Nearly 700 School Aides Axed

School aides, parent coordinators and other public support staffers lost their jobs Friday in one of the largest single-agency layoffs since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office.

   

Teachers were mostly spared from the layoffs after a deal was brokered in June. Nearly 2,000 teachers lost their full-time positions but were entitled to stay on as temporary instructors or substitutes. Half of those teachers found new positions or left the school system.

   

The mayor's office has said the cuts are the result of the city's inability to reach an agreement wit unions during budget talks.

   

Unions representing the workers denounced the layoffs, saying most of the job losses would affect poorer communities that are already in need of critical social services.