Staff Reductions Approved at School Board Meeting

At their monthly meeting last night, the School Board of the Healdsburg Unified School District came to the unanimous yet reluctant decision to reduce their teacher workforce by almost six full time positions for school year 2012-2013.

“This has got to be one of the toughest things we have to do,” said board vice-president Vince Dougherty, after hearing the enrollment and staffing predictions that led to the teacher cuts.

While the reductions do not necessarily reflect the loss of six teacher positions in the school district, laying off a small number of teachers remains a possibility.

The meeting was held in the band room at on Wednesday, March 14. Board president Genevieve Llerena presided, with several members from the administrative staff including Supervisor Jeff Harding in attendance.

Steve Barekman, director of business services for the school district, outlined the projected numbers of students in the district schools for next year, and concluded that the teacher cuts were called for.

Basing future student enrollment on current enrollment with projections for transfers, “rolling out” (moving on to other schools or grades), and population trends, Barekman projected increased enrollment at the but slight to significant decreases at , the, and both secondary schools, and Healdsburg High School.

The increase at the charter school, which shares the location, facilities and in many cases staff with Healdsburg Elementary, is due to adding new classes and grades, up to fifth grade next year (it extends only to second grade at present).

In all, a total decrease of 5.4 FTE positions was foreseen, and after some discussion and clarification of the figures Resolution 12-36 calling for a “reduction in force” of 5.8 FTE was approved.

The discrepancy was termed “too complex to explain” by Supervisor Harding in a follow-up interview.

"It was an official 5.8 reduction of positions,"  emphasized Harding, not full-time contracted teachers. The decimal point reflects class periods, .2 being one class.

As Harding explained,  “While total reduction district wide is 5.8 full time equivalents, for some people it’s a one class period reduction, for some people it’s a leave of absence that they request.

“For example, someone is taking a part time leave of absence because she’s taking care of her mother. We don’t have to release that person, because she’s already requested a leave of absence, so that reduces the actual number of people [affected].”

Although leaves of absence, the release of temporary teachers, and reduced class load adds up to a portion of the 5.8 reduction, it does not, apparently, mean no teachers will be affected.

“What I’m not at liberty to tell you is how many actual bodies that represents,” he said, “ all I can do is tell you is how many positions. They actually correspond to fewer people for various reasons…  But I’m not at liberty to tell you who those people are.”

The actual reductions are “confidential,” Harding said. “Those are all personnel decisions and all done in closed session. What we report to you are reductions in FTE – full time equivalent…. I’m not at liberty to give you any more information about the specific people.”

In Barekman's presentation he noted that the projections and FTE numbers were based on 95% staffing of projected enrollment, for the reason that once hired for a school year a teacher could not be let go, but additional teachers could be hired or class units assigned out of the general fund to make up shortages.

“Let’s say we have an increase in the  number of students interested in taking, say, [for example] calculus, and we want to add another section,” explained Harding. “Then we go to our laid-off staff to see if there’s anyone qualified to teach that course. And if there is we hire [him] first to take that extra class. And if not then we go to the general public and we hire someone from the outside, and the money comes from the general fund.”

In closed sessions prior to the 6 p.m. general session, the board considered and moved on several personnel issues that were not open to public discussion. “There were laid off or released temporary teachers, people that were hired on a temporary basis and we’re required by law to release them. If we don’t, they have rights to come back automatically if the Board doesn’t take action.”

The board also voted to seek refinancing on existing elementary school bonds, due to the historically low interest rates prevailing. According to a presentation from Greg Isom of Isom Advisors, interest rates could be lowered from about 7% to 3%, saving the district some $866,000 per year.

In other Board activity last night, they heard several ideas on how the could best support valuable programs outside the school district's budget, heard a report from the district's school libarians about how today's students are using the libraries and their resources, and applauded the Healdsburg Jazz Festival for their in elementary schools last month.