current fiscal year. Guy has not responded to repeated interview requests.
Driscoll said yesterday that school officials were trying to determine how many paraprofessionals, clerks, and other staff were affected by the latest layoffs. She said that number was definitely higher than last week's.
"There are a number of positions that are part-time, so it impacts more people," Driscoll said of yesterday's cuts.
Superintendent William J. Cameron Jr. did not return phone calls yesterday.
During a Monday conversation Cameron described the layoffs: "It really stinks. . . . This is particularly odious because it's occurring in the middle of the school year and it's just impossible to feel confident that you are doing everything the right way in this."
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.
