At least 10 Salem public school teaching jobs will be saved following a flood of donations totaling $182,500, Mayor Kim Driscoll announced yesterday.
Since Friday, the district has announced layoffs of more than two dozen teachers - as well as a number of paraprofessionals, clerks, librarians, and other staff - in an effort to close a $4.7 million midyear budget deficit blamed on bad bookkeeping.
The donations, announced at a press conference hosted by Driscoll, will probably help reinstate elementary school teaching jobs.
"We are not stopping there," Driscoll told a crowd at a local branch of the Salem Five Bank, which contributed $20,000. She said the city is not only setting up the Salem Education Fund, but will also ask city workers to take a brief voluntary furlough.
Each staff member giving up one day could save $200,000, or the equivalent of 10 teaching jobs for the remainder of the school year, Driscoll said.
The School Department is also working with union officials to offer early retirement incentives in hope of shedding some employees and saving more money.
Parents said the recent outpouring of cash was spurred by students' reactions to having their teachers laid off.
"When you read about cuts and layoffs, they seem very far away," Chip Tuttle, a father of three, said in a telephone interview before the press conference.
"But when your kids come home on a Friday afternoon . . . very upset because they've seen teachers crying and people at their schools affected, it certainly hits home," he said.
State Representative John D. Keenan said he was definitely pushed to act by his son, who attends Bates Elementary School. Keenan is president of the Foundation for Salem Public Education, which donated $10,000 to the city's new fund.
"I can't tell you how much it's going to mean to him for me to go home today . . . and tell him that his teacher is still going to be there," Keenan said at the press conference.
The announcement had stunned second-grade teacher Jessica Hanson, who teaches Keenan's son.
"Until I know for sure and it's in writing, I'm hesitant," Hanson said shortly after calling her husband to share the news. "Coming in today, I thought it was going to be one of my last few days with the children."
Mary Manning, principal of Collins Middle School, said she hoped more donations would come through so she could retain some of the seven teachers she will have to let go next Friday.
"I have no clue how it's going to impact my school," Manning said. "I'm just glad it's happening. I'm sure at some point, Collins will benefit."
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.
