They’re out. Thirty-eight pink slips are being delivered by
today to 29 elementary teachers and nine at the middle and high
schools. The great hope is that the school district can balance the
budget and save their jobs.
They’re out. Thirty-eight pink slips are being delivered by today to 29 elementary teachers and nine at the middle and high schools. The great hope is that the school district can balance the budget and save their jobs.
Several Home and School Club members have described the decision with one common word: “Devastating.” While nothing can be done by parents to save teachers’ jobs, many said they will remain supportive of their schools.
“We need to remain hopeful that the notices will be rescinded,” said Nancy Love-Giba, a parent and former Home and School Club president at Jackson Elementary School.
The final round of pink slip distribution is done today to beat the March 15 deadline when all California public school employees must be notified. A $2.9 million budget shortfall spurred the layoffs, and the Morgan Hill Unified School District staff involved in budget decisions are quick to point out pink slips can be rescinded by the end of the school year should the district find money to aid its debilitated situation.
“We’ll go to almost every site with the principals to give the layoff notices” through today, said Theresa Sage, president of the teacher’s union.
Twenty-nine layoff notices are spread across six of the eight elementary schools, which will save the district about $1 million as it plans to increase kindergarten through third-grade class sizes to 24 pupils per teacher. The increase will send Morgan Hill Unified School District classes over the requirement of roughly 20 to 1 needed to receive Class Size Reduction funding from the California Department of Education. However, the loss of funding is less than the $1 million the school district will save by laying off 29 teachers.
The school district must do this while many critical numbers are still unknown. How many children will be enrolled for 2010-11?; how many teachers will choose to retire?; and what will the final schedules look like? – just to name three.
“We have to be prepared, so we have options,” MHUSD Superintendent Dr. Wes Smith said. Smith has expressed his concern for the cuts and wrote in a district newsletter that “because of our conservative spending practices, we are in a better plan than many districts across the country.”
Teachers who are considering retirement are asked to think about it harder, with at least a $20,000 incentive to boot. The Federation of Teachers along with school district staff met with 31 interested teachers at an informational meeting Tuesday.
The district based its choices for layoff notices on a seniority list that delineates the newest certificated staff by hire date. For teachers who have the same hire date, the district weighs other qualifications, such as amount of years teaching or other certificates.
California teachers must hold either a single subject credential (high school usually) or a multiple subject credential (elementary school). Other certificates or credentials that a teacher might have earned with additional schooling or testing would make them essentially safer from layoffs than a new teacher who has just one certificate. The layoffs will not affect classified staff, such as bus drivers or food service workers.
Since 2007, MHUSD has laid off 16 classified employees when the district was struck by a
$9 million deficit. Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini told the school board that by the 2011-12 school year, the district will be up against a
$6 million shortage, “based on the information we have today.” The district is required to give two-year projections when it reviews the budget every fiscal year.
A newly trained and formed budget committee spent the week discussing their recommendations to contain costs and how the school board might look at other venues that might be more cost effective. Those ideas will be discussed among the board and reviewed so that layoff notices can be revoked.
The district breaks down the cuts in terms of “full-time position equivalents” – now at a final count of 37.9 FTEs – which translates into the 38 layoff notices.
Four directors at the district level were added to the list of cutbacks as an extra precautionary move. The four directors are Director of Special Education Christopher Rizzuto, Directors of Curriculum Pat Blanar and Dr. Esther Carlson and Director of Technology and Enrollment Arlene Machado. Those four jobs make up a total of six directors in MHUSD, with the jobs for the directors of food services and transportation remaining the same.
Superintendent Dr. Wes Smith said once the assistant superintendent of educational services is hired, he or she will look at the board of directors and make decisions on what those jobs might look like. Interviews for that position were done last Friday and Smith said no decisions have been made yet.
“I suspect given the amount of work that needs to be done with all the federal and state regulations … and to bridge the achievement gap, it’s very likely the players are still here,” Smith said, “they may simply have different responsibilities.” The district would theoretically save money if under direction from the assistant superintendent it was decided that educational services at the district level could work without a particular position. The optimum way to structure those jobs will be reviewed over the next few months.
Applied art electives will in fact be reduced in a move the district is not planning to rescind like it may with layoffs. But it’s what the new classes will look like and with who in front of the classroom that is still up in the air.
Master schedules are not yet finalized, so the district must also give out nine pink slips to teachers at the secondary level, middle and high schools, because they have considered providing “alternative classes,” Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jay Totter said. Among the changes that are known is the effort to modify the electives into remedial English and math courses.
At a March 2 workshop, the school board debated whether high school students needed extra “core” subjects to bring them up to speed and become college prepared or if applied arts electives were more beneficial, especially for students who don’t plan to take the college route.
Four teachers at Live Oak High School and three teachers at Ann Sobrato High will be given a layoff notice by today. The names of the teachers and the subjects affected have been kept confidential until all layoff notices are distributed. The 12 elective periods that are under the gun, include fashion design, foods, guitar, computer application and childcare.
Barrett Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 20
-
Pink slips: 5
El Toro Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 14
-
Pink slips: 0
Jackson Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 16
-
Pink slips: 1
Los Paseos Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 18
-
Pink slips: 5
Nordstrom Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 20
-
Pink slips: 6
Paradise Valley Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 16
-
Pink slips: 5
P.A. Walsh Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 20
-
Pink slips: 7
San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School
- K-3rd grade teachers: 16
-
Pink slips: 0
OTHER SCHOOL LAYOFFS
Junior highs: Total layoff notices 2
– Britton Middle School: 1 pink slip (approx. 30 teachers)
– Martin Murphy Middle School: 1 pink slip (approx. 26 teachers)
High schools: Total layoff notices 7
– Central Continuation High School: none
– Live Oak High School: 4 pink slips (approx. 50 teachers)
– Ann Sobrato High School: 3 pink slips (approx. 65 teachers)
