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An estimated 400 to 600 Prince George's County Public Schools employees are expected to be laid off this month as a result of substantial budget cuts – leaving nervous employees with questions about who will be affected and when they will learn of their fates.

At an employee meeting May 28, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. and other school officials spent more than an hour explaining the county school system's dire budget situation caused by the recession and encouraged employees to consult their union agreements for procedures on how layoffs would be handled.

Hite said they do not yet know the exact number of employees who will be let go because employees are still giving the school system notice if they will retire or quit. If more employees leave or retire, fewer will be laid off. Officials said employees will be notified by June 19 if they are being laid off.

Hite said the largest portion of the budget, 83 percent, is spent on the school system's 18,500 employees, making layoffs inevitable because of the drastic cuts that must be made.

The $1.64 billion fiscal 2010 budget is $36 million less than the previous year. However, Hite said a total of $114 million in reductions were made to make up for areas in which the school system faces increased costs each year, regardless of revenue.

"You really can't get there without reducing the number of individuals," Hite said.

Hite thanked the employees for their work and said the layoffs were a very difficult decision.

"Any time you talk about individuals who are losing jobs, it is tough," he said.

Hite said employees will be notified no later than June 19.

Staff members expressed concern that the deadline for notifications would leave eliminated employees scrambling to find other work.

"It kind of limits other possible positions because it's so late," said Michelle Contee, a language arts teacher who declined to identify the school where she works.

More than 100 employees attended the meeting, filling nearly every seat in the Sasscer Administration Building's board room, with many more standing in the back of the room.

Christine B. Knighton, chief of human resources for the school system, told employees the school system is carefully adhering to their union agreements and must make sure they have all the appropriate information before notifying employees.

"Why is this taking the amount of time that it is? Because we want to do this right," she said.

Hite has not ruled out employee furloughs or additional layoffs if the County Council goes through with a plan to charge the school system for services it previously provided for free, such as sheriff's deputies in schools, crossing guards and school construction debt.

County Executive Jack B. Johnson's staff presented the option to the County Council last week to charge the school system $23.6 million for these services. Later, the council opted only to charge $11.8 million, and cut $11.8 from other parts of the county budget.

"When you cut that type of revenue then it begins to impact what, as a system, we're able to do," Hite said.

One of the groups expected to be hardest hit by the layoffs are parent liaisons. Parent liaison positions were added at each school in the county by former superintendent John E. Deasy to serve as a go-between for parents and school officials and to encourage parents to be more involved in schools. About 144 positions are expected to be cut, leaving about 80 liaisons to serve more than 200 county schools.

Henry Armwood, parent liaison at Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale, said he understands the county's budget constraints but is concerned the cut will affect services.

"We need to provide the services to parents that the parents have become used to," Armwood said.

Under the current structure, Armwood said, each parent liaison is a staff member at his or her school and knows exactly who parents need to contact.

"If a parent liaison has six schools, he's not going to be a part of the staff at the six schools. Now, we're part of the staff at our individual schools," Armwood said.

Christian Rhodes, Prince George's County Educators' Association union representative, said employees are encouraged to contact the union with specific questions, and they are working to ensure affected employees will have necessary assistance.

Rhodes said the PGCEA is working with the school system on a transition center for laid off employees, which will help with finding other jobs, and union officials are hoping employees' benefits will be able to continue through the rest of the summer, though that plan is not yet finalized. "We're hoping that we can have a minimal reduction in force, but if it comes to that particular point, those are some of the things that we're doing to assist those who are [affected]," Rhodes said.

E-mail Megan King at mking@gazette.net.