Layoff plan for teachers approved
By Bret Bradigan

Ojai Unified School District board of trustees began a marathon session Tuesday night with pleas for peace and ended with bellicose statements about Sacramento budgeteers.

During the three-and-a-half hour meeting, they approved a plan to give notice to 26 teachers that their services may not be required next school year, not including 19 notices sent to teachers in temporary positions and to six interns. With teachers returning from leave and other assignments, 12.4 positions are being eliminated.

The meeting, however, began with a wider, global, focus.
David Howard, a teacher at private Oak Grove School, and Nordhoff High School teacher Dennis Daneau urged the board to support a resolution defying the provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that requires schools to provide student information to the Department of Defense. Daneau said that it appeared that military recruiters were already receiving special privileges at Nordhoff campus ­ showing up without notice and mingling freely with students.

The fact that the military discriminates against gays and lesbians, he said, was in violation of the civil rights laws that schools follow with other employers, and so the resolution, drafted by the Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions, said "the Board will provide equal time and space for peace career recruiters, anti-war activists and gay and lesbian rights spokespersons, whenever military recruiters are on campus."

All the resolution sought, Daneau said, was that the school board "follow the law in the way that best represents the students and parents of Ojai."

Margot Eiser said through the act, proof of the federal government's "the lack of value for education and human life is demonstrated. Another parent said "Our children are being targeted for cannon fodder."

Sanderson Beck, who described himself as "a candidate for President of the United States of America," spoke about "the strong tendency in this country toward fascism," and called the likely U.S. military action against Iraq "war crimes. We have a responsibility to not be complicit in these international crimes." He also urged the board to stop sending the federal government payroll taxes and let employees decide whether to pay taxes. "The biggest terrorist organization in the world today is the United States government."

Superintendent Van Riley said the administration was investigating the provisions and penalties of the No Child Left Behind Act and would make a report to the board at the March 18 meeting.

The board then voted, 4-1, with board member Bob Unruhe making an impassioned dissent to send a message to the state about the dire fiscal fix in which it has left school districts, to send XX ??? notices of nonrenewal to the teachers based on their tenure and status.
Board member Rikki Horne thanked Christine Golden for her service as principal of Matilija Junior High School the past two years. "You've contributed a lot to the community," she said.

Golden announced last week that she was retiring after this year, and Assistant Superintendent Jim Berube, a long-time veteran administrator at Matilija, was returning. Before board discussion and vote, Riley said "Probably all 1,000 districts in the state are going through the same process," and said that it was likely many of the teachers who received notices would retain their jobs, as grants paid for some positions and other teachers continued their leaves of absence or transfers. The total number of positions reduced was planned at 24.9, according to Riley's summary.

The reductions are done according to a careful plan, Riley said, as it was likely that an administrative law judge would arbitrate any disputes. For instance, tiebreaker preference was based on the needs of the districts for teachers with science and math credentials, or who trained in bilingual teaching. All other things being equal, the last six digits of the teachers' Social Security numbers would be the deciding factor.

Classroom sizes at the high school level will likely increase from an average of 32 students to 31 as a result of position reductions, though the district earlier voted to retain the class-size reduction program for grades kindergarten through third grade.

Board member Kathi Smith said that she feared more stories like she'd heard at the Feb. 25 special meeting at Nordhoff with the student Senate, where classroom overcrowding was so bad that students had to sit on lab tables. "Let's make sure that students involved are at least served with facilities and books," she said. Riley assured her that declining enrollment was taking care of that problem; in fact, some schools had plenty of spare space.
Unruhe said, in his dissent, "We're losing a lot of our very best young teachers here in the district" and decried the 1 percent raise given to teachers this year. "That's almost an insult to give a raise of 1 percent," he said. "We're essentially asking the employees to subsidize the district. I didn't run (for school board) to downgrade or dismantle the school system."

Riley said that Unruhe's lone dissent vote "was voting to give up responsibility as a board member and voting to give up (operations of Ojai schools) to the state." Board President Tim Peddicord said "I don't like messing with peoples' lives," but "I have no faith that the state could do a better job."
Smith said, "It's not like you could scratch your head and come up with the right answer. There are no right answers."

In other business, Doug Becker presented plans for an amphitheatre at San Antonio Elementary School that would be shared with Summit Elementary, reducing costs of assemblies. Becker said that the Rotary Club International, celebrating its 100th year in 1905, had indicated that it would take this on as their project, covering as much as $40,000 of the construction cost, reducing the district's liability to $15,000 with the Parent Teacher Organization taking on the remaining $5,000. "I know these are difficult times," he said, "but it's important to keep improving things to keep the schools as good as they can be."

The district's budget officer, Danielle Pusatere, said that a change in the way the state paid the schools was creating a cash-flow shortage. The state was deferring its June payment to Ojai Unified, about $630,000, to July, in a cost-saving measure. Though the books would still balance, the district needed to dip into its 3 percent reserve fund to pay bills in June. In her financial projections, she also noted that the district's hard times would likely continue through next year, as this year's mid-year reductions were merely postponed.

The board also voted to dispose of an inventory list of property valued at less than $2,500. Items include overhead projector, computer and monitor, record player, vacuum cleaners and an IBM Selectric II typewriter. Berube said that the previous time the district held a sale to dispose of these items, "We ended up losing money" when staff time was figured into the expense. In response to a board question, he said the public was welcome to make an offer on those items.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

Back to the news