1,100 Sent Layoff Notices; Details Scant

(Updated) Hundreds of educators don’t know where they will work next year — if they’ll have a job in the schools at all.

Confusion has spread throughout the workforce since the school board sent layoff notices this past Friday to 1,100 part-time and special-fund employees.

Many of those school employees, plus teachers who are being reassigned from closed schools, had hoped to hear more of an explanation at Monday’s regular Board of Education meeting at Celentano School. They had a long wait, and they didn’t hear much.

As soon as the meeting started, the board members voted to go into executive session to discuss the layoffs. Darnell Goldson, the board’s president, said they’d be back soon.

By the time he called the public meeting back to order — two hours later — many members of the public had left.

Despite the board’s lengthy briefing behind closed doors, Superintendent Carol Birks shared few details about what would happen with next year’s staffing, giving only a two-minute explanation of why the 1,100 part-timers received the layoff notices.

One employee broke down in tears after opening up the notice Friday. ​“I was thinking about not working with the kids,” said the employee, who asked not to be named. ​“I’m really upset.”

Birks said that the letters, which went out to every part-time employee who’d worked for the district this year, were simply a heads-up that they shouldn’t expect their gigs to continue each school year. Without a contract and union representation, Birks explained, almost all of the part-timers could be let go at will.

“Generally, most districts tell employees who work part-time at the beginning of the school year that they work for a period of time. We didn’t do that. We didn’t provide that notification up front, so we wanted to make sure people understood that, at the end of the year, that part-time assignment would end,” Birks said. ​“We didn’t lay off people; we notified our part-time employees that they would have other opportunities in the future — possibly — to assume different roles.”

The school district ended up with such dire finances as a major federal grant expires. The Teacher Incentive Fund, which provided a $17.7 million boost last year, is ending, leaving the district with only $1.9 million in carry-over funds next year.

Two other federal grants worth $3.6 million, Title I for high-poverty schools and Title II‑A for teacher training, will be reduced by $1.1 million next year, while two state grants worth $11.5 million, for enrichment programs and magnet schools, will be reduced by $1.1 million too.

In need of nearly $20 million next fiscal year, Superintendent Carol Birks said, she planned to make up much of the money by reducing staff, closing schools, maximizing grants and slashing non-instructional costs, like utilities and transportation.

The latest targets for personnel, which still come out several million dollars short of what’s needed, aim to save $6.75 million by realigning the teaching faculty and $1.61 million by laying off other non-certified employees.

Most of the personnel savings will be recouped by limiting new hires next year.

Teacher Shuffle

As teachers leave New Haven, either to retire or work for someone else, the district is trying to fill empty positions with teachers from Creed High School and the three alternative schools, which the board voted to close this spring. Or to save even more money, the position might be eliminated entirely.

In total, about 90 teachers will be reassigned to new schools next year, a process that’s about halfway done, said Dave Cicarella, the teachers union president. That attrition should help avoid layoffs among certified teachers, he said.

But with so many positions being shuffled around, some educators are upset that they haven’t received a placement for next school year, especially the teachers from the alternative schools and paraprofessionals from the Zigler Head Start Center. They’ve been stuck behind administrative interns and instructional coaches, who got an early pick of assignments.

Cicarella said he understood their frustration, but he said that the process was running smoothly as it could with the mounting financial pressures requiring more and more cuts. ​“There’s a lag because we’re a big system,” he said. The delay lengthened, he added, ​“as the crisis grew and the budget got worse.”

Cicarella also explained that, unlike some districts, who reassign everyone primarily based on certification and seniority, New Haven is allowing principals and teachers more choice about their post next year. New Haven’s process takes about a month, between creating lists and conducting interviews, while the other one, where assignments are done almost automatically, could be done within an afternoon, he said.

Paras Out Of Loop

Other unions, however, said they haven’t felt as included. Claudine Wilkins-Chambers, the head of the paraprofessionals union, said that her members at Zigler hadn’t been reassigned yet and she hadn’t been kept in the loop.

(The board never officially voted to close Zigler, which Birks explained Monday did not have the physical space for its needs; its six classes will be reabsorbed by the Dr. Mayo School and other outposts in the Hill.)

“No one even told us that it was closing,” Wilkins-Chambers said. ​“It’s an insult and a disgrace. It’s inconsiderate and not professional. They should have talked with me and told our members where they were going.”

Officials admitted that they didn’t keep the union informed, while the Head Start director was out on leave.

The other bulk of the costs will be made up by making layoffs permanent for some of the 1,100 part-timers who received notices on Friday. That group includes art and music teachers, tutors, athletic coaches, librarians, secretaries, cafeteria workers and bus monitors.

Over the summer, principals will justify which part-time employees they need, writing job descriptions for some roles that currently don’t have one. Those positions will then be presented at a ​“job fair” in late July or early August, before anyone can apply again.

Birks said that, in total, part-time employees accounted for roughly $12 million in spending. She said she wasn’t sure how many would be invited back, only that those positions related to instruction and curriculum would be reopened.

Goldson said that there had been a ​“lack of communication” between the superintendent and the board, which he plans to address at a future meeting.

Birks acknowledged that the district could have been clearer in its communication with part-timers. While she’s only been on the job only since March, Birks said the letters could’ve gone out earlier. Birks added that she believes she’s been ​“clear all along” that cuts were coming.

“We value the people who are here, working for us part-time,” Birks said, ​“but we wanted to make sure they understood that opportunity they are currently in has ended.”

Meanwhile, Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker released a statement arguing that flat-funding the schools did not create the need for layoffs. She said the alders simply approved a ​“status quo amount” this year, after giving the schools extra city funds for several years, through a 13 percent increase two years ago, a 5 percent increase three years ago and a 9 percent increase four years ago.

An earlier version of this story follows:

1,100 School Layoff Notices Sent

Eleven hundred public school employees received notices this weekend that they may be laid off come the fall.

“May” is an important word in that equation.

All the notices went to part-time workers or special-fund workers, according to Mayor Toni Harp, who is a member of the Board of Education. She said none of the potential layoffs affect the approximately 4,000 full-time Board of Education employees, including around 2,000 teachers.

The Board of Ed is scrambling to close a projected $19 million deficit in the budget for the coming fiscal year.

Most of the positions are not union protected, Harp said during an appearance of the latest edition of the ​“Mayor Monday” program on WNHH FM.

The notices do not mean people will definitely be laid off, she said.

“I’m hoping we can find other ways to reduce our costs. I hope we don’t have to lay off 1,100 people,” Mayor Harp said. ​“In my discussions with my superintendent, she indicated they’re going to do job descriptions for some of these programs, work with the principals, find out how many people they need, and some will be rehired.”

The notices went out Friday and have caused consternation and confusion among school employees.

Faculty members received the notices just a few days after their students left for summer break. The letter told them that their positions would end on Friday, June 29, a week away.
Employees who received the layoff notice were told that their positions were just one of many cuts that the superintendent’s team is making to balance next year’s budget, along with decreases in other personnel, supplies and contracted services.

​“The decision to end the position does not reflect the quality of service provided by you to the New Haven Public Schools,” read the two-paragraph letter from Lisa Mack, the district’s human resources director. ​“We thank you for your service and sincerely hope that there will be a future opportunity for you to serve our New Haven students.”

Harp said the 1,100 positions account for about $12 million a year in spending. ​“That’s $12 million out of our local economy.”

One employee broke down in tears after opening up the notice. ​“I was thinking about not working with the kids,” said the employee, who asked not to be named. ​“I’m really upset.”

Schools Superintendent Carol Birks plans to brief Board of Education members on the plan at a meeting later Monday.

Board President Darnell Goldson said members don’t yet know the details of the plan.

“The board is very, very uncomfortable with this. We want to hear from her about what it means and how it’s going to happen. But letting 1,100 people go in New Haven who are probably low-paid and most affected economically by these kinds of layoffs — we’re uncomfortable. We’re going to have a discussion with the superintendent,” Goldson said.

Click on the above audio file or the Facebook Live video below for the full episode of WNHH FM’s ​“Mayor Monday” program.

This episode of ​“Mayor Monday” was made possible with the support of Gateway Community College and Berchem Moses P.C.

Paul Bass contributed to this story.