Confirmed: teachers on the chopping block

Northeast Guilford H.S. (shown at left) will have to cut an unknown number of staff, teachers included. And this process is being repeated at schools countywide.

News & Record reports principals are asking staff planning to quit or retire at the end of this academic year to come forward now.

N&R:

Last week, Guilford Schools Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green announced he would withhold half, or $6 million, of per-student funding from schools. Typically about 25 percent is withheld. Principals use that money for everything from supplies to field trips, but some use that money to hire additional teachers.

The withheld money, plus lowered student enrollment projections, has some principals preparing for more cuts. Northeast High School principal Anitra Walker sent an e-mail to her faculty Tuesday night asking anyone who might retire or quit to come forward now rather than later. Walker said she is hoping she can absorb some cuts through attrition. Walker did not say how many teacher cuts she will need to make.

Principals are scheduled to turn in budgets by April 10.

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And that not only has you talking, it also has Board member Garth Hebert just a little steamed.

Hebert (via the Chalkboard):

Look at my older posts, we can blame it on the principals, it’s their fault that people are losing their jobs, not the administration or the School Board. Who is in charge, who is responsible, certainly not the Board or Mo. Will someone find me a spine I can use, maybe a few hundred jobs can be spared if I only had a spine. Has no one figured out yet how many employees we will lose this way? What I want to know, why are Principals being forced to cut staff without any Board input or discussion? What Board Members were informed of this policy of stealth staffing reductions? There might be a way to prevent this or do it better, alas the Board will be informed of what the Board has decided to do by staff when they feel it is too late for the Board to object.

If only 3 employees are lost at each school, 300 people will lose their jobs! When principals are told they can only use 50% of their discretionary staffing funds then they are precluded from hiring desperately needed resources. The great thing is we are suggesting ONLY 90 to the Press. By the time all other factors are considered, 400 to 500 positions may be in jeopardy. But then again I’m just a CPA dumb enough to be on this ship. Thank goodness the rest of the Board knows and trusts staff better than I do.

I believe that we could reshuffle the deck, opt to forgo weighted student allocations for 2 years and utilize Federal Title 1 grants to effectively increase funding at impacted schools and preserve already overcrowded classrooms throughout the district. Just a naïve attempt to look at the problem better. Maybe if there was teamwork we could solve this problem.

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Naivety aside, I have some problems with this...one, the discussion itself. Did you catch this from the article:

Green is expected to present his budget proposal to the school board April 7. Board members are scheduled to meet with Green behind closed doors Friday and Monday to discuss the budget.

As long as five or fewer board members attend the meeting — and the meeting is only for information — the meeting is not required to be open to the public.

Something like this affecting this many staff countywide needs to be held in open session, I think all sunshine laws apply here. Matter of fact, I think this needs to be dealt with in an emergency meeting, preferably during the day, not at 11pm at the end of a Board meeting in May. We're talking about teachers who care for your children (and mine) during the day. These are livelihoods. These aren't numbers on a piece of paper.

Next, and I'm going on a limb here...it may be time for the Superintendent to put this strategic plan on hold. Now is NOT the right time to be hiring administrators. In fact, we have WAY TOO MANY as it is. Shave off about 10 administrators, there's your cost savings. Shave off 20 more, and the savings grow even more. I've always wondered if it took these many administrators to run a school system? Or these many PR professionals to write a press release? You have a number of laid-off journalists and PR pros (ahem...ahem) who can do the job, on contract, at a fraction of the cost. GCS is not being creative at all.

Stay tuned, because this is likely to get ugly...

E.C. :)