Rescinding the Pink Slips

In order to preserve the flexibility needed to balance the budget and comply with state laws regarding reduction in teaching staff, the district distributed over 80 layoff notices to teachers in early March, long before we were able to decide on issues like class size. Earlier this week, hearings were held for teachers that are still on the list of potential layoffs. Each teacher on the list is entitled to an administrative hearing to verify that their seniority position is proper.

Fortunately, as final decisions on class size are coming into focus through negotiations with our teachers and the number of retiring teachers is becoming known, the district has been able to rescind 64 of the layoff notices. There are still 22 positions in danger as we are forced to consider larger class sizes next year. As further decisions on budget priorities are made in the next 2 months, many of these 22 teachers will be able to retain their positions as well. It is a testament to the good fiscal management of the district that we continue to make it through these bad budgetary years with relatively few layoffs.

For a complete description of the pink slip process and an explanation of why so many pink slips were distributed in the first place, see my previous post on the subject.