Harrisburg Schools To Furlough More Employees Yet Hires Cyber School Director

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Dauphin County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Harrisburg School District announced 15, and possibly more, furloughs for non-teaching staff to help save up to $687,000 as part of its recovery plan — if the union contract isn’t approved.

“We’re not playing here,” Chief Recovery Officer Gene Veno said Monday.  “This is about recovery — financial recovery.”

With tensions already high from recent teacher resignations and furlough notices, they further escalated when the School Board voted to hire a director for the district’s cyber charter school at an uncertain salary.

Veno said the next set of furloughed positions haven’t been announced.  As many as 20 positions with an average salary of $40,000 could be considered.  In July, the district furloughed custodians, library and health aides and maintenance workers,

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/08/harrisburg_school_district_to_2.html#incart_m-rpt-2

Phoenixville Hospital Furloughs Come On Heels Of $4B Acquisition Deal

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Editor’s note:  Thanks for going there, Evan!  I was complaining about this very thing today.  They have billions to spend on buying more hospitals but then turn around and cut jobs.  Makes no sense to me!  You would think the time to buy would be if you were flush with cash.  Now they will own two hospitals in Lancaster once this deal goes through as well.

PHOENIXVILLE — One day after Pottstown Memorial Medical Center furloughed 30 employees for 90 days, The Mercury has confirmed that similar furloughs occurred at Phoenixville Hospital.

Phoenixville Hospital spokesperson Lori Cunningham confirmed Thursday that the full-time equivalent of 24 employees in “clinical, non-clinical support and administrative departments” have been furloughed.

News of the staff reduction occurs at the same time that the company that owns both hospitals, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Inc., is planning a $3.9 billion purchase of Florida-based Health Management Associates Inc., which also operates hospitals around the country.

Cunningham said the furloughs at Phoenixville, which she described as “not scheduling a small number of employees in various departments,” have “no definitive time line.  As always, staffing is dependent upon patient volume and clinical needs.”

Read more:   http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130731/NEWS01/130739803/phoenixville-hospital-furloughs-come-on-heels-of-4b-acquisition-deal#full_story

Pottstown Memorial Medical Center Furloughs 30 Workers For 90 Days

POTTSTOWN — Pottstown Memorial Medical Center has instituted three-month furloughs for dozens of its employees and one of its units will be closed.

“We are implementing furloughs for less than four percent of employees across our hospital.  The furloughs impact both represented and non-represented employees.  Impacted employees are being reassigned to other open positions as possible,” PMMC spokesperson Debra Bennis wrote in an email received by The Mercury at 4:51 p.m. Tuesday.

An email reply from The Mercury at 4:52 p.m. Tuesday, which asked how many employees the hospital has, went unanswered; as did a subsequent phone message asking how many people have been furloughed.

The statement Bennis provided included no information about what departments experienced the furloughs.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130730/NEWS01/130739893/pmmc-furloughs-30-for-90-days#full_story

Twin Valley Trims $1 Million, Approves Tentative Budget

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After weeks of closed-door discussions, the Twin Valley School Board approved a $53.35 million tentative budget Monday, closing a $1 million shortfall with a combination of staff cuts, tax hikes and even a new revenue stream for 2013-14.

The list of staff cuts, previously undisclosed, includes furloughing a business teacher; not replacing three teachers – one full-time and two part-time – who have submitted resignation letters; not renewing two temporary teachers; and reducing a full-time art teacher to part time.  Also eliminated are 14 assistant middle and high school coaching positions and four assistant high school club advisers.

“We certainly would have liked to have done it a different way,” Dr. Robert F. Pleis, superintendent, said after the meeting.  “We don’t want to lose personnel.  That’s not our goal.”

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=477019

Delays Hit Major Airports As Control Tower Furloughs Kick In

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Travelers waited more than an hour for flights in New York and experienced delays at other U.S. airports on Sunday evening as furloughs of air traffic controllers began, reducing the ability of busy hubs to handle arrivals and departures, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The furloughs that started Sunday reduced staffing by 10 percent across the country.  Last week the FAA warned of delays up to 3-1/2 hours at some airports as the agency cuts spending to meet reductions required under federal budget cuts.

New York’s LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports reported delays of more than an hour, and Philadelphia international airport also reported delays due to furloughs, the FAA said.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/sns-rt-us-usa-faa-furloughsbre93l03e-20130421,0,5104783.story

FAA Warns Of 3.5 Hour Flight Delays This Summer

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Flight delays of up to 3-1/2 hours are expected to occur at some U.S. airports this summer because of furloughs of air-traffic controllers, the top U.S. aviation regulator said on Thursday.

The estimate from the Federal Aviation Administration puts in sharper focus the potential impact of the agency’s decision to furlough 10 percent of its staff starting Sunday as it struggles to meet budget cuts required under so-called sequestration.

The average delay would be much shorter than the 3-1/2 hours, FAA administrator Michael Huerta said in a briefing to reporters, without specifying a figure.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-faa-flightdelaysbre93h167-20130418,0,6239558.story

Pink Slips For 18 More Reading School District Workers

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The ax has fallen on the final two groups of Reading School District employees facing layoffs as a result of the district’s budget crunch.

Eighteen more employees have received furlough notices: 12 security guards and six members of the Teamsters union, Karen B. Gokay, director of human resources, confirmed Tuesday.

The cuts are part of an effort to close a more than $40 million shortfall in the district’s $220 million 2012-13 budget.

The district announced that positions would be cut when the school board passed its tentative final budget last month.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=396180

Reading School District Lays Off 87 More Employees

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nearly 90 more furlough notices have been handed out to Reading School District employees.

Karen B. Gokay, director of human resources, Thursday confirmed that 65 teaching assistants and 22 secretaries have been formally told they will not have jobs with the district next school year. It is unclear exactly when the layoffs will take effect.

“It’s such a devastating blow for the people being furloughed,” said Charlene Weiser, president of the teaching assistant union, adding that the cuts will negatively affect students. “That’s 65 less assistants in classrooms.”

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=393224