Employees in the Chippewa Falls School District could lose their jobs. The School Board President Roberta Rasmus says the board did not take any action and is looking for alternatives.

She says the board asked for other ideas at Thursday’s meeting that would help with the budget crunch but if there are layoffs, they want to make that decision at the next meeting. She says they have to worry about secondary schools' scheduling

At Thursday night’s meeting there was a packed crowd, to hear about the possible cuts. Parents , students and teachers all spoke. Some were trying to save support staff jobs, while others are trying to save classes. The superintendent says the board has to find a way to make tough decisions because of a budget short fall.

A man in the crowd told the board that no body wants to do layoffs but it can’t keep passing the bills off to tax payers.

More than 150 people packed into the Hillcrest Elementary Library for the Chippewa Falls School Board meeting. Some students asking to keep classes like Russian others were teachers pleading to keep support staff.

One teacher told the board the support staff provides support not only to teachers and students in certain situations but to all teachers.

Teachers talked about how the staff not only helps them day to day in the classroom, but also about how the support staff helps better the education of the children in the schools.

"You're going to be taking the one person away that's physically handing a book to a student each week and that's something our district is trying to improve is the literacy goals," said another teacher addressing the board.

Past and present students talked about how the Russian class has benefited their lives. Some of their parents also spoke in support of keeping the language.

Earlier in the day Superintendent Dr. Tom Hughes told us there are a lot of challenges for the board, but Thursday’s meeting is a big step.

“I'm confident they'll start moving in a direction saying here's our target amount here's the recommendations. If they're not all recommendations we have at this time which ones are we favoring and lets take action on some of these things," says Hughes.

Hughes says the district is looking to free up about one million dollars. He says the actual budget shortfall looks to be about 75% of that but he says the district needs to plan for growth.

People in the crowd were also asking that teachers in the English department and the dance team aren't cut.