NEW ORLEANS — On Friday, Nov. 1, Jerome Morgan got the news he wasn't expecting.
"You think you have you’re future secured as far as financially," Morgan, who was the Director of The Rooted School's culture and environment said. "And doing things you feel compassionate about but then it’s ripped from you, especially during the holidays," he said.
The Rooted School let him and three coworkers go. The school told them it was because of the Nola Public School's district budget miscalculation. The school told us the same thing in a statement Monday and stood by their position in a second statement Wednesday.
"We respectfully understand that this is not an easy position for all involved, but we stand by our decision to make these difficult but necessary adjustments to our budget in light of the unforeseen decrease in funding. We reiterate our previous statement." The school wrote.
The district did overestimate the budget by millions, but it turns out that may not be the reason behind the firings, according to Orleans Parish School Board members. District board members said the school's decision to let the employees go had nothing to do with the district's budget mistake.
"This was going on for some time and had nothing to do with the situation we’re facing today," Orleans Parish School Board Vice President Leila Jacobs Eames said during Monday's meeting.
Board members say for three years the school inaccurately reported the amount of students they have, therefore they collected hundreds of thousands of dollars they weren't owed.
"They reported a number that was wrong because they reported students being there who were no longer actually there," Board member Carlos Zervigon said. "An attempt to say that something going on with our financial projections is causing them trouble and they’re laying people off that’s not a sign of wanting to work in collaboration as far as the school is concerned and that’s troubling."
Former employees were thankful for the clarification, but they say they just want their jobs back.
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