We all knew it was going to happen, but it’s still kind of shocking to see.  Tonight the School Board voted 3-1 to lay off 71 teachers.  No names were attached to the RIFs (yet), but they will mostly go in reverse seniority order from most recent hire on up.  I have to qualify that with a “mostly” though because there are a few exceptions – newer people with special credentials will be skipped if no one with more seniority can take their place.  Teachers in the Dual Language program at Moffett and Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs) also seem to have been singled out to be skipped, because the Board says they have “special training.”  [Editorial – I know a lot of great teachers in both positions, and have friends in both the DL program and working as TOSAs, but it doesn’t seem exactly fair to single one group of teachers or another and say, “No RIFs for you!” while other great teachers face cuts. BG].  They also voted 4-0 to “non reelect” (i.e., not ask back) 19 out of 22 temporary contract teachers.  Again, no names were given publicly, but the assumption is that those not cut have some kind of special credential that other, permanent teachers do not have.  Notices will go out those 71 in the next few days (by March 15). As usual, this process sucks.  I’m not going to make excuses for the District or try to justify their decision to RIF folks in any way, but one thing I can say is that these decisions are in no way a negative reflection on the temporary contract teachers or the permanent teachers getting RIF notices; every one of them is a fantastic teacher who cares about the kids in Lennox and has bills to pay.  These decisions are based solely on when people started working, what credentials they have, what kind of contract they have (temp/perm), and, I guess, their “special training.”  The March 15 notice is a “preliminary” notice, just a warning that folks maybe laid off.  A final notice goes out to a smaller number of folks by May 15, and even those can be rescinded until the end of June.  A lot can change between now and then.  The State budget may change, allocating more money to school districts.  The State’s income may increase.  We may be able to negotiate a settlement with the District that restores some or all of the positions in exchange for more furlough days and/or more temporary salary cuts.  Like I said, a lot can change between now and then.  Keep your fingers crossed and be ready to support the Bargaining and Organizing Teams when they ask for your help. The District also “sunshined” their bargaining proposal, their initial stab at what they’d like to get out of negotiations this year.  Honestly, I was hoping they’d propose a specific number of furlough days and % of salary cuts that would allow them to cancel the RIFs.  That’s what they did last year.  But it was not meant to be.  Instead they proposed:

• lowering the number of teachers require to pass a contract variance from 75% to 55% (cost savings $0),
• lowering the number of days the LTA President can be released to do union business from 10 to 5 (even thought the Union pays for those days and it costs the District nothing, so … cost savings $0),
• allowing the District to file grievances against LTA (cost savings $0),
• negotiating salary and furlough days (cost savings – potentially),
• capping health benefits (cost savings – sure, but our health benefits suck so bad, it couldn’t be much!),
• limiting the retiree health benefits of newly hired teachers (cost savings – in 35 years!),
• allowing mandatory Friday meetings (cost savings $0),
• replacing the 2:38 dismissal with something that would allow for “common collaboration” (cost savings $0)
• increasing class-size averages beyond 29:1 (cost savings – yes, by laying off MORE teachers),
• changing the salary schedule so teachers’ advances depend on their evaluations (cost savings – well, I suppose you could save money by giving people bad evaluations).

Notice that 90% of their proposals are garbage that having nothing to do with finding ways to rescind lay-offs or maintaining our students’ class sizes.  They are  meant to annoy teachers and distract the Bargaining Team.  What a colossal waste of time!  If this represents the District’s “strategy,” we’re going to be in for a lot of games and ploys and threats.  So much for the more cordial relationship we tried to develop by working with the District last year.  Hang on folks, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.  But whatever the District’s attitude, we will maintain our focus on saving people’s jobs, keeping other cuts to a minimum, maintaining classes at sizes where we can teach and our students can learn, and improving the quality of life of our teachers. In parting, I just want to invite everyone to the next Board meeting, on March 13, to support our Bargaining Team as they present our initial proposal.  It will probably have to be as vague as the District’s, now, but at least it will give us a place to start.  Also keep your eyes out for a digital survey coming to you soon as we try to fine tune our proposals and determine which parts would most positively impact your lives.   As always, thanks for your continued support, and all you do for the kids and each other, Brian Guerrero