At its regular meeting on Monday, April 23, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education approved the layoff of 18 teachers and 11 support staff, with the announcement that other staff reductions are coming.
Trustee Sherry Frazier said she received an email that afternoon from Susan Duda Osborne, president of the Van Buren Education Association, asking the board to postpone the layoffs for two weeks until the union could discuss the action with the administration.
Board president Martha Toth said she was nervous about the board talking about labor matters and, “I do not want to provoke an unfair labor practice charge.”
Shonta Langford-Green, the district’s director of Human Resources, said once the administration determines the layoffs, the list is sent to the union and the administration responds to its concerns.
Frazier, a retired teacher, said the union feels the process has not been followed and she asked what the harm was in waiting another two weeks.
President Toth, in turn, asked what is the good in waiting two weeks, adding, “We closed two schools and don’t need as many teachers.”
Treasurer Toni Hunt said this discussion really belongs in negotiations, since the district currently is negotiating a contract with the VBEA.
School Supt. Michael Van Tassel said besides closing two schools, the district is re-shifting the classes in two middle schools and opening a new high school. He said there are so many details to attend to that every time they postpone some of the simple things, it gets more difficult.
“I want these people to have an opportunity to get a job elsewhere … I don’t want to get into details of people and positions in an open meeting,” Supt. Van Tassel said.
“Some are not going to get called back. There will be more that is coming to the board,” he said referring to layoffs, adding, “Hopefully some will be recalled.”
Van Tassel said there are 13 teachers paid with federal and state funds which takes a whole process and if the district can’t comply, those funds and teachers will not be available.
“The point in doing it now is to give individuals a chance to seek other employment,” Lanford-Green said. “We hate to give them false hope.”
Van Tassel said there is a $4.2 million deficit next year and, “It’s imperative we balance the budget.”
“I see no harm in reaching out,” said Frazier.
Van Tassel replied that the union didn’t have the courtesy to send him a copy of the email Frazier had been quoting.
“You’re undermining our administration,” Toth said to Frazier, “because the assumption is they haven’t done it right. This is just round 2 of layoffs.”
Trustee Scott Russell said he can’t discuss this email without seeing it, but he trusts the administration to do things properly.
Toth charged that the union tried to go over the bargaining team’s head by going to the board.
Langford-Green stressed the layoffs are separate from negotiations, leading Toth to state that the board has been speaking “loosely” because board members don’t know the ins and outs of labor law.
Frazier said the email concerns her because everyone should be getting together during these difficult times. Frazier said if the board won’t work with the union, in the future it may not want to work with the board.
“I think you’ve done a lot of damage tonight,” Toth said to Frazier.
The board unanimously approved the support staff changes, but voted 6-1 on the instructional staff changes, with Frazier voting no.
Because comments on agenda items are not allowed until this point in the agenda, Osborne could not speak before their vote.
She said the bargaining and layoff procedures now are completely different than they have been in the past. She said she called Langford-Green to tell her ahead of time what she would be saying at the meeting, although the email wasn’t sent to the superintendent.
Osborne said in the past the union has overseen or reviewed layoffs.
Langford-Green said that is not a requirement in the contract for the union to be involved in staffing decisions.
“In the past, we were IN THE ROOM” when decisions were made, Osborne said, adding the layoffs were immediately known to them and they contacted their members before it went to the board.
This year, she said the number of staffing needed is unknown to the union, where they knew the numbers in the past. The union has not been invited to oversee or review the layoffs.
She said the union realizes there will be continual cuts in staffing, but they need to know the numbers to avoid unnecessary layoffs. She said many teachers are seeking other jobs, including herself, since they know elective subjects will have to be cut.
Langford-Green said they don’t have the numbers at every building yet and they are looking at cutting additional programs.
“Giving a number is not something I’m able to do,” she said. “But we do know some things. Other layoffs are coming. I would like to let people who are being laid off know sooner rather than later.”
Van Tassel said in the past layoffs had been announced later in the year, which is not a good thing for those who would need to seek other employment.
He said they have yet to address student count, which is dropping.
Toth said with the middle schools being reconfigured, the new high school, the moving of Gifted and Talented classes, and closing of two elementaries, most students are moving. And, they won’t know the number of students they will have in the district until they see the whites of their eyes in the fall.
Laid-off teachers were Andrea Acomb, Heather Bell, Mark Darket, Brooklyn Dobis, Kimberly Glime, Tamara Hanaka, Chelsee Harris, Andrew Hartman, Kristy Hickson, Robert Hinderer, Laurie Hoffman, Kristin Horchem, Marcus Hosman, Erin Knotts, Michael Koebbe, Angela Mays, Anthony Munoz, and Jake Sweets.
In addition, teacher Patricia Andrew is relocating. Retiring are Judith Baker, Kathy Bemis, and Sally Coughlin. Christine Dabrowski was listed as “released”.
Susan Fleming, who was the principal of Elwell Elementary, resigned from being an administrator since her building closed. She is rejoining the teacher unit.
Support Staff layoffs are Nathan Antieau, Denise Armatis, Paula Brown, Brenda Elliott, Tammie Harris, Cindy Hayes, Jacqueline Johnson, Inez Kieselbach, Jack Loria, Dolores Nedeau, and Jeanne Riley.
In addition, retiring Support Staff are Carol Binert, Henry Heuser, Kathy Kovach, and Patricia Smith.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board:
• Approved new, two-tier school starting times for the 2012-13 school year. North Middle School (7/8) and BHS will both start at 7:40 a.m. and end at 2:47 p.m. South Middle School (5/6) and all elementary schools will start at 8:45 a.m. and end at 3:52 p.m. Ending times may be adjusted before school starts;
• Approved using K.C. Childcare to provide a latchkey program for the four elementary schools and the 5/6 grade building starting this fall and running three years, through the 2014-15 school year;
• Approved the minutes of a special meeting on March 29, where two female BHS students were scheduled for separate disciplinary hearings, but the students and their parents failed to show up. The board expelled them both for 180 school days for “physical assault of a school employee, volunteer or contractor”;
• Approved the first reading of the district-wide Vision, Mission and Belief statements;
• Approved increasing the academic requirements for athletes from 1.67 (C-) to 2.0 (C) on a 4.0 scale to encourage higher levels of learning for students and to emphasize they are student athletes not athlete students, according to Van Tassel, who said he would like to raise the requirement higher in the future;
• Approved the first reading of a revision to the recently revised board policy on Professional Staff Discipline that Van Tassel said clashes with state law. The policy says all matters that could involve teacher discharge or suspension over 14 days (up from the previous 3 days) must be dealt in accordance with the Teacher Tenure Act. He said the board doesn’t want to have public hearings for every discipline, if the employee doesn’t want the publicity of a public meeting;
• Approved setting a special board meeting for 7 p.m. Monday, April 30, at the administration building for the second readings and adoptions of the staff discipline change and the district mission statement. There also will be a workshop session to discuss the upcoming Quality Assurance Review of the district. Another meeting will be held at 3 p.m., May 9, to get feedback on the QAR review to find out the district’s rating;
• Was informed of nine field change orders for the new BHS approved by the superintendent, including $11,863 to provide power for the media center power shades and $4,527 for temperature controls for the pool water; and
• Approved bids for $335,301.99 in classroom technology, including Data Image Systems, $72,699 for projectors; Troxell Communications, $13,439 for projection screens; SPI Innovations, $205,063.99 for Interactive Devices; and City Animations, $44,100 for document cameras.