Hattiesburg school district lays off 53 employees

Hattiesburg Public School District Interim Superintendent Greg Ladner has sent lay-off notices to 53 employees in the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures.

The notices went out last week and are effective July 1, district spokesman Jas N Smith said.

"We have 53 people we are not going to be bringing back next year," he said. "Twenty-five of those are teachers. The others are district support staff and administrative personnel."

Smith said some of those who got the notices are contract employees, while others are not. The teachers are spread throughout the district, he said, and are not concentrated at any one school.

This latest move comes after the district was left with only $768,000 in its fund balance when Superintendent James Bacchus resigned last year. Ladner has dealt with the financial crisis with spending cuts, spending freezes and prior layoffs.

Ladner has said in the past that the district is bloated when it comes to salaries and personnel. He had pledged not to make any cuts that would hurt academics.

In his resignation letter, Bacchus did not attribute the financial difficulties to any source. Shortly after he resigned, the district's business manager also left.