Schools

School Board Approves New Layoffs

Dozens of employees of the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District lost their positions in a new round of cuts.

Another wave of layoffs is thinning the ranks at Independent School District 191. This time, 48 people will lose their jobs.

The new round of cuts began on May 19, when the school board laid off the office workers as a part of a massive reshuffling of the district's clerical staff. The intent was to eliminate 10 positions, but in the end only six people among the clerical staff lost their jobs — even though their positions were not on the chopping block.

This is due to a phenomenon that the district calls "bumping." Originally, the cuts would have affected two workers in Human Resources, the office staff at Burnsville High School and Vale Educational Center, which will be closing for good at the end of the school year, said Tania Chance, the executive director of human resources. However, this touched off a domino effect across the district which "bumped" other workers out of their jobs.

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"With the contract language, given seniority people have the right to bump into other positions of a certain level," Chance said. "Some people selected (the layoff) and for some people there were not enough open positions so they had no choice but to be laid off." 

Those who were bumped into a new position will now work at a lower pay grade in some cases.

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This did not sit well with some members of the board.

"The part of this that I find most disconcerting is that we are once again terminating people who do their jobs and they do them well. In many cases for a 'not very valid reason' they are being terminated," said School Board Member Paula Teiken. "I'm new and maybe I'm naive but I don't think it's a good way for us to tell our employees that they are valued."

"These employees have provided high quality service for years. We certainly hope that it's not interpreted as a value statement on our employees as opposed to an operation of an entity," Chance responded. "We are a school, yet we are still an operative business that has to make choices." 

According to documents provided by the district, the clerical cuts resulted in a net savings of $378,345 in payroll alone, not accounting for benefits.  

The next round came on Thursday night, when the Board of Education voted to eliminate six probationary teachers and 37 Educational Assistants, non-certified instructors who augment curriculum taught in schools. Executive Director of Business Services Lisa Rider said that she estimates a savings of about $700,000 as a result, though these numbers are not final.

The cuts include 11 who taught gifted and talented children in the elementary schools. Chance added that the 11 EAs used in the gifted program already faced layoffs once before, last spring, when the board directed Human Resources to cut their positions in favor of licensed teachers.

Their jobs were saved by donations, for the short-term, Chance said. This time, it looks as though they will lose their positions for good.

"What we really are doing is remaining allegiant to the board's directives in that regard, so once again we are terminating those services," Chance said.

Other EAs were pushed out of their jobs by more senior colleagues whose positions were eliminated by the closing of Vale. Hopefully, future openings will offset some of the layoffs, Chance said. 

The board has already cut 104 full-time positions, including 102 teaching jobs in April.  All told, the cuts will add up to $5 million, though the district hopes to hire 42 new teachers before the new school year. These hires depend on the state legislature, which has yet to deliver a final budget. If politicians in St. Paul spare schools from further cuts, the district would most likely hire a portion of the teaching staff back — which would add $1.8 million back into the budget.


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