BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – The coffee may have been sweet but for three Broward County teachers Monday was a bittersweet day.
"I am grateful to have a job even though it is only 50 percent," said Anthony Tabacco. "I am working half time but I am going to do the best that I can with the time that I have and hopefully with the second job I will be able to make it."
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Denise Soufrine has been a high school media specialist for seven years. She has a PhD but is being surplussed.
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"They reduced the library media program to 50 percent and so I had to fill out involuntary transfer papers," Soufrine said.
Moving down to an elementary school, she is concerned the high school students she leaves behind will suffer because of the cutbacks.
"I collaborated with teachers on the assignments they did -- a lot of reading motivation programs with battle of the books and Florida reading programs. I am concerned they are not going to have those things that they need in order to succeed," Soufrine told Local 10's Todd Tongen.
Toribio Matamoros is a third year math teacher who has a stack of complimentary emails from parents, high FCAT scores and a Teacher of the Month title under his belt, but he is currently without a job.
"It is very frustrating," Matamoros said. "You give it the best you can. You go above and beyond. You go way beyond the work hours you are supposed to give at school. I just can't fit in my head having done the job that I have done that I get laid off."
While others teachers are heading back to the classroom under difficult circumstances, he will anxiously be working from home.
"I am going to be checking my email. I will be revising my resume. I will be researching job sites and waiting by the phone," he said.