At least four teachers of Albany High School receive layoff notices
A woman walked past the main building of Albany High School. Photo by Linda (Linjun) Fan.
At least four teachers of Albany High School were notified last week that they would be laid off soon. The layoff came as a shock to many parents and teachers involved with special education in the community.
Three of the four full-time teachers of the Special Education Department of the school received the layoff notices last Friday.
“I am profoundly shocked and deeply sorry to hear that these three dedicated and much-loved teachers are being let go, ” said Anne Bosch, a retired teacher of the department, in a letter to school administrators and board members.
“I know from over 20 years of experience at AHS that it is rare to find teachers who care so deeply about ‘special’ students and who are so loved, ” said Bosch, who served as Chair of the Special Education Department of the high school for more than two decades before her retirement last year.
The three teachers provide help to several dozen students in the school who have learning problems.
Many students spent the day in tears when they got to know last Friday that their teachers would soon leave, according to Tina Klugman, a long-time aid of the department.
“They have developed a personal relationship with the kids. They are like their extended family, ” Klugman said.
Administrators of the Albany Unified School District declined to comment on the layoff, saying that it’s a personnel issue legally prohibited to be discussed with the public.
“I will say that all personnel decisions that we make are very carefully considered and made in what we believe to be the best interests of the students, ” said Ted Barone, Principal of the school in an email reply to a parent who inquired about the layoff.
Some believe that the district lays the teachers off to deal with budget problems.
“I think what they are doing is budget-cut, firing all the teachers before they get tenure, ” said Suzanne Portney, mother of a special education child.
All the teachers to be laid-off were hired in recent years and have not yet acquired a tenure.
However, President of Albany’s School Board Charles Blanchard said that budget cut is not the reason for the layoff.
“There are no layoffs expected due to budget cuts next year, except for some positions supported by state categorical funds that may be cut, ” Blanchard said.
He added that the school district has enough reserve funds to deal with revenue reduction in the upcoming academic year, but didn’t say what’s the reason for the layoff.
He also said that all layoff decisions are currently staff recommendations only, which won’t become effective until they are approved by the Board.
The Board is going to discuss the issue at its upcoming meeting next Tuesday.
Bosch has written an email to a number of parents with special education children, asking them to attend the meeting. She has also been urging the school district to keep the teachers.
One teacher in the English Department of the school has also received a layoff notice, according to Department Chair Ned Purdom. He said that a few more teachers in the school might have got similar notices.
Click here to read a recent story on the school district’s budget cut.
If you do your research you will find that many more teachers besides these three in the Special Ed Dept and the one in the English Dept have been given lay-offs. Most of these teachers (I would estimate from sound knowledge that it is about 9 or 10 teachers) have been counseled to resign rather than accept the lay-off. It has affected both full- and part-time faculty.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Thank you for reporting on this story.
Dear Teacher,
Who told the teachers to resign rather than be laid-off? That is what is really interesting if they are laid-off they get unemployment yet someone is saying resign is that a administrator? What has the union done?
In Peace,
Andy Austin
All school disticts in USA must provide for special needs students. These Special Ed teachers in Albany are either not fully qualified and as such, would receive notice every spring about potential layoffs, or they have the least seniority and natuarally would be on the list. As Albany has to have Special Ed teachers, then unless Albany finds some more qualified teachers to replace them [ which is unlikely], then these teachers will be re-instated.
Is this article just a ruse to scare Albany tax payers into feeling pushed into providing even more financial support for Albany Schools?
Note, I am a fully qualified special ed teacher [ not from Albany]
M Crowley should not confuse these layoffs with the annual pink slips that most California school districts send around warning teachers that they might not be rehired in the fall. Those are given to many teachers without tenure as a matter of form–the district cannot legally lay off anyone in the fall who they don’t warn in this way in the spring. And for what it’s worth, fully qualified teachers get these slips the same as any other pre-tenured teacher. Importantly, the slips that M Crowley refers to come out in late March. The set of layoffs referred to in this article is a separate issue, and potentially problematic in that they may be an attempt to circumvent the usual pink slip process.
I’ve heard two things about these layoffs and I’m not sure either are true. I’ve heard that the teachers were given extra administrative duties last year (Managing AHS’s 90 IEP’s after the IEP administrator was let go). I was informed that the reason for the dismissals was that the teachers did not get the IEP’s in on time.
But I’ve also been told that the High School Administration is planning to reorganize their Special Education Program. What is frustrating for parents it that the administration seems to make sweeping decisions without conversing with, let alone informing the community it serves. Special Ed students are particularly sensitive to changes. I think we as parents would like to see more of a “heads-up” from the administration, at the very least. Then we as parents can tell our kids, “hey things are going to be a little different next year,” or “you might hear some news tomorrow.”
[...] here to read a previous story on the [...]
[...] has recently written a letter to Principal Ted Barone of Albany High School on the teacher layoff incident. She sent the letter to Albany Today for circulation among members of the [...]