The latest in a series of reorganizations of McGraw-Hill’s textbook division sounds so happy that you could almost overlook the news that they are eliminating another 340 jobs from the unit, taking a pre-tax charge of $14 million. Those cuts follow two previous purges since early 2008 that already eliminated 455 jobs within the education line, still making this latest reduction the single largest of the three rounds of layoffs.
The company’s announcement, however, simply focuses on “creating achievement-focused preK-12 education group to help students develop 21st century skills.” That new focus somehow accounts for most of the layoffs: “the majority of the actions were related to the steps taken to support the segment’s new PreK-12 organization.” The company is also eliminating another 205 jobs from their financial services and information media groups.
The new education division is focused on “four specialized Learning Solution Centers designed to promote
educational excellence, improve student performance, and more
effectively address such critical issues as drop-out prevention,
students who have fallen behind, college and career readiness, and the
development of 21st Century skills.”
Company release