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Some U-46 schools see culture destroyed by layoffs
The paper published a list of over 700 names of people laid off. In their words: We chose to run the list of hundreds teachers laid off this week by Elgin Area School District U-46, not to embarrass anyone but to let parents and students know which of their favorite teachers may not be back next year.
by Kerry Lester
Each one of the 53 schools in Elgin Area School District U-46 has its own culture, its own reputation, its own personality.
Take Elgin High - one of the state's oldest high schools, steeped in more than 130 years of tradition.
Bartlett's Nature Ridge Elementary has parents who regularly turn out in force at board meetings, asking district officials to fix overcrowding at the school.
Tefft Middle School in Streamwood has become renowned for its innovative strategies in ramping up test scores - having students chart their own grades and host their own parent-teacher conferences.
Each school is dealing differently with reverberations of massive budget cuts.
Predicting a $44 million deficit next year if state funding is cut, the U-46 school board Monday night approved 1,037 layoffs, 732 of them teachers.
Teaching layoffs were done through what the district calls a targeted reduction in force or RIF - determining how many positions it will need in certain departments, and then cutting by seniority.
That means some schools' departments will be wiped out entirely and replaced next year by a more tenured staff from other campuses.
Streamwood High School Principal Terri Lozier passed out 62 pink slips Tuesday morning. On top of that, another 37 teachers may be reassigned to other buildings, she said.
"You're trying to build programs and we're working very hard at trying to change our instructional practices," Lozier said. "When you have this many teachers without a job or being RIFed, it makes you feel like your work has been in vain. Even for the remaining staff it's hard."
Elgin High School will lose 53 staff members next year, Principal Dave Smiley confirmed.
"We've brought a lot of people in," Smiley said of his nine years at the school. "You build a culture."
The high school will lose roughly 20 coaches. The bilingual program, only in its second year at the school, will see a majority of its faculty leave. The band, which has doubled its participation over the past three years, will take a "huge hit" with the loss of director Jonathan Bogue, Smiley said.
"All of us have had a chance to have teachers that have inspired them to be so much better, do so much more," Elgin High junior Kathy McCain told the school board Monday. "A lot of that will be gone next year."
Of the district's 40 elementary schools, Nature Ridge had one of the highest numbers of employees pink-slipped. The school will lose 18 teachers, along with several secretaries and support staff members. Principal's secretary Linda Binder, among those let go, said employees are just shellshocked.
"It's like, 'Did this really just happen?'" she said. "It hasn't quite hit parents yet."
Kenyon Woods Middle School in South Elgin is set to lose 17 teachers, among them five science teachers, three gym teachers, a middle school counselor and two English teachers.
Principal Kevin Skinkis termed Bartlett High School "ground zero."
He'll lose 51 employees - including 22 coaches, six gym and drivers' education teachers, and seven members of his English department.
"I didn't think that they would go that deep. It has left a big void," school nurse Cindy Maloney said. "I'm upset. I love my job. I'm afraid of what may happen in the future for the kids."
The district is laying off more people than necessary to pad itself against state cuts. If funding improves, the district plans to bring back some of the laid-off staff.
Next year, art, music and gym will be limited to 30-minute classes for elementary school students, and eliminated entirely for half-day kindergartners. At the eight middle schools, guidance counselors will be eliminated, and the number of library hours will be cut, along with the football program.
The cuts will result in significant increases in schools' teacher-to-student ratios. Classes are currently staffed at 28:1 for kindergarten through third grades, 33:1 for fourth through sixth grades, and 30:1 at the high schools.
"Every one of the teachers we've (cut) are people I've hired," said Skinkis, in his third year at Bartlett High. "These are people that started this journey with me. And invested time and efforts. I've made it a point that I'm going to rebuild this place. But it hurts. ... I'd be lying to you if I'd say I'm going to be sleeping well."
— Kerry Lester
Daily Herald
2010-03-17
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/print/?id=366442
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