35 teachers get layoff notices

Matt Bower
Posted 5/12/15

Thirty-five layoff notices were sent out to teachers last Thursday and Friday. According to the Warwick Teachers Union (WTU) contract, only 40 layoff notices may be issued per year and only 20 …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

35 teachers get layoff notices

Posted

Thirty-five layoff notices were sent out to teachers last Thursday and Friday. According to the Warwick Teachers Union (WTU) contract, only 40 layoff notices may be issued per year and only 20 teachers can be laid off.

Rosemary Healey, director of human resources, said approximately two-thirds are secondary teachers and one-third are elementary.

Layoff notices used to be sent to teachers by March 1, but that deadline was changed to June 1 last summer as part of contract talks with the WTU.

“For certain kinds of layoff notices, such as anything considered to be performance-based non-renewals, the teachers still have to be notified by March 1,” Healey said. “Those notices not concerned with performance, but rather addressing fiscal and enrollment issues the deadline was changed to June 1.”

Healey said the decision to move the deadline back was made in part to take stress off of teachers.

“The school committee and school department felt teachers would be in a better position to know [their situation] financially and schedule-wise,” she said, adding that it also allows the department to be more precise with its layoff decisions.

When asked why layoff notices were going out now in early May when they have until June 1, Healey said the process is a bit imprecise.

“We sent out notices saying there will be a hearing before the School Committee to review the layoff list and what will be issued,” she said, adding that meeting is tonight beginning at 5:30 at Toll Gate High School. “Those teachers have a right to be present at the meeting.”

Healey said once the list has been decided, layoff notices will be sent to those teachers, which must be in their hands by June 1.

Healey reiterated that the department can only take a maximum of 20 positions due to layoff, but if there are retirements or positions that aren’t filled, those can be absorbed through attrition.

Although the notices must be in the hands of teachers by June 1, there’s no deadline as to when the cuts must be made.

“There’s no specific deadline by the teacher contract, as long as it’s done by [the start of] the school year, however we do our best to make the decision prior to the teacher job fair on June 29,” she said. “We don’t want to lose teachers to other districts and it minimizes exposure to unemployment compensation if we’re recalling teachers, while giving them the stability to prepare for the next school year.”

Healey said the department might not be able to make decisions this year as soon as it has in previous years with consolidation conversations going on.

When asked how much money could be saved if 20 positions were eliminated, Healey said it depends on step levels of the teachers involved. The higher the step, the more money the teacher makes and thus, the more money would be saved.

“We’ve consolidated staff for a number of years, so the people getting laid off are getting higher up the chain of command, step 6 and above where the approximate savings are on average $100,000 per person, so the total would be $2 million if we lay off all 20,” she said.

Healey said all teachers on the layoff list are put on the recall list, and as vacancies occur through retirements and resignations or teachers get added to schools due to enrollment numbers, those teachers have first priority for being called back.

“There’s a difficulty in making specific projections of how many vacancies we’ll have due to the pension system changes and age requirements going up,” she said.

Healey said at a minimum, 15 teachers need to be called back just to get down to the maximum of 20 layoffs.

“There are a number of factors that come into play, such as student enrollment figures and schedules,” she said. “The all-day K initiative could also impact positions.”

With regard to the current budget, Healey said the school department took a conservative approach because it did not want to assume it would be closing a school, but rather maintaining status quo.

“My understanding is, in the current budget, we estimate 10 positions can be taken as opposed to 20 due to a strong a feeling that without consolidation, we may not get to 20 due to class size and demand,” she said. “It will be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to get to the full 20 [layoffs] without consolidation, so we’re looking at 10 to save $1 million.”

Healey said the department is being very cautious and conservative as it proceeds knowing the budget issue and maximizing the number of cuts it can sustain.

The School Committee will meet for its regular monthly meeting tonight in the Toll Gate High School auditorium. The public portion of the meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. The executive session portion, which is closed to the public, begins at 5:30 and will include the non-renewals/pre-deprivation hearings related to the teacher layoff list.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here