MORGAN HILL
– One-quarter of the Morgan Hill School District’s teachers and
one-quarter of its administrators will be receiving pink slips by
the March 15 deadline.
MORGAN HILL – One-quarter of the Morgan Hill School District’s teachers and one-quarter of its administrators will be receiving pink slips by the March 15 deadline.
“This is not something any of us want to do,” Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said Thursday night at a special board meeting called to determine how many certificated employees would receive termination notices. “Never in my career have I seen anything like this.”
The School Board voted 6-1 to approve a resolution calling for 111.5 teaching positions and seven administrative positions to be cut. The cuts represent a total savings for the district of $4.55 million.
Decisions have not been made about classified workers who include groundskeepers, bus drivers and secretaries.
Local governments across the state are making cuts in anticipation of cuts from the state. Gov. Gray Davis has proposed a $5.2 billion budget cut in education funding to take a sizable bite out of the estimated $34.6 billion state budget deficit.
Trustee George Panos voted against the resolution. He said his vote was a protest vote, because he doesn’t like having to cut personnel.
The board also approved a resolution, on a 7-0 vote, to extend the remaining administrator contracts for another year.
“When I saw this in the agenda, recommendations to cut teachers while extending administrator contracts, I was offended,” Trustee Shellé Thomas said. “Because we are a community, we work hand in hand for the students. I came here thinking I would vote ‘no.’ But it was explained to me that if I didn’t vote yes, we would be noticing more than the 100-plus people.”
Trustee Amina Khemici said she agreed with Thomas.
The board-approved cuts total more than the budget shortfall.
“We’re suggesting the board go deeper (than the estimated $3.2 million shortfall) in case we’ve missed something,” said McKennan. “We have a statutory requirement that by March 15, we must notify them if there’s a possibility they won’t be back next year.”
Just because these employees will receive termination notices does not mean that they will not have a job next year, McKennan said.
“These resolutions do not necessarily reflect what actually will happen,” she said. “This is only with certificated employees. We have yet to talk about classified employees.”
Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate, in charge of Human Resources, said by passing the resolution Thursday night, board members gave themselves room to work on making decisions on specific programs.
“Tonight’s action is one that needs to happen for you to put yourself in the position to make decisions in the next few weeks about particular services to be cut,” she said.
Once the School Board puts together a budget, any unnecessary termination notices can be rescinded, Tate said.
Faced with chopping some $3.2 million from next year’s budget, including approximately $1.7 million because of proposed state education cuts and $1.5 million due to declining enrollment, district officials held three days of meetings in February of the performance-based budgeting team.
The team includes 14 principals, five classified managers, four senior cabinet members (McKennan, Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Branco, Assistant Superintendent Claudette Beatty and Tate), four cabinet members (administration), three members of the classified employees’ union (SEIU) and four members of the teachers’ union (MHFT).
In the performance-based budgeting process, district departments prepare reduction packages showing which kinds of services and personnel would be reduced in that department with a 10-percent, a 15-percent and a 20-percent decrease in funding.
The team then anonymously ranks the reductions, most likely to least likely, and presents the board with its recommendations. In the reduction ranking, or program prioritization, the number one item, meaning it was the option ranked “most likely” by most of the participants, was a 20 percent reduction in costs of running the superintendent’s office.
Thursday’s meeting was just the beginning. Although the performance-based team has met and has agreed upon $1.7 million in reductions to recommend to the board, the board has until May to consider the recommendations and take action.
Also at the meeting, Tate released a certificated seniority list.
“We’ll take a copy of the seniority list and tonight’s resolutions to each union representative, and we’ll post copies of the seniority list at the school sites,” she said.
The seniority list will be used, in combination with other factors, to make decisions about which teachers will actually be laid off, when the board has agreed on reductions.
“What we did tonight is a legal procedure,” Board President Tom Kinoshita said. “The work begins March 10. By May, we have to have a budget.”
Tate said decisions about which principals will be cut, if any cuts will be necessary, will likely be made before the end of the school year.
“I would expect that you would see her do this prior to the close of school, particularly if there are changes,” she said. “This way, the principal would have an opportunity to get to know her new staff.”
Any decision about reassignment of principals will likely be made at that time as well, she said.
“The superintendent will analyze the skills of the remaining administrators and match up their talents with the needs of the schools,” she said. “This may result in the remaining administrators being reassigned, based upon bilingual skills, knowledge of Title One, knowledge of categoricals.
“I believe the superintendent will keep movement to a minimum. She is very concerned that everyone is already sufficiently upset with the layoffs and does not want to further upset the school community.”
Tate said that the possibility of a principal sharing in district office duties, or a district office position being placed as a principal, as Encinal Principal Ray Jiminez was this year, has been discussed.
“I would anticipate that those principals who have smaller sites would be assigned some essential duties that the School District would have to have covered to receive funds or to keep a program moving forward,” she said. “Like the GATE program. We have a good GATE program, we’ve made great strides, and we wouldn’t want to let good work of people sit on the shelf.”
The possibility of two school sites sharing a principal is something that has also been considered.
“That has been discussed,” said Tate. “We are making every effort to not have that happen. We don’t believe that is the best scenario, but dollars dictate what we must do.”
