(Danville, Va.) — Averett University laid off 11 employees this week and reduced one full-time employee to part-time status.

Cassie Jones, Averett’s Director of Marketing and Communications, confirmed the decision.

The layoffs happened on Monday afternoon and were blamed on a decrease in enrollment by adult students in Averett’s Graduate and Professional Studies program and an increase in higher-achieving students.

Jones said the decision was painful but is part of an effort to reorganize and make the university more efficient. The cuts represent a 2.5% reduction in the overall budget.

She said that half of the affected employees worked in the GPS program and rest are spread throughout the campus.

(Gretna, Va.) – Charges have been filed in the death of a Gretna teen in Harrisonburg last year.

Hailey Ryan Moore was a student at James Madison University on November 9, 2016, when the 18-year-old died of a drug overdose.

20 year-old Joey Fondaco, Moore’s boyfriend at the time, is now charged with second-degree murder.

Moore was a freshman at JMU when she was found unresponsive at Fondaco’s off-campus apartment. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later.

The state medical determined her death was the result of a drug overdose.

Fondaco is scheduled for a bond hearing in Rockingham County Circuit Court on September 25.