A missed deadline has allowed 30 pink-slipped teachers to keep
their jobs
– a
”
moot
”
point in the wake of Gov. Jerry Brown’s rosier state budget
forecast. Full article
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A missed deadline has allowed 30 pink-slipped teachers to keep their jobs – a “moot” point in the wake of Gov. Jerry Brown’s rosier state budget forecast.
The Gilroy Unified School District must adhere to a state-mandated deadline to issue final written layoff notices by May 15. Due to an administrative error in the human resources department, however, the notices were sent late – making the layoffs invalid.
While GUSD Board President Rhoda Bress explained the district is able to retain the positions thanks to Gov. Brown’s May budget revision – which factored in an unexpected $6.6 billion improvement in state revenues for 2011 – Michelle Nelson, president of the Gilroy Teachers Association, says the district got lucky.
Three dozen staff members remaining gainfully employed is great, she said, “but if the governor hadn’t come up with something better in the May revise, the district would be in deep financial trouble.”
When asked what the district would have done if Brown’s May revision had been as bleak as they were expecting, Bress answered “fortunately we didn’t have to address that … we didn’t have the opportunity or need to discuss the options because it all worked out.”
GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores said the administrative error could have been an issue had the budget scenario turned out differently, but it wouldn’t have been as severe as having 30 extra positions. The district has already spent time finding placements for about half of the teachers that were going to be laid off, she said.
Bress acknowledged the mistake was “unfortunate,” but “it ended up being a moot point because it’s a no-impact on the district and students due to the governor’s May revision of the budget that will allow the district to restore class sizes.”
The motion to restore class sizes for the 2010-11 school year was approved during a June 2 school board meeting. These ratios include 24 students for 1 teacher for grades kindergarten through first, 28-to-1 for grades second through third, 32-to-1 for grades fourth through fifth and 33-to-1 for the sixth through eighth grades.
Lauren Iwanaga, a first grade teacher at Las Animas Elementary School who was bracing for the bad news, says she’s relieved – but admitted this year has been a “complete emotional roller coaster.”
The 2010 Gilroy Garlic Festival Queen received a pink slip March 15, and was left in limbo for three days when May 15 came and went without word. Iwanaga said her notice finally arrived May 18 – it was postmarked May 17 – making the layoff notice invalid.
“What was hard for us as teachers – and I don’t want to be cynical about it – as much as I wanted to believe that I was getting my job back, I found it hard to believe that such a significant mistake could be made,” she said.
Despite the fact, Iwanaga stressed she’s “happy to be teaching.” She also understands the district is dealing with fluctuating fiscal scenarios beyond its control.
Nelson, however, describes the aftermath of figuring out where to put teachers that would have been laid off as “a sticky mess.” The GTA feels the district should start over pre-layoffs and put everybody back where they belong, she said.
Nelson explained GUSD has assigned some of the teachers on the original layoff list to spots that were “left over without asking for volunteers first.”
Layoffs or no layoffs, Flores explained the district was going to have to move some teachers around due to shifting enrollment patterns and the loss of 180 students to Gilroy Prep School, a brand new charter set to open in the fall. Right now, it’s looking like four teachers will have to be moved from their original sites, Flores said – and she’s hoping to reduce that number.
She pointed out this is the district’s third year dealing with layoffs, and each year “we’ve been able to hire most of them back, if not all.”
Flores, too, described the year as one giant roller coaster ride.
Like Iwanaga, Rod Kelley Elementary fifth grade teacher Kim Lozano is looking at the situation through dual lenses. While missing the May 15 deadline seems like an impossible error given the budget crunch, Lozano still empathizes with her employers.
“It’s not their fault the money’s not there. I feel for their position too. They’re trying to make the best of a bad situation. They just messed up this time.”
She described the current scenario as a holding pattern, as some teachers aren’t exactly sure who will be moved where, and to what position.
“Will there be combination classes? It’s like the domino effect,” she said.
Lozano added it’s unsettling to think what would have happened without the extra money, or if something were to fall through.
“We’ll be up a creek without a paddle,” she said.
