TAMPA — A consultant's report that recommends shrinking more than 1,700 jobs got its first public airing before the Hillsborough County School Board on Tuesday as district leaders tried to both reassure their workforce and give the suggestions serious consideration.Board members and superintendent Jeff Eakins emphasized there is no plan to lay off employees. Any cuts would follow careful consideration and discussion, they said.At the same time, Eakins said he expects to see some changes as early as July. "We are looking at being as effective and efficient as possible," he said.For the most part, Eakins said, his administration has looked hard at vacant positions and whether they need to be filled or can be eliminated through retirement and attrition. "That's something we already do," he said.Gibson Consulting Group, which was hired for $818,000 to find efficiencies after Hillsborough realized it was depleting its reserves at an alarming rate, is doing its work in phases, starting with areas that can save the district $1 million or more.The early work concerned front-line employees — teachers, custodians, secretaries and bus drivers. Hillsborough is overstaffed in all those areas, Gibson found.Nearly a third of all secretaries work in the district's downtown headquarters — a logical place to cut, officials agreed. Decisions are not so easy when it comes to custodial workers and bus drivers.Board member Doretha Edgecomb challenged a recommendation to have most custodians clean at night, saying that when she was a principal, she found supervision was important.Others pointed out that some school properties are not safe at night, and April Griffin said workers might want to travel to the schools in teams.Griffin also questioned a recommendation that the district phase out so-called courtesy busing trips of under two miles to middle and high school students.That move might prompt parents to leave district schools altogether, she said. Without saying the word "charter," she pointed out that district-run schools have more competition than ever.Work remains on the issue of teachers. By Gibson's standards, Hillsborough has 1,030 more than it should when compared with other large districts, and that difference costs the district $66 million a year.Early in the discussion, Edgecomb said she hopes that despite the need to cut costs, the district will move cautiously when it comes to taking people out of the classroom."It is so important for me that we do everything to keep the costs, even somewhat elevated, if it provides greater student success," she said."At the end of the day, success trumps costs for me." Contact Marlene Sokol at (813) 226-3356 or msokol@tampabay.com. Follow @marlenesokol.