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Oct 2, 2008 7:14 pm US/Central
DISD Board Passes Motion To Layoff Teachers
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DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
In a 5 - 2 vote, trustees of the Dallas Independant School Board passed a motion to go foward with district-wide layoffs in an effort to
save millions of dollars.
A total of 1,100 people will be reduced from the 20,000 employee list. Of the 650 contracted employees who will lose their jobs, 550 of them will be teachers. Contracted employees are people hired to operate the schools, like councilors, principals and assistant principals.
Monday,
the district eliminated 163 of the non-teaching positions. Those positions are part of the total 1,100 lost.
The board of education had delayed job cuts twice. Officials acknowledged they were under pressure from
the Texas Education Agency to make a decision. In the event that the vote would have been delayed, the TEA could have taken over the board's decision.
CBS 11 News' Jay Gormley is blogging live from the meeting with constant updates.
6:22 PM: In a 5 – 2 vote, the board passed the motion to move forward with the layoffs.
5:40 PM: The more than 100 protestors who have gathered in front of DISD headquarters are chanting "Hinojosa most go."
Many of the angry teachers believe Superintendent Michael Hinojosa is partly, if not mostly, to blame for the $84 million budget error.
5 PM Update: About 100 angry teachers have gathered at DISD headquarters to voice the opposition to these job cuts.
3:55 PM: School Board Trustee Ron Price urges the board to act today on the proposed layoffs.
Price says if the board fails to act today,
the Texas Education Agency is almost certain to intervene and take over DISD.
Price fears that if the TEA steps in, many urban programs that benefit minority students may be eliminated.
3:40 PM: Teachers with probationary certificates will not be considered fully certified.
The district has nearly 1000 teachers with probationary certificates.
3:35 PM: Teacher layoffs will be determined under a list of criteria including certification, performance and seniority.
Teachers who are certified with above-average performance levels are more likely to keep their jobs.
Seniority will be considered in case of a tie among teachers.
Teacher cuts will be made equally district wide.
3:25 PM: Superintendent Michael Hinojosa says the district has found some creative ways to cut costs.
Because of the reduction of costs, the number of teacher jobs to be cut has dropped from 675 to 550.
However, several hundred other non-teaching positions will be eliminated as well.
3:10 PM: The DISD meeting is just minutes away.
Aimee Bolender with AFT says
several DISD teachers close to retirement have offered to retire early, provided they receive some sort of severance package.
By retiring early, the teachers hope to save the jobs of their younger colleagues.
Hundreds of teachers and their supporters are
once again expected to picket in front of DISD headquarters.
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