As the March 15 state deadline for issuing teacher layoff
notices looms, it is likely most of the teachers in the Morgan Hill
School District remember the 111.5 layoff notices that were issued
this time last year, and the waiting to find out which teachers
would actually lose their jobs.
As the March 15 state deadline for issuing teacher layoff notices looms, it is likely most of the teachers in the Morgan Hill School District remember the 111.5 layoff notices that were issued this time last year, and the waiting to find out which teachers would actually lose their jobs.
Last year, the layoff notices were rescinded. This year, with only one School Board meeting before the deadline, district officials are not willing to talk about possible pink slips.
Classified employees were laid off as the district balanced the budget for the current fiscal year.
“It would be wrong of me to talk about that,” Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said Wednesday. “We have an entire committee here, looking at the budget … and for me to suggest that any decision had already been made would be very wrong.”
McKennan and representatives from the teachers’ union and the classified workers’ union, as well as McKennan’s cabinet, met Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to examine the budget in depth and come up with a recommendation of budget cuts to present to the board at its March 22 meeting.
McKennan refused to even speculate on the possible number of layoff notices that might be issued by the March 15 deadline.
Under state law, if a teacher will not be asked to return in the fall, the teacher must receive notification by March 15. The notice can later be rescinded, as they were last year.
Teachers have the right to appeal to the layoff notices.
Layoff notices and budget discussions are not on the agenda for the March 8 meeting. A special board meeting has been called for March 15, but the meeting is described as a retreat, with the focus on board procedures and goals.
