Parents, students and teachers packed a Vernon School Board meeting Thursday night as the board discussed massive layoffs of full-time staff.

It was a very emotional meeting, with the public talking about how these layoffs will impact their community.

More than 45 full-time employees, including about three dozen teachers, will be losing their jobs at the end of the school year. A budget shortfall, exacerbated by $8.5 million in state aid reductions over the last six years, are being blamed for the layoffs.

“It’s hard. It’s hard for all of us. I’m heartbroken for them because they’re wonderful and a lot of them came from other places to come here and be right for our kids,” says Terri Yost, a middle school library media specialist. “And now they’re being asked to go somewhere else, and that’s a really tough thing.”

Some students say that there could be other ways to save money without having to let these teachers go.

“I would just say that they’re making a big mistake. I think that there are tons of things that they can do, like the buses, the transportation. I live in Highland Lakes and I have like four kids on my bus. There are five buses that go to Highland Lakes, so they could eliminate so many of those buses…there are after-school activities that kids don’t even sign up for, but we still put money in for them.”

Parents tell News 12 that they are anxious to see how the layoffs will impact the next school year.