GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Layoffs have started at the Department of Education’s central offices, beginning the round of 475 personnel cuts ordered by the mayor earlier this month, DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte confirmed for me today.

Forte said she couldn’t tell me how many employees have already gotten pink slips. But she said that some people who work at the department’s Tweed Courthouse headquarters in lower Manhattan have already been let go. So have some people who have administrative jobs that are not based at Tweed, a category that could include human resources staff, who are housed in downtown Brooklyn, and staff at the Integrated Service Centers that are sprinkled throughout the five boroughs.

Forte said that more employees will be laid off “in the next couple of weeks.”

Our understanding is that all of the DOE’s department heads were told how much of their budgets they needed to cut, and then it was up to them to decide how.

Have you heard of anyone who’s been told to pack up his or her desk? Let us know.