BLANCHESTER — Eighteen employees of Blanchester Local Schools were recently laid off, according to Superintendent Dean Lynch.

The Reduction In Force (R.I.F.) included 13 aides, two 3-hour cooks, one maintenance person, one teacher and a social worker.

“The reason for the reduction was financial,” Lynch told the News Journal. “The district had $300,000 in federal grants cut from its revenue, which was used to cover the cost of insurance for 16 employees.”

He said school district employees’ retirement and benefits from fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2019 are expected to increase by $537,000.

“Prior to the lay-off we reduced staff through attrition, decrease building budgets, limited the number of supplemental contracts, and switched copier and trash vendors,” Lynch added.