New Orleans schools out of cash to pay teachers

[proud2BlibKansan]

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Reuters) -- New Orleans teachers will not get paid for periods after Hurricane Katrina because there is almost no money left in the city's strapped school system, an executive of the outside firm that runs the schools said Wednesday.

But a team of experts was set to descend on the city on Wednesday to find schools that can be reopened as soon as possible, providing the system gets emergency funding from the government to operate.

The paycheck issued this week to teachers is for the last pay period before the storm hit, said Bill Roberti, a director with the restructuring firm of Alvarez & Marsal, which runs the school system.

"This is the last payroll we will be able to issue for the time being," Roberti said in a briefing. "We were not able to move forward with the $50 million financing we were pursuing to keep the district afloat. We are very low on cash at this time."

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/09/14/katrina.schools.reut/index.html

[jwirr]

1. Are schools running?

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. No but

a week ago the supt said the teachers would be paid even if schools didn't open.

The teachers most likely lost their homes too.

And I would think the district would have some kind of insurance to cover the payroll. Not to mention funds from the feds for Katrina damages.

[jwirr]

3. Hopefully.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. It looks like the district won't be using any insurance money

to pay the teachers.

[pitohui]

6. no the schools are not running in orleans

if you are a certified teacher & can find a place to stay in cities where there are lots of other refugees, please be aware, your talents are needed

a friend of mine, retired, is a special ed teacher, her rate of pay for substitute teaching in lafayette is triple what she was receiving in orleans at one of the schools destroyed by the levee bust (haynes, a good public school if you know the area)

if you are certified & you want to work, please look into it, there are lots of kids needing teachers & classrooms in the towns impacted by large pop. of refugees

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. That is very true

It is a good time to be looking for a teaching job, especially in the high need areas, like special ed, Science and Math.

[Lisa]

5. I hope their union has a contingency fund, or something

If somebody has to make rent, or needs medical treatment, things could get rather grim.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I doubt any teachers' union can cover

the need this disaster is presenting.