Budgetary cutbacks caused the lay-off of four school aides at Midwood and other schools aides in the borough on October 7.
“The loss of school aides will impact the whole school, including staff, students, and parents,” said Ms. Kathleen Farrell, Assistant Principal of Organization.
The school aides received warning letters this summer and notified Ms. Farrell in September.  
“Our school aides in general help with all of our support areas, including the book store, bathrooms, and cafeteria,” said Principal David Cohen.
One was formerly in the College and Career Office, another monitored for the girls’ bathroom and worked in the duplicating room, another worked in the girls’ locker room, and the last one helped in the record room.
Ms. Sharon Kaminer, who works in the College and Career Office, said the school aide had been a tremendous help and work is going to be hectic later without her there. The office works like an assembly line. Each person has to complete a different part in the college process. With one of the school aides gone, the process is incomplete. Another person from the office will have to take up the former aide’s part also.  Another school aide is taking over the work since the former aide left.  
“Without these aides, the work will pile up,” said Ms. Kaminer.
     This is the second New York City layoff in eight years.
“The city saved approximately $28 million due to these cuts but approximately $11 million is being paid out in unemployment payments,” said Ms. Farrell.      
Union District Council 37, known as Local 372 or DC 37, is the largest public employee union in New York City, according to www.dc37.net.
Ms. Farrell said, “They had thought that there might a last minute reprieve and that the Union DC37 would be able to make an agreement with the city on their [the school aides] behalf.”  
The agreement was not reached.
     According to The New York Times article “672 School Jobs Are Lost in Largest Single-Agency Layoff Under Bloomberg” on October 7, 17 of the 51 DC 37 members signed and sent a letter to the mayor that read, “The constant attack on our education system will continue to burden the most vulnerable population of this city – our children.”
No response from the mayor was mentioned in the article.
     Brooklyn was hit with layoffs due to the closing of many schools.  
“Some of these schools include South Shore, Erasmus, Canarsie, and many more,” said Ms. Farrell.
School aides can only work within their borough.
The school aides will have no health benefits if laid off. However, there is a law that can help them. From www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm, COBRA stands for The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. It allows workers who have lost their jobs the opportunity to continue to pay on their own for their group health benefits for a limited time under certain situations, like this one.  According to Ms. Farrell, the laid off school aides will qualify for COBRA.
Santos Crespo, president of Local 372, stated that Department of Education had plenty of money and the layoffs were unnecessary in a YouTube video “Local 372 Layoffs: The Aftermath” on youtube.com.