Nassau County

32 Nassau County School employees laid off

NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — Friday was the last day for 32 Nassau County School employees who were laid off because of lower than predicted enrollment.

Carrolyn Renner told Action News Jax both her kids are in Nassau public schools.

She described the layoffs as alarming.

The mom said, “I think it’s crazy. I think -- why.”

Thursday Action News Jax reported that Nassau school leaders announced they were cutting 32 employees because of a significant drop in enrollment.

They said doing away with the 26 first-year teachers and 6 paraprofessionals would save the district $2 million.

“It’s just sad that all the teachers are without jobs,” said Renner.

According to a spokesperson for the Nassau County School District, the projected enrollment figure was 12,620.

As of Thursday, the number was only at 11,800 students between in-class, distance, and Nassau virtual learning.

Action News Jax reached out to the Duval and St. Johns counties school districts and asked whether they were seeing similar declines in students and funding issues.

As of Friday at noon, we had not received a response.

Clay County school leaders said they had no plans to cut any employees.

They added that there are dozens of positions for laid-off individuals.

Renner said she hopes this doesn’t become a trend.

She added, “Have them do something else in the meantime; don’t put them out of work.”

Nassau leaders said 14 of the laid-off employees had already taken other positions in the district.