On February 4, 2009, Judgment Day came to SKHS in the form of an invasion of pink slips. These notifications greeted scores of teachers and sent an ominous message: numerous positions will be in jeopardy next year.
Ms. Heather Benz and Mrs. Rebecca Johnson of the foreign language department both received envelopes, well aware of the warning inside.
While the process is considered a formality, both teachers understand the heightened jeopardy the notices pose given today’s economic climate and the recent discussions about significant slashes of staffing throughout the district.
“It’s looking bleak,” admitted Benz, a second year Spanish teacher. “There might be a mass exodus of retirees leaving the district, but you don’t know that for sure right now.”
“I’m pretty anxious about it,” commented Johnson, who has taught French for three years at SKHS, in addition to six years prior in West Warwick
The reason that Benz, Johnson and other teachers throughout the school are so concerned is that the present seniority-based system discharges teachers exclusively on the basis of years of employment within a school. No regard is given to quality nor effectiveness of the teacher.
Benz, who started teaching after graduating from URI in 2006, sits at the bottom of the teacher “totem-pole”. Johnson, despite her six years spent teaching in West Warwick, is only just above Benz on the seniority list. Her time spent teaching in other districts has no bearing on her seniority status at SKHS.
As the inauguration of Barack Obama heralds a wave of educational reform across the United States, many policies of the past appear destined to change. Obama’s plan to bolster American schools carries with it an emphasis on financial support, but the immediacy in which relief will come is uncertain.
A state spending gap of $357 million suggests considerable cutbacks in school funding for the coming year. As a result many schools will be forced to oust teachers in an effort to compensate for their restricted budgets.
When it comes to cutting teachers, financially-strapped schools adhere to rules focused solely on seniority. Outlining this rule is Chapter 16-13-6 of Rhode Island General Laws, which states “suspension of teachers shall be in the inverse order of their employment.”
The problem with this system, some complain, is the blatant disregard shown for the actual quality of retained teachers. No consideration is given to whether a teacher who is new to a particular school is less qualified than a more experienced counterpart.
The National Council on Teacher Quality publishes a nationwide evaluation of the abilities of states in retaining effective new teachers. The report evaluates three major areas: identification of effectiveness, retaining effective teachers and exiting ineffective teachers.
In the 2008 report, Rhode Island received a grade of an “F” on its ability to handle the aforementioned three categories. Only six other states fell into this category.
South Kingstown is at the forefront of this issue. Loss of funding coupled with a decline in enrollment within the district has called for a decrease in staff.
“They do it for economical reasons,” acknowledges Benz.
The Providence Journal reports, “The School Department projects to lose at least $1 million in state aid and $1 million in its tax allocation from the town.” These losses, in addition to an expected half million dollar increase in health care costs, put the district in a serious financial crisis.
In regards to attendance numbers, SKHS records show that the number of students at the high school has decreased significantly recent years. In 2004, SKHS had a 9-12 grade enrollment of 1330 students. Five years later, this number has dropped to 1148 students, a 13.9 percent decrease.
As a means to compensate for the budget restrictions, SK Superintendent Robert Hicks has proposed several changes within the district.
One such plan looks to close Curtis Corner Middle School while reopening the former South Road Elementary School. The plan would move all seventh and eighth graders to Broad Rock Middle School while sending all sixth graders to South Road.
In an early February budget meeting, Hicks maintained that the dramatic change remains open for discussion.
“This is not the end of the road on the budget,” said Hicks. “There is still hope
that we might not have to do this.”
These factors make cutting teacher positions inevitable. How exactly teachers are cut, however, is a source of debate. Some argue that such decisions should be made with respect to performance of teachers rather than how long they have been employed by the school.
Delving into the rationale concerning the rule, Benz asked, “Is teacher seniority in the best interest of the students? The obvious answer is ‘no’.”
Johnson agrees.
“If everybody knew that job security depends on your performance only,” Johnson said, “then people would perform their job in such a way that they would want to keep their job.”
An article in The Providence Journal concerning this year’s layoff notices cited another issue with seniority. The article states, “This process can wreak havoc with a principal’s attempts to build camaraderie among teachers.”
The consequences that the 600 pink slips handed out to Providence teachers can have on the atmosphere of their respective school communities is brought to light accordingly.
In other areas of the country, the push for performance-based retention has been growing.
Michelle A. Rhee is leading the charge for such change in Washington D.C. As School Chancellor since 2007, Rhee has brought a controversial caché of new policies to the school system.
According to The Washington Times, the current union talks have met a dominating effort by Rhee to end the system of seniority. In the article, one union member acknowledged Rhee’s attempts to bring “new blood” into the schools.
The union member continued, “She wants to make it attractive for young people coming in to advance.”
By eliminating seniority, Rhee hopes to lift the shield that has sheltered older, possibly less effective teachers and to give opportunities to aspiring new educators.
In analysis of Rhee’s policy, Time magazine reports that Rhee has dismissed 270 teachers since June 2007. Furthermore, Rhee’s rampage shows little sign of slowing, as her position on the cover of the magazine—broom in hand—suggests a continued “sweep” of teachers.
Rhee’s tactics have been met with a slur of overzealous support and disgusted opposition. The success of her measures however remains yet to be determined.
The means by which performance evaluation could be reasonably implemented is one cause of dispute.
Mrs. Karen Windley, a 33 year veteran of SKHS, works alongside Benz and Johnson in the foreign language department.
Windley believes that evaluations would be the ideal means of retaining effective teachers. Unfortunately, she claimed that many teachers are opposed to such new ideas. .
“People in the profession tend to shy away from things like merit pay and performance evaluations,” said Windley.
She also points out the complications due to unclear standards for evaluating teachers.
“People are very touchy about what is written, what goes into an evaluation, and what is an evaluation,” said Windley.
Windley continued, “The policy has always been that the last to be hired is first to be fired.”
Windley experienced first hand the harshness of the mandate when she started as a teacher. As one of two Spanish teachers in the school at the time, Windley found herself ousted due to seniority when SKHS attendance numbers dropped in the 1980s.
Her colleague, Mr. Ken “Señor” Plymesser, had become a teacher at SKHS the same day as Windley. “It was by maybe an hour that he had over me,” says Windley. “He stayed and I left.”
While Windley eventually regained her position, her experience with seniority was one that gave her mixed feelings about the rule.
“It [seniority] is completely objective,” said Windley. “But it does protect those who maybe aren’t the best teachers.”
Regardless of her opinion supporting seniority, Windley sympathizes with cases like that of her coworkers Benz and Johnson.
“I see them [Benz and Johnson] and other people in the building that did get layoff notices and they are in limbo for months,” she said. “It’s a terrible position to be in.”
A fluctuating statistic that affects the chance that pink slipped teachers have to maintain their positions is the number of teachers that choose to retire.
This year, changes proposed by RI Governor Carcieri could alter the number of retirees. .
In Carcieri’s Address to the Rhode Island Public on January 7th, 2009, Carcieri focused on the issue of teacher pensions, or the income received by teachers after retiring.
The current pension plan allows former state employees to collect three percent per year after three years of retirement, in order to compensate for the cost-of-living adjustments, referred to as COLAs.
Carcieri said, “We can no longer afford to fund cost-of-living adjustments, and I am recommending we eliminated the COLA provision in all state, municipal, and teacher pensions going forward.”
Carcieri believes savings from such a change could near $100 million.
These changes, however, could also persuade many teachers in the neighborhood of retirement are now considering quickly before the COLA benefits are eliminated.
The possible wave of departures could better the probability that pink slipped teachers will retain their jobs.
While all of the aforementioned factors are important in evaluating the seniority situation, an immeasurable element of this issue is the affect that seniority has on the students and teachers’ lives.
Mrs. Johnson, despite receiving a pink slip, still holds strong feelings for SKHS.
“I’m happy with SKHS, and I think SKHS is happy with me,” she said.
“I hope I have the chance to stay here.”