GILROY
– More than 45 certificated positions in Gilroy Unified School
District, from classroom teachers to administrators, need to be
eliminated in order to absorb a
”
worst case scenario
”
of 2003-04 state budget cuts that become more and more likely
with each passing day.
GILROY – More than 45 certificated positions in Gilroy Unified School District, from classroom teachers to administrators, need to be eliminated in order to absorb a “worst case scenario” of 2003-04 state budget cuts that become more and more likely with each passing day.
Elementary school teachers, special education instructors, the district librarian and a school principal have their jobs on the chopping block. Even the popular class-size reduction program for kindergarten through third grade will lose a total of 13 teachers.
School board trustees will be asked to approve the cuts at their regular meeting March 6, nine days before the state’s deadline for serving teachers with layoff notices.
“Reality is starting to hit,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said Monday. “We had to make some tough preliminary decisions with a lack of any real clear direction from the state (which is still hammering out details on mid-year cuts of the current budget).”
The district does not know how much savings the proposed layoffs would ultimately bring because it hopes to refill at least a third of the positions once the state finalizes the 2003-04 budget. Based on rough teaching salary estimates, GUSD would pay around $1.8 million less next year in pay and benefits if all 45 positions are cut.
The layoffs, which span full-time and part-time management and teaching positions, give the district some flexibility to shave nearly $3 million in spending over the next 18 months. The $3 million is what the district figures it must trim in order to stay in the black after the state cuts are made.
No teacher layoffs took place this school year, since the March 15, 2002, deadline had already passed before the budget crisis crystallized. Diaz did institute a hiring freeze on all positions in the district in December.
There are approximately 550 teaching positions in the GUSD.
“Our goal is to reduce the negative effect the budget crisis will have in the classroom as much as possible,” said Linda Piceno, the GUSD’s assistant superintendent of human resources. “We’re trying to reduce, instead of eliminate, positions when it comes to in-the-classroom services.”
For instance, four positions within the district’s English Language Development program will be cut, but 24 core positions will remain.
Nonetheless, the cuts are significant because the ELD program is part of an effort to improve the standardized test scores of the district’s lowest achievers. Coupled with proposed reductions in the number of middle and high school special education teachers, some of the GUSD’s neediest students will take a big hit.
“No question about it, these were agonizing decisions that had to be made,” Piceno said. “The automatic question becomes, now what are we going to do?”
Diaz and Piceno said if the board approves the layoffs Thursday, the district will put together plans for meeting student needs as best as possible although there will be less administrators and teachers available to meet demand.
Community Day School, located on I.O.O.F. Avenue, will lose its principal, longtime GUSD educator and administrator Jim Gama.
Gama said he would work with the district to somehow set up a plan for supervising the kids without a full-time principal onboard.
“I happen to think I’ve instituted some important and fruitful things here, but I don’t see them stopping because the teaching staff is intact, and they’re the everyday driving force of the school,” Gama said. “But this does place more impact on teachers because we have discipline problems here.”
Community Day School is a seventh- to-10th-grade campus for students who face expulsion.
The district is sticking to its promise to not layoff any teacher who has a preliminary or clear credential, the two highest levels of credentialing available in California. The policy makes it possible for employees like Gama, a tenured teacher, to pick up classroom work in the district if no other managerial position is open.
GUSD Technology Director David Pribyl, also a former district teacher, may lose his job. Pribyl said he is taking the news in stride and working with the district to “reduce the downside” of not having a tech expert as much as possible.
“I wasn’t completely surprised. These cuts run so deep. If the position is not required by law, then it’s the first to go. Some districts don’t even have a position like this,” Pribyl said.
Despite Gama and Pribyl’s optimism, Diaz acknowledges that district morale is on shaky ground.
“We’re trying to make sure we communicate with our people. We have a flyer going out today that answers some questions for people,” Diaz said. “It’s times like this when you want to provide as much information as you possibly can.”
