NATCHEZ &045;&045; Frazier Primary School Principal Lorraine Franklin headed to work Friday morning dreading the day.

By lunch the afternoon task she’d just as soon avoid altogether was looming.

And by the time Franklin went home Friday evening, she wasn’t the only one who’d had a bad day.

Budgetary issues within the Natchez-Adams School District forced Franklin to tell two of her teacher assistants Friday that they would no longer have a job for next year.

&uot;Not only are they good teacher assistants,&uot; Franklin said. &uot;But they are head of household, and I have to look at what they are going to be doing financially.&uot;

But the letters notifying support staff and teacher assistants that their contracts had not been renewed were handed down from the central office, and Franklin had no choice.

&uot;Pink slip day&uot; has become a realistic fear for educators across the state over the past two years when many school districts were forced to lay off employees because the Legislature failed to provide an education budget by April 15. Districts are required to notify teachers of contract renewals or non-renewals by that date.

Teachers in the Natchez-Adams district were notified in March if they were not renewed, but teacher assistants received notification Friday.

Total, 45 employees were not rehired, 22 were teachers, 23 were support staff and assistants. Of those numbers some had already planned retirement or resignation.

Frazier Primary also has two other employees who will not return next year due to retirement. Those jobs will not be filled.

&uot;It’s just hard to lose teachers or teacher assistants,&uot; Franklin said. &uot;You worry about the quality of education. We are decreasing staff and increasing students in the classroom.&uot;

At West Primary School, Principal Cindy Idom considers herself one of the lucky ones. Though West will lose two teacher assistants, they are currently working in the special education classes and were hired on the basis of need. Next year with a little reorganization that need will be gone, so the loss of the assistants won’t be a problem, Idom said.

Idom and Franklin both stressed the importance of teacher assistants at their grade levels because the children are so young.

&uot;It’s very important to hands-on student achievement,&uot; Idom said. &uot;They help monitor student progress, do small group instruction and help with the duty schedules.&uot;

Franklin said all of her classes had at least one assistant, and at the Pre-K level the need was even greater.

&uot;They are at the age where they just need help,&uot; Franklin said. &uot;To just literally pack them in the classroom due to this…and we talk about no child left behind.&uot;

At McLaurin Elementary three teacher assistants received the non-renewal letter Friday.

&uot;Anytime you lose personnel that’s a blow,&uot; Principal Karen Tutor said. &uot;You have to start readjusting and you are going to have more children somewhere.&uot;

Tutor said it was too early to start looking at the numbers for next year since the district still does not have a budget from the state. If funding does come through employees can be rehired at a later date.

At McLaurin, which houses grades two through six, the lower grades have the heaviest concentration of teacher assistants.

&uot;The teacher assistants at our grade levels are crucial,&uot; Tutor said. &uot;They are trained to come in and help us with reading instruction.&uot;

Though Robert Lewis Middle School is losing personnel, they will probably gain some from other schools to fill in the gaps, Principal Bettye Bell said.

&uot;We are going to look at how we can restructure the school day, maybe block schedule or modified block to keep numbers within 25 (students per class).&uot;

Last year the district lost 49 teachers by &uot;pink slip day.&uot;