After weeks of uncertainty, the number of staff potentially affected in the restructure of Catholic schools in Maitland-Newcastle has been revealed.
The Newcastle Herald understands that more than 200 staff will be impacted by the proposed changes at the 58 schools across the diocese.
After affected staff were required to decide their next move by Friday, September 11, Catholic Schools Maitland-Newcastle had not confirmed how many staff were made redundant or were redeployed to different positions.
According the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, there were 1427 full-time employees, 1686 part-time employees, and 882 casual employees in 2025.
The Independent Education Union (IEU) NSW/ACT, which represents Catholic schools staff, believed the restructure was due to "cost cutting" and a "review of educational priorities".
Union secretary Carol Matthews said the union had expressed its concerns to the diocese about the impact of staffing cuts on quality teaching and learning.
The Newcastle Herald understands Ms Matthews and local IEU organisers met with the diocese on Thursday, September 10.
"The union pushed strongly for teacher-librarian positions to be retained in primary schools," Ms Matthews said.
"The union is also challenging the cuts to specialist staff who support Aboriginal students and students who speak English as an additional language or dialect," she said.
Ms Matthews said the union would continue talks with the diocese about the proposed changes to minimise the effects on individual staff.
"We understand many parents and parent groups have contacted the diocese to express anger and disappointment at the loss of teacher-librarians and specialist staff in particular," she said.
The Newcastle Herald understands the diocese was expected to finalise its positions in the coming week.
On Monday, August 31, staff at Hunter Region Catholic schools were told of proposed changes to their jobs.
The IEU understood that teacher-librarians could be gone from primary schools with other support staff potentially seeing a reduction in their roles.
A parent of children at Catholic schools launched an online petition in response to the staffing changes, calling for transparency and accountability.
"Some of the suggested changes do impact some of the most vulnerable members of our community and it's disappointing to learn that from the media," she said.
In the petition, which had gained 700 signatures, she said parents were seeking meaningful consultation with communities on the proposed restructure.
"If things are changing, how can we be confident as a community that it won't be to the detriment of children?" she said.
The parent said she had enrolled her children with teaching resources such as teacher-librarians and other support roles that were now potentially under threat.
"I've felt to date, my experience of educating my children in that system has been overwhelmingly positive," she said.
"My concern now is there is going to be or it feels like there will be ... a really fundamental change to the offer."
Another petition calling for teacher-librarians to be mandated in classrooms nationwide had almost 18,000 signatures.
On Friday, September 4, a spokesperson for Catholic Schools Maitland-Newcastle said the proposed changes to staffing were driven by strengthening educational outcomes and ensuring long-term financial sustainability.
"It is important to clarify that the changes do not involve reductions to classroom teaching," they said.
"Our priority is to ensure our resources are aligned with the areas that have the greatest impact on student learning and educational outcomes."
