Lots of things happening:
The RIFs: As you know, on April 5 the BOE eliminated 52 positions resulting in members losing their jobs.
It is important to note that there were other positions eliminated based on resignations and retirements. The actual number of positions that 795 lost is 57.5.
On Friday, April 22 it was determined that Bellefaire Intensive Treatment Unit would continue being operated by the district for another year. This resulted in 6 members being recalled.
On the same day the administration also recalled 3 other positions based on their calculations and on a job share that created 1 opening.
So, at this point, there are 42 members on the recall list and there are still 47.5 positions that were eliminated.
There will be 2 positions filled internally that the Board will post for Instructional Specialists in Science and Social Studies. This will result in 2 more members being recalled bringing our total to 40 members on the recall list.
The administration is still looking at enrollment, class size, class requests for the high school, and other factors to determine if they should call others back. We still believe that there are too many positions that were eliminated. We continue to be concerned that class sizes, course offerings, and special ed caseloads will be unmanageable next year.
Negotiations: Vice President Schaner and I are scheduled to meet with administration May 5 to determine ground rules for negotiations. In addition to Klein and Schaner, the teacher team includes Karen Rego, Tamar Gray, and Jen Bennett.
Grievances: We have filed 5 grievances in the last week, four are related to the reductions and how they were done. The last one is based on Intervention Specialists being assigned IEP duties for non-public students without compensation or choice. We are still awaiting the summary of the two Administration Union concerns we presented April 11 and 12 regarding the Elementary Report Card and SuperKids program.
In Union,
Ari Klein
CHTU President