With their regularly scheduled meeting moved up from next Monday
to this Thursday, Morgan Hill School Board trustees will have the
opportunity to rescind more of the 111 layoff notices issued to
district teachers because of budget cuts.
With their regularly scheduled meeting moved up from next Monday to this Thursday, Morgan Hill School Board trustees will have the opportunity to rescind more of the 111 layoff notices issued to district teachers because of budget cuts.
“We’ve rescinded 52 layoff notices and we will be taking a request to the board on Thursday to rescind 9.2 FTE (full teaching equivalent) at the secondary level,” said Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate, who leads human resources for the district. “We will hopefully have the opportunity to call back some more.”
The district is currently working on cutting approximately $3.4 million from the 2003-2004 budget, due to an estimated $1.5 million loss because of declining enrollment and an estimated $1.7 million shortfall due to education budget-slashing at the state level.
The board voted at its April 7 meeting to bring back K-3 teachers, so class size reduction at those grades could continue. But, Tate said Monday, if a parent wonders why his or her child’s teacher is still under notice, it is probably because the district must look at credentials and seniority as the decision are made.
“We have to go by credentials and seniority,” she said. “Some of our teachers, particularly at the secondary level, have multiple subject credentials. So if their position at the secondary level is gone and they also have elementary credentials, we have to consider them for that level. We can’t skip over them; we have to go in order of seniority.”
In Thursday’s recommendation, then, there may be action taken that allows additional elementary notices to be rescinded.
“On Thursday night the board will address reinstating positions at the middle school and high school,and when that happens, it finally lets the bar down,” Tate said.
Tate said hearings for the teachers who received layoff notices, which were scheduled for April 28-30, will not all be necessary.
“The hearings scheduled for the 28th and the 29th have been cancelled,” she said Monday. “We are holding the 30th as a possibility. I’m working with (Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President) Mary Alice Callahan to see if we can get our numbers down to fewer than eight. ”
Another bit of good news amidst the budget woes is the interest teachers are taking in the newly created supplemental employee retirement plan, or SERP. Tate worked with Callahan and the firm of Keenan and Associates to create a plan which, for eligible teachers who decide – by May 10 – to retire this year a variety of options for additional compensation.
To date, 13 potential retirees have signed on; in order to offer the plan, Tate said, at least 21 retirees must participate.
The board meeting was moved from April 21 because schools will not be in session next week for spring break.
The Morgan Hill Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, at the District Office, 15600 Concord Circle. Details: 201-6023.
