*An earlier version of this story ran with the headline “RCPS to cut more than 30 counselors.” This is incorrect, as counselors only make up a small number of positions impacted by the restructuring. The headline has been updated. Rocktown Now regrets the error. 

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – Rockingham County Public Schools is shuffling several dozen positions in the school division as it faces a budget reduction for the upcoming school year.

In a video sent to employees this week, Superintendent Dr. Larry Shifflett said that the changes include the cancellation of some unfilled openings. However, other current employees – like five Elementary Behavior Support Specialists – will see their positions eliminated.

Shifflett promised these employees that this does not mean they are getting laid off.

“These folks will all be offered other positions within Rockingham County Public Schools, so they will still have employment,” Shifflett said in the video. “They will still be able to maintain their salary and their benefits, but it may not be in their current school and obviously not in their current…or maybe not in their current position.”

He blamed the six-and-a-half-million-dollar budget cut on decreased funding from the General Assembly.

Harrisonburg City School Board member Kristen Loflin, who works as a mental health counselor, told Rocktown Now that she’s concerned about how reducing behavior support in the county schools will negatively impact students.

“When I think about having some of our student support pieces taken away from students, even if they are not in our school division, it’s a little heartbreaking,” Loflin said. “I’m really hoping that those students get supports in a wide variety of other, different ways in the community.”

Loflin said that, at the moment, she can’t speak for any potential impact on the city school division from staff restructuring in the county schools.

Rocktown Now Editor-in-Chief Calvin Pynn contributed to this report.