CLEVELAND — Three months after more than 400 employees of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District were laid off at the end of the school year, including 142 teachers, comes word that the door has been opened to many of them returning.
"Of the approximately 140 teachers that were laid off we have 60 that have been returned as Enhanced Building Substitutes at full pay and full salary and we have now, as of this week another 31 that are being recalled to their full positions, under full contract at full pay and full salary," said Cleveland Teachers Union President Errol Savage.
Facing what it says is a $150 million deficit down the road, the district made the decision under the 'Building Brighter Futures' initiative announced last December to close 18 buildings by merging 13 high schools and 16 elementary schools, and to move forward with layoffs.
"For a lot of this, I have to give credit to our superintendent," said Savage, "who reallocated funds differently so in some cases this might be administrators who aren't coming back now or this might be a program that's being eliminated, but I think that the superintendent both agreed that the importance was that we had teachers in front of students on day one."
And with day one just over a month away, Savage wants those impacted to know these are time-sensitive offers.
"The teachers must accept these positions by Thursday, so it is important that they know to answer the phone, check their email and respond to requests that are made so that the district wants to speak to them," he said.
Back in April, we spoke with Kadira Sahic, a teacher at Campus International K-8, who discussed the emotional toll of telling her students.
"I have a lot of emotion right now because I spent the last part of my day yesterday holding and comforting 20 students who sobbed in my arms," she told News 5 in April. Days later, students staged a peaceful protest in support of her and the others impacted.
"These people's jobs and livelihoods are getting ripped away from them, and it's just not fair," said student Saadiq Cooper in April. "Miss K walked in and we saw her and it was hard to watch, I mean like everybody was crying and it was just really hard to watch and honestly we just felt like we had to do something."
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RELATED: Students at Campus International School walk out in support of teachers being laid off by CMSD
Sahic told News 5 Tuesday, "I was fortunate enough to be offered one of the Enhanced Building Sub positions for next year."
Her answer? An immediate yes. "I was fortunate and feel grateful to have been offered a position that lets me keep my pay and my benefits, which was a huge factor," she said.
And having a foot back in the door is why Savage said he's encouraging others who were offered Enhanced Sub positions to follow in her footsteps.
"We want you under full benefits and full salary, get in now, get back in the door, come back to the system, and we're working on getting you back full-time," he said, acknowledging the work with the administration continues.
"People ask me when I'm going to be happy. I'm going to be happy when all 300 of our laid-off teachers are returned to work," he said.
RELATED: Cleveland Metropolitan School District agrees to bring back 31 laid off teachers
