OPELOUSAS – The domino topple that will eventually cost 182 persons their jobs began at Tuesday’s St. Landry Parish School Board meeting.

The board approved Acting Supt. Joseph Cassimere’s two-part plan that will save about $290,000 in the year ending June 30, leaving the system still about two million in the red.

The Reduction in Force is in two phases.

The first, effective April 30, consists of 71 support jobs.

The second, effective the last day of school May 22, are professional slots. They total 111.

Who will actually be axed won’t be known until all the bumps are complete and the board signs off at a future meeting.

Cassimere said he and his five-person committee tried to avoid instruction cuts.

“We tried to stay focused on what is best for the kids,” he said.

He also noted the current plan is only a start as the system needs to find still more cuts in the year beginning July 1 to meet its promises to the state’s Fiscal Review Committee.

The full year savings of Tuesday’s vote, opposed by members John Miller and Quincy Richard, is about $6.7 million, meaning the board will still need to cut about four million in the new fiscal year.

Cassimere said his staff will continue to work hard on central office streamlining. He noted attrition is reducing those expenses already, though Richard called not filling empty slots “easy” as opposed to laying someone off.

Employee coalition spokesman Ricky Julien said his group’s efforts since the fiscal crisis began in December have helped because the RIF was less than it would have been at the outset had budget reviews not been conducted.

His group adamantly opposed a proposed furlough of all employees as illegal and a stripping of employee rights. Julien said a recent court opinion upholds the employees’ stance.

The Fifth Circuit state appeals court ruled in a Jefferson Parish case that non-instructional personnel cannot be furloughed.

Positions to be eliminated April 30:

Non-tenured retiree return to work, 4

Accountant, 2

Adult Ed para-professional, 1

Academic technology, 1

Clerk, 4

Certified Nursing Assistant, 2

Custodian, 10 (of 100)

Custodian assistant, 1

Refrigeration maintenance, 4

Electrician, 2

Plumber, 1

Carpenter, 3

Locksmith, 1

Equipment operator, 1

Roofer, 1

Mechanic, 3

Licensed Practical Nurse, 10 (of 22)

Receptionist, 1

School secretary, 10 months, 7

Secretary, 12 months, 6

Senior clerk, 2

Audio visual aide maintenance, 1

Warehouse accountant, 1

Positions to be eliminated May 22:

Non-tenured retiree return to work, 5

Practitioner license teacher (teacher working toward certification), 36 (of 36)

Adult Education facilitator, 1

Instructor Title V, 1

Interventionist (iSTEEP), 1

Para-professional special ed (including child specific aide), 40 (of 150)

Special ed 12-month teacher, 1

Elementary librarian, 8

Special ed instructional specialist (9-month), 1

Gifted program teacher, 1

Special ed teacher, 1

Second language specialist teacher, 15 (of about 25)