School Board Agenda Wednesday—Many Layoffs Possible in West Contra Costa Schools
The West Contra Costa Unified School District board will consider authorizing the elimination of more than 138 jobs based on a worst-case-scenario budget.
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Facing a March 15 deadline to notify teachers and other certificated employees at risk of losing their jobs, the West Contra Costa Unified School District board will look at a list of possible reductions equivalent to more than 138 full-time jobs when it meets Wednesday night.
The district could face a $11.6 million deficit in the 2011-12 school year if extensions of existing taxes aren't passed by state voters in June, according to the board meeting agenda. California Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a combination of spending cuts and voter-approved tax extensions to cover a $25.4 billion shortfall projected for the rest of 2010-11 and the upcoming 2011-12 fiscal years.
Because state law requires districts to notify certificated employees by March 15 if they face layoff, California school districts typically issue notices based on a worst-case scenario well before they know their actual income for the coming school year. The number of employees not returning next year could prove to be considerably lower.
Given the size of the state deficit and uncertainty about what voters will decide, a record number of California teachers could receive pink slips, or layoff notices, by March 15, the San Francsico Chronicle reported Saturday.
The list of reductions before the West Contra Costa board represents the equivalent of 138.6 full-time positions, including 26 elementary, 32.6 at the secondary level, 39 district-wide positions, and 41 administrative positions. The list does not include potential cuts to non-certificated employees, such as custodians and clerical workers, who have a later notification deadline.
Secondary positions include one each in art, drama, computer applications, French, home economics, industrial arts, life science and middle school science, and a librarian, 0.20 Japanese, 1.40 music, four each of counselors, math, PE and social science, and six English.
No details for the elementary positions are given, though if the layoffs are carried out, they would likely mean an increase in class size in the lower grades.
District-wide positions include two psychologists and positions such as project assistant and curriculum specialist. Administrative positions listed include eight assistant principals and nine vice principals.
For the complete list, see pages 43-44 of the board packet.
The proposal before the board calls for the district to deviate from laying off those with the least seniority in order to retain teachers and other certificated staff at Lincoln Elementary School in Richmond and properly certified teachers teaching in bilingual classrooms.
“Lincoln Elementary is the only state-identified Tier 1 persistently lowest-achieving school within the district and it would be extremely harmful to the Lincoln students to layoff Lincoln teachers who have received extensive professional development and curriculum training to work with Lincoln students, developed relationships with students and are devoted to this particular population of students,” according to the board report.
The board meets at Lovonya Dejean Middle School, 3400 Macdonald Avenue, Richmond, with the public session scheduled to being at 6:30 p.m.
For more information on the March 2 board meeting, see the agenda and reports.
More information on the district's budget can be found in a Feb. 16 report.
Michael O'Connor
12:10 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
This would be a great opportunity to create a new Kensington/El Cerrito School District. With the Albany District threatening to more carefully audit residency in its schools, there might be enough demand for options which are not on the very bottom of the state's performance rankings.
Charles Burress
12:58 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Michael, an interesting proposal. Does anyone know how a new school district gets created? I can imagine that West Contra Costa Unified wouldn't be enthralled with the idea.
Steve
1:56 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Districts aren't static and the process for altering them can be lengthy.
When I was in middle/high-school our districts reorganized. The elementary schools were part of one district while the high-school was part of another. Since this was in the high-desert of Kern County, we were a 2+ hour drive from the high-school's district offices.
A new unified district was formed to govern K-12 schools in the local region. But even where reorganization makes sense from a geographic perspective, there are numerous issues to resolve.
A few that spring to mind (partially from memory).:
Who decides where the employees go? Old district? New district? Employee choice? If everyone wants to go to one district is it decided by seniority or some other measure? Does the new district (and which is "new" if you are splitting a district in two) have to maintain all the same employee contracts?
How do you reconcile assets (new EC High School for instance, but also transportation, corporation-yard, etc.) and liabilities (existing bonds, retiree pension and medical being large ones - you can't just split off and erase those)?
How are the boundaries decided - what happens if East Richmond Heights later becomes part of El Cerrito?
What choice to parents and students have? Will pupils be forcibly moved from the school they currently attend to a new one or will boundaries only apply to new students?
The state has some info at http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/do/
Rob Shea
4:21 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Steve raised some relevant issues. School districts have been getting larger, not smaller, for decades. It's a complex process to carve a smaller district out of an existing one.
31 Year Resident
1:57 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
With what the homeowners are paying to West Contra Costa Unified, I would think the school district would be very afraid that communities are looking very hard at creating new school districts and secede from that money pit.
Mike C
4:13 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Instead of creating yet another school district and incurring all of the administrative costs, how about El Cerrito and Kensington secede from WCCUSD and join Albany USD? Or if Albany won't have us, creating our own district would still be a huge improvement.
There would have to be some political leadership to drive this. Our city council members? Nancy Skinner (Assembly) or Mark DeSaulnier (Senate)?
Betty Buginas
4:47 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The California Department of Education information on this topic is here: http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/do/
Todd Groves
5:10 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
How about fixing WCCUSD so all kids have a chance? If people will put forth huge effort into NIMBY ventures, why not into fixing the schools as they exist? Is it WCCUSD administration that you eschew? The board and its politics? Or simply our kids? Do most people believe it impossible to educate our far flung populations side by side?
WCCUSD has to improve generally instructional quality, but are Albany schools that much better? Or is it mostly that they don't serve kids from tough neighborhoods? You can fix most problems by assuring every Portola 7th grader is prepared and appropriately challenged. Contact me if you want to help.
Soce March Sixteenth
7:07 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
SOCE - Save Our Childrens' Education - March 16th
facebook: SOCE MARCH SIXTEENTH http://soce.pbworks.com/
Pink-slipped educators are not going to work on March 16th, the day after the state mandated pink slip day. This act shows both support of student learning and brings awareness to and denouncement of school districts purposeful annual manipulative act to make illegally or nearly illegal cuts and changes.