Ann Arbor Public Schools to call back 1st of 233 laid-off teachers
The Ann Arbor Public Schools will call back its first group of laid-off teachers Friday.
The first batch of teachers will be called back at a meeting that will take place at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Balas Administration Building, 2555 S. State St.
AnnArbor.com file photo
Most of the 233 teachers gradually will be called back before the start of school in September, but about 37 teachers are expected to be out of a job as a result of the budget the board passed in June, which calls for the reduction of 27 undesignated teachers, 3 FTEs from Skyline High School, 4 physical education teacher FTEs and 3 reading interventionists.
This is the first time in the district's history of financial struggles that it's had to follow through with laying off teachers. Typically, the board and school administration has been able to reduce teachers through attrition: retirements and resignations.
"It violates a long-held practice and philosophy in this district," board President Deb Mexicotte said in April, talking about how having to issues layoff notices saddened her. "It is something we have prided ourselves on. It is a partnership we have had with our teaching staff because we value them so highly. We don't want to lose a single one of them."
This year AAPS saw fewer retirements than in previous years. At the end of the school year, the number of retirements totaled about 37. Generally, AAPS has 40 to 50 retirements a summer.
District administrators will bring a list of at least 60 names before the Board of Education for approval at Friday's meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Balas Administration Building.
AAPS Communications Director Liz Margolis said after the board approves the callbacks Friday, a letter will go out Monday to those teachers who have been asked to return to their positions. The teachers on the list also will receive a personal phone call from human resources, Margolis said.
The callbacks are being made by seniority, so the teachers with the highest seniority of the 233 laid off will be called back first, Margolis said.
Officials explained more layoff notices were required than the number of people who actually will lose their jobs in order to allow the district to analyze where — which buildings and grade levels — the teaching positions can be cut from.
This involves looking at where the retirements and resignations were and measuring those against projected student enrollments at those schools, as well as looking at teachers' teaching certificates to see which courses and grades they are allowed to teach and looking at teachers' seniority statuses.
Friday's Board of Education meeting was called for the purpose of potentially naming a new superintendent of the Ann Arbor schools. The two finalists for the top leadership position — Jeanice Kerr Swift, an assistant superintendent from Colorado, and Brian Osborne, a superintendent from New Jersey — completed site visits and final interviews with the board and the public Tuesday and Wednesday.
The board will deliberate on the merits of the two individuals Friday and is expected to vote to offer the position to either Swift or Osborne.
Margolis said there is no set time frame for calling back the rest of the teachers. She noted that the district continues to receive retirements and resignations throughout the summer some years, and most families do not start enrolling their elementary children until middle to late August.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
jns131
Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 12:49 a.m.
Do we know who got the lay offs? Any names? Or do we guess on this one?
newsmuse
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 7:40 p.m.
Title is misleading. It reads as if AAPS is calling back one teacher out of 233.
Nick Danger
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 6:30 p.m.
I am so tired of union bashing.If you make a decent wage thank the union movement for decent wages for workers and professionals alike
mmppcc
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 5:48 p.m.
I disagree with the posters above. I think the same people who hate unions (Conservatives/Republicans), tend to hate public school teachers on a very personal level. I hear words like lazy, spoiled, over-paid, babysitter, communist, un-American, pro-homosexual, when they describe teachers, and they aren't talking about unions; they're talking about the wide-eyed young people who just want to help kids. It's disgusting.
mmppcc
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 9:29 p.m.
Maybe you, yourself, are talking about union bosses, not teachers, but you certainly don't speak for the majority of conservatives, at least not from what I have read. Superintendents make good money because there is one of them per district; in that regard, they are more similar to a CEO. Teachers without unions have lower compensation. That is a fact; it is not even debatable.
nekm1
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 8:47 p.m.
Actually we are talking about Union bosses, who pretty much are in if for the money - their money. Plenty of good jobs out there with good pay without Unions. Maybe teachers should reconsider why they have a Union in the first place. If I am a teacher, the last thing I would want, is to make the same money as the person next to me, as I would rather manage my own raises based on my ability, and enthusiasm. I don't see Superintendent's in a Union, and they seem to get paid pretty well.
bobslowson
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 6:26 p.m.
Thank you. Sean Hannity spews every night on his talk show and his radio show how public school indoctrinates our children to become liberals. Disgusting indeed!
davecj
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 5:46 p.m.
You will notice that NO administrators were given 'pink slips'. That is where the AAPS really needs to cut personnel. We could cut at least 5 or more administrators, you know, those principals sitting at Balas that we can not fire that are taking up space, and save 10 teaching positions. We need more teachers, and less administrators at Balas!
jns131
Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 12:48 a.m.
Think Osborne will privatize Balas? Or will he too come under the wiles of their ways?
Topher
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 5:35 p.m.
@ Danielle Arndt - Can you clarify the numbers. You wrote that 37 teachers will still be out of a job with the board plan. Was this number set taking into account the 37 retirements (and how many of those retirements were FTE teachers?)? Does this mean that AAPS potentially cut up to 74 FTE?
LivCat
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 6:06 p.m.
Great questions! I am wondering the same thing.
mmppcc
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 5:50 p.m.
I was thinking the same thing.
M.Haney
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 4:29 p.m.
Hopefully, the new Supt will instill some backbone into their administrative staff. Many of the AAPS problems or issues could be prevented if staff simply did what they were being paid to do and didn't back down at making the hard decisions. Most dive for cover at the first hint of trouble. Or, they do nothing at all to prevent having to defend their actions. Being in the public eye is a tough business. It is not for the weak or timid. Many decisions cannot wait to get a consensus of public opinion as seems the case with AAPS. We need school leaders willing to take swift and prudent action when and where possible. Not all decisions need to be always delegated up the chain of command.
localgirl
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 4:20 p.m.
"Officials explained more layoff notices were required than the number of people who actually will lose their jobs in order to allow the district to analyze where — which buildings and grade levels — the teaching positions can be cut from." It seems many people believe the need to notify so many teachers of layoffs is due to the union. In fact, teachers need to be highly qualified in the areas they teach. This is state law, not union contract. The reasoning is, do you want your child to have a math teacher who only has a certification to teach phys ed?
SuperiorMother
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 3:10 p.m.
It makes me sad to know that my son's sixth math teacher at Scarlett, who was a stellar teacher but was hired the day before school started last year, will probably not be called back due to seniority. My son connected with and liked him so much that he and his teacher both wanted him to be in the teacher's seventh grade math class this year.
Samantha D.
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 3:02 p.m.
Many teachers received phone calls yesterday. They were very relieved.
Topher
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:01 p.m.
It's upsetting that teacher quality is not a factor is teacher retention. Won't students benefit the most from the best teachers? Why, then, won't the union acknowledge that it is important to keep the teachers that are doing the best job with students. As a probationary teacher, I was observed four times this year (plus a pre- and post- meeting for three of the observations) collected data on student growth, collected data on my own project, presented at conferences, and gave my own surveys to students. I gladly invited anyone to come to my classroom, anytime to see the quality work that I did with students. Despite this, the only factors in whether to keep me or not were 1) my date of hire, and 2) my social security number (the lower the better).
SonnyDog09
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 6:44 p.m.
"The unions job is to make sure the contract is followed. It is the *principal's* job to evaluate, hire, and fire." But, the principals themselves are brothers in yet another union. They have no incentive to "put a brother out of a job."
J. A. Pieper
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 4:32 p.m.
Keep in mind that AAPS hires its teachers, and they have a huge focus on teachers who go through one year education programs, end up with a Master's in Education. So, they end up paying more for these new teachers right off the bat, and just because they graduated for a local BIG university, does not mean they are the best teachers. Then you get into the lack of evaluating teachers honestly, and since it is a lot of work to document poor teaching practices, many of the Quad A union members do not do their job in this area. Hence, some teachers who should never have gone into education, got hired by AAPS supporting a university program to fast track education of teachers, end up getting tenure! There are many who hold responsibility in this area of teacher "quality" and I do believe that AAPS administrators at the building level play a bigger part in this than the public is aware. I have seen it in action at my building!
Topher
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 2:46 p.m.
Blerg and Thinkin' it Over - I agree that it's not the union's job to hire and fire - the purpose of the union is to protect its members' jobs. I just think that the union can do a better job of protecting good teachers and advocating for a better measure of retention than the current means of seniority. In the current contract, the union kept seniority (defined as a number of things, but predominantly number of years in AAPS (not even in teaching)). There is no language about effectiveness of the teacher. In defense of the union, it would be very hard to allow effectiveness to be a factor if the union does not have a direct say in how teachers are evaluated. A very clear, fair, and rigorous process would need to be in place to effectively determine the quality of individual teachers. This costs money and time; both of these are scarce in the 2013 climate. @ Thinkin' it Over - One of the problems with the current seniority system is that it does protect poor or ineffective teachers who have been in the system for a while. These teachers may have been effective during the probationary period but are no longer - it is difficult to get rid of ineffective teachers in a fair way. The bottom line to me is that this form of teacher retention does not benefit the students (the entire reason there are schools).
Basic Bob
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:50 p.m.
it's a bad contract that weak administrators eagerly hide behind.
Thinkin' it Over
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:29 p.m.
Weak teachers are the union's biggest headaches. It is not the union that hires or fires, it is the administration and board. Administrators who have allowed weak teachers to remain on staff prior to hiring or granting tenure have done a disservice to our students and our community. We need more competent and decisive administrators who have worked as teachers for more than a few years and who will do their jobs effectively. Weak teachers need to be guided out of education and administrators need to walk them to the door, whether they are new to the profession or have been working for years. Other teachers, including union members and leadership, do not want to work with or protect bad teachers.
Blerg
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:26 p.m.
It is NOT the unions job to hire and fire, Topher (as implied by your, "Why, then, won't the union acknowledge that it is important to keep the teachers that are doing the best job with students.") The unions job is to make sure the contract is followed. It is the *principal's* job to evaluate, hire, and fire.
nekm1
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 12:41 p.m.
I think most folks really like and appreciate teachers. I think most folks are sick and tired of Union rhetoric, wasteful habits, shouting over the masses, and the protection they proliferate over bad apples in the classroom. Taxpayers are simply tired of Unions and the wall they build between Teachers and Parents.
sh1
Sat, Jul 20, 2013 : 1:48 a.m.
What secret information do you have about the AA teachers union that would give an example of any of the things you listed above?
Usual Suspect
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:28 p.m.
.. and between teachING and students.
Jake C
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:27 p.m.
And many teachers are tired of people who think they're experts on how Teachers Unions operate despite having very little actual working knowledge of them.
mgoscottie
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 11:30 a.m.
This was my first year (of seven) not getting pink slipped and I always hated how little people cared about it. Admins would miss deadline after deadline and extend my time on layoff. I hope aa puts a rush on and let's those who are laid off know as soon as numbers allow that they are coming back.
jns131
Sat, Jul 20, 2013 : 12:34 a.m.
Some of do come back and make a stink about it once their 90 is up. Trust you me, I am already waiting to see the chips fall where they may.
SpamBot1
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 11:28 a.m.
It is amazing to me that two of the first four comments on this "good news" article are all about how awful experienced teachers and unions are. Teachers and unions in Michigan have been battered and battered for the past five years, yet some still want more and more flesh.
Kevin
Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 5:58 p.m.
Oh I love that one, breeding ground... Yep, let's get rid of all schools unless you can afford it. That way, we'll have a clear path to have and have not. None of this fluffy liberal stuff. Then spend all the money saved on gated communities and guns and "conservative" guns laws allowing have to shoot have nots. Oh wait, that what we have been doing.
dsponini
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 5:30 p.m.
Or maybe they just hate government period. They see public school as a breeding ground for liberals
Usual Suspect
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:27 p.m.
Or maybe a lot of them have.
sh1
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 12:08 p.m.
Add to that the fact that those doing the battering have likely not set foot in a school building since they were students and have no idea what public school teachers face every day.
Basic Bob
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 11:02 a.m.
It would have made more sense to lay off 37 teachers in June rather than put an extra 196 on the bubble whose jobs were actually not in question. So a few of the lowest seniority teachers would have been moved to a different school or have to teach a different subject. There is no time frame for the next announcement because they are too tied up in arcane union work rules which make it easier to lay off a teacher than to move them to a different grade or building.
DonBee
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:30 p.m.
Basic Bob - Not only do the requirements in the article apply, but teaching qualifications also have to be taken into account, are you a highly qualified math teacher? Do you have a K-6 certificate, etc. Teachers are no longer interchangable in the eyes of the education establishment, there are more qualification rubrics than ever before, and they continue to grow. Changing the contracts so that the district could target just the teachers that don't fit in the new personnel plan would be nice, but it will not happen. So 200+ teachers now have to wonder if they have a job, and many I am sure are looking, how many of the called back teachers have found and taken other jobs is unknown.
Usual Suspect
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:27 p.m.
Notification has to be given months in advance, so if you don't know yet exactly which teachers you will need to lay off, you have to notify way too many to give you the flexibility. This is the sort of ridiculousness that happen when you're dealing with a union. To avoid the problem, some school districts around the country simply give layoff notices to every teacher every year in the spring. Then they are guaranteed to have the flexibility they need in the fall.
Jake C
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 1:20 p.m.
That's explained quite clearly in the article: "more layoff notices were required than the number of people who actually will lose their jobs in order to allow the district to analyze where — which buildings and grade levels — the teaching positions can be cut from. This involves looking at where the retirements and resignations were and measuring those against projected student enrollments at those schools, as well as looking at teachers' teaching certificates to see which courses and grades they are allowed to teach and looking at teachers' seniority statuses. Margolis said there is no set time frame for calling back the rest of the teachers. She noted that the district continues to receive retirements and resignations throughout the summer some years, and most families do not start enrolling their elementary children until middle to late August."
education359
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 10:54 a.m.
Seniority as a determinant for who retains their job is a farce. In many (not all) cases the more senior a teacher is the more they are mailing it in, recycling 'lessons' that may have been fresh in the late '80s. The achievement gap can't be narrowed when there is a generational/technological gap. There are many great young teachers and many great veteran teachers. There are also lousy young teachers and lousy veteran teachers. Let's keep them based on greatness, not on seniority.
Kevin
Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 5:10 p.m.
It seems to me this is a simple factor of respecting the career of the teachers involved. While those building careers may well, not always, have cool ideas and lots of energy and may even be better teachers, who among them would not consider leaving Ann Arbor if we did not favor seniority? To attract and keep good teachers, you must show respect for their career paths.
grye
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 4:02 p.m.
Years in the position do not equate to lack of work ethic. Teachers dedicated to the profession will work hard unil the end.
thecompound
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 2:57 p.m.
"Mailing it in" is not a tired line, if you've ever experienced it, particularly the year before they retire. When you find out the next year that your child's WHOLE class is behind because a supposed great teacher was "phoning it in" on his last year, it kind of stinks.
SpamBot1
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 11:34 a.m.
Your point about retaining teachers based on quality is lost when you begin by posting that tired line about many veteran teachers just "mailing it in." Intelligent discussion comes from your second paragraph. The question is then, how do you measure great and lousy? That's difficult and standardized tests, as we currently have them, cannot be the answer.
sh1
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 11:23 a.m.
All of the teachers laid off were hired within the last 1-4 years, so I doubt that any of them were getting stale.
A2comments
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 10:45 a.m.
Too bad seniority, not quality, determines who gets called back.
jns131
Sat, Jul 20, 2013 : 12:33 a.m.
I think some of us should be in charge. I think a lot of know who to privatize first. Right? Can we say....Balas?
Jeff Gaynor
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 7:18 p.m.
Too bad you're not in charge of everything, eh?
grye
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 3:59 p.m.
Probably a union contract requirement.
Indymama
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 10:19 a.m.
The see-saw begins again!!
jns131
Sat, Jul 20, 2013 : 12:32 a.m.
Let us try a G Force x 6 ride. Something to make you gag, choke and spittle.
goosenews
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 : 3:33 p.m.
More like a merry-go-round!!!!