Pretty in Pink: High school English teachers Kat Fair and Shannon Norris both wore pink Friday March 13, along with thousands of teachers throughout California, in support of those who are receiving ?pink slip? layoff notices due to the ongoing state budget uncertainties.
11 May Lose Jobs at ETUSD
By Patric Hedlund
More than 26,000 California teachers and other school staff have received “pink slips” as of March 13, which is the last business day before the annual March 15 statutory deadline for public school districts to issue layoff notices for the coming school year.
Teachers statewide dressed in pink to show support for those who may be receiving the notices. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell joined teachers, administrators, parents and students Friday, March 13 to acknowledge the growing tally of teachers whose jobs are at risk. Such notices are often based on low seniority rather than teaching skills.
Locally, El Tejon Unified School District (ETUSD) Suprintendent Shelly Mason said 11 notices have been distributed this week to certificated ETUSD personnel. Those include five layoff notices (to teachers in grades K-6; no high school teachers received layoff notices); four letters of non-renewal (to personnel who are not fully credentialed) and two nonreelection notices (given to probationary employees who are within their first two years of service to the district). Layoff notices carry with them a 39-month “priority rehire” right. The other notices do not.
“I do not know what that notion of pink slips means—we differentiate—different kinds of notices are given for different reasons,” Mason concluded.
Teachers who are issued layoff notices can ask for a hearing, Mason explained. “No requests for hearings have been received,” she added.
There are no surprises, she emphasized. “We’ve been talking about this at board meetings for two months and there were absolutely no surprises for anyone who received notices today,” Mason said.
“The good news is that we have gotten good at cutting. The bad news is that there is no place left to cut.”
The recent state budget included $11.6 billion in cuts to public education over the next 15 months, O’Connell said.
This is part of the March 20, 2009 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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