Nine Columbus teachers received devastating notices from the Administration on September 25: Their services to the district’s children would no longer be needed. The district’s immediate suspension of their contracts, their health, vision and dental insurance benefits will terminate in November for the teachers, their spouses and their children. One of the laid off teachers had 13 years of service to the district.
“The administration knew there were no positions for these 9 teachers in the spring,” declared CEA President Rhonda Johnson, “and based on the reduction of the unified arts program at the middle school level, the administration should have issued layoff notices last spring. There is never a good time to be laid off, but the administration’s failure to act in a timely manner took away teachers’ options to find positions in other school districts.”
“I was told by the administration that they were ‘close’ to estimating the number of teachers they needed,” continued Johnson. “Close is not good enough when you’re dealing with people’s livelihood. Staffing should be exact, not close.”
“The Columbus City Schools face a financial crisis if Issue 75 does not pass. More layoffs are a reality. We must do everything necessary to support this levy.” added Johnson. “It is vital for our students, our schools, our community and our future.”
A meeting will be held by the Administration on Oct. 1 to review the terms of the layoff and to discuss recall options. CEA consultants will be on hand to represent the affected teachers and to negotiate other employment opportunities. The administration has pledged to work with the Association to prevent this type of situation from occurring in the future.
I am the wife of one of the teachers that was laid off this week and am wondering why we are finding ourselves in the situation…AGAIN. Devastating doesn’t even begin to cover what we are now going through. We were just getting back on our feet from the last cut and now have to scramble again to make ends meet.
Where is the school system’s responsibility in this? My husband could have been out looking for a position, interviewing and securing a job rather than looking back wishing he had made another choice. He was essentially kept from pursuing other options once he signed that contract; the job was secured, so we thought.
I am so disgusted with the situation and now with our stance financially and emotionally. I am now finding out that his pay will terminate immediately….
We will pursue our options and check into the obligations of the system once my husband signed that guaranteed contract.
Sincerely pissed,
Heather Llewellyn-Antonetz
First, I am so sorry that this event happened. It was avoidable. As I read the article, I couldn’t help but be haunted by the knowledge that the administration continues to hire retired administrator after retired administrator into full time, salaried postions. Many have been hired into positions as program administrators. These positions could have been filled by current teachers who wished to have the opportunity to “move up”, opening positions for those who were dismissed. I am not speaking of the often necessary building administrator substitutes or the part-time hourlys, but am aiming at those who supervise/direct programs and departments. These people can be found at Northgate, King Ave., Shepard, CEC, Neil Ave., etc. I wonder why CEA does not investigate and call the administration out on this. The public and the staff deserve to see a report of the public record.
You’ve got a good point about the retire/ rehire folks. At the same time, anyone in the district who is hired, gets additional hours or a supplemental contract is boarded (meaning the matter comes before the school board on a vote). So there is a public record if you look back through the board minutes (they’re kinda long) to find when these folks were approved.
The union doesn’t hire or fire anyone in the district, especially when it comes to the administration. They’re just the referees during the interview process for teachers– it’s still the administration who decides who is hired and not hired.
Heather, I feel for your family.
Isn’t it wonderful how we have to sign a contract and can have our licences pulled if we look for another position or actually leave our teaching post; but when they decide they don’t need us anymore we are out the door.
OK so the levy passed, now what? It said in the article that recall options were discussed. The fact is that no recall options were ever brought up. Now that the levy has passed, are they really going to make us wait until next year to bring us back, if at all? 9 teachers’ salaries is all we are talking about, not 100. There have to be positions that these 9 can fill. 698s were everywhere 6 years ago. The district was not above spending money on at least one for every building back then, now the term is like a dirty word no one wants to mention. Those of us that are losing health care benefits by the end of the month have to wonder, how long will we have to wait?