With so many teachers treated like excess inventory during the layoff process this spring, many CTA chapters mobilized members to convince school districts to tear up reduction-in-force (RIF) notices that should never have been issued in the first place.
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Burbank teachers get the media's attention with a play on the 'Got Milk?' advertising campaign; others line the streets with relevant picket signs. |
Their victories let school districts statewide know that teachers are not expendable, and will fight for their jobs and their profession.
"By cutting teachers, you're cutting as close to the classroom as possible. That's the opposite of what should be happening," says Glenda McDowell, co-president of the Alameda Education Association, which was able to get hundreds of layoffs rescinded.
The many cases in which layoffs evaporated vindicate teachers who charged early on that school districts were overreacting to the state budget crisis and creating needless turmoil in the lives of dedicated teachers statewide, says CTA President Wayne Johnson. "Cutting teachers must be the last resort instead of the first route taken, as it was by so many administrators and school board trustees who didn't have their priorities straight."
Instead, he says, districts should cut administrators first. "Protecting the classroom and student learning must be the top priorities."
Among the CTA chapters that succeeded in getting districts to back down by May 1 were:
- Alameda Education Association, with 624 of 634 RIF notices rescinded.
- United Teachers of Richmond, with 660 of 956 notices rescinded.
- San Ramon Valley Education Association, with 234 of 272 notices rescinded.
- Antioch Education Association, with 245 of 252 notices rescinded.
- Oakland Education Association, with 450 of 1,100 notices rescinded.
- United Teachers of Santa Clara, with 118 of 150 notices rescinded.
- New Haven Teachers Association, with 102 of 110 notices rescinded.
- Chula Vista Educators, with 118 of 366 notices rescinded.
- Burbank Teachers Association, with 203 of 251 notices rescinded.
- Riverside City Teachers Association, with 194 of 217 notices rescinded.
- Temecula Valley Teachers Association, with all 227 notices rescinded.
- San Diego Education Association, with all 1,487 notices rescinded.
- Carlsbad Unified Teachers Association, with all 37 notices rescinded.
In addition, all 742 members of the Hesperia Education Association were issued notices that their work year would be cut three days, but the chapter was successful in getting the notices canceled. The fight to save 11 Hesperia teachers' jobs is continuing.
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Armed with mock pink slips, Alameda teachers hold a protest in front of the school district offices. |
Working closely with CTA field staff and attorneys, chapter activists saved many teaching jobs. Some districts used layoff threats to try to get contract negotiation concessions about class size reduction language. Many districts backed down only days before legal hearings where they would have had to justify their layoff notices.
School districts across the state handed out an estimated 21,000 layoff notices to probationary and permanent educators by the March 15 preliminary deadline, according to CTA estimates. The 21,000 did not include thousands of temporary teachers who won't have their contracts renewed, but aren't due notices under state law. The number of teachers actually laid off was not known at press time.
The Alameda Unified School District was one of only a handful where every teacher got a layoff notice, a situation so novel that the
New York Times
began an April 1 story about massive California teacher layoffs by detailing Alameda's crisis.
But after Alameda teachers held a protest march, demanded mass layoff hearings with a judge, and filed a lawsuit with the help of CTA, nearly all of the 634 teacher layoff notices were rescinded, says McDowell.
"And we plan to fight for the remaining 11 teachers being targeted. There were just no parameters used at all in deciding who would make it onto the list."
In Burbank, teachers mobilized and packed school board meetings to kill off 159 of 251 layoff notices, says Kim Allender, co-president of the 850-member Burbank Teachers Association. "We held a rally on the steps of City Hall, we wrote letters to newspapers, we passed out fliers at our open house night."
Although districts with large reserves should conceivably be able to avoid teacher layoffs, that was apparently not the case in Hesperia Unified in San Bernardino County. The district tried unsuccessfully to furlough all teachers for three days and still was trying to lay off 11 teachers at press time.
"This district has $15.8 million in total reserves," says Jim Pace, president of the Hesperia Education Association. "That amounts to about three times the reserves required by the state. Teachers here have been working without a contract for three years. And the district still tried to balance its budget on the backs of students and teachers."
Rallies and fliers made a difference, he says, as did the hard work of chapter site reps who mobilized the members.
In Riverside County, Temecula teachers were angered by the school board president's remark during layoff discussions that it was getting hard to attract administrators, and that, perhaps, the district should offer a $10,000 signing bonus - to administrators.
Jim Thomas, president of the Temecula Valley Teachers Association, says pressure from chapter newsletter articles, a parent mobilization effort and lobbying at school board meetings paid off when the board voted to rescind all 227 layoff notices for teachers.
Some work remains to be done because the district arbitrarily classified some emergency and intern teachers as temporary. Nevertheless, the victory shows that teachers won't be treated as numbers on a balance sheet.
Legal counsel advised the district to err on the side of caution in anticipating budget cuts, says Thomas. The school board took the advice and handed out an excessive number of pink slips "without consideration as to how disruptive and harmful the action was."
The human factor didn't seem to matter, says Thomas. "People were not the board's emphasis."
In Contra Costa County, at least two school districts used layoff notices to try to get concessions during contract negotiations with teachers. The Antioch Unified School District angered teachers with this ploy, says Gary Hack, president of the 1,100-member Antioch Education Association.
"They said if we gave up prep time and class size reduction, they could save some jobs," Hack says. "We said no thanks."
When the chapter filed a grievance over the attack on class size reduction, the district backed down and rescinded 245 of the 252 teacher pink slips.
In the West Contra Costa Unified School District, school officials tried to use class size reduction as a bargaining chip in the layoff fight, along with raises and health benefits, and then compounded the layoff crisis by making errors regarding seniority, credentials and notification dates.
"It was unconscionable how sloppy they were in this process," says Jeff Cloutier, the executive director of the United Teachers of Richmond chapter, which represents 1,997 teachers.
The district conceded its errors and rescinded 660 of the 956 layoff notices it had issued.
In the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, teachers packed school board meetings, joined forces with parents, and wore pink "No Layoffs" T-shirts when news of the 272 layoff notices hit.
In keeping with the pink slip motif, teachers also tied 272 pink ribbons on the fence that protects an ancient oak tree in downtown Danville, says Mary Jane Keogh, president of the San Ramon Valley Education Association.
The school board saw the light and rescinded 234 of the 272 notices, Keogh says. "At first they said they didn't have any money to save the jobs, and then they said they found it. The school board was very impressed with the passion of the teachers."
In San Diego County, members of the Carlsbad Unified Teachers Association mobilized the community, wore buttons declaring "Teacher Cuts Hurt Kids," displayed protest signs in their cars and swamped school board members with e-mail.
At a recent school board meeting, the district capitulated and rescinded its 37 notices, says Barbara Barry, a member of the chapter's executive board.
"The news was met with cheers from the audience. It was an awesome victory."
Mike Myslinski
