Tumultuous times in CMS

Tuesday's approval of teacher layoff guidelines starts a season of turmoil and trauma for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools employees and families.


As principals try to line up 2011-12 staffing and class schedules, hundreds of teachers and their students face uncertainty. Many teachers will have to switch schools to keep working, Superintendent Peter Gorman said today, while others are likely to get layoff notices in May only to be called back this summer, a pattern that has played out the previous two years.

"We're going to give people (layoff) letters that may get rescinded pretty quickly," Gorman said at a news briefing. "I hate that process."

Gorman and Chief Operating Officer Hugh Hattabaugh said they'll start notifying hundreds of non-educators whose jobs are at risk by next week. Those with access to financial and other sensitive data will be asked to leave immediately, they said, while others will work through the school year and may be able to compete for a smaller number of new jobs.

Laying off teachers requires board approval, which Gorman says has to start this early to meet the requirements for notice and appeals. Meanwhile, he said, state legislators have promised a better budget projection in April, and county manager Harry Jones will present his recommendation for CMS spending to county commissioners in May.

CMS, which has about 135,600 students this year, expects to add about 2,000 more next year, Gorman and Hattabaugh say. That means new jobs in schools that see enrollment grow. Meanwhile, with 10 schools closing, many teachers are trying to figure out where they'll land.

High school principals are already doing class schedules. But with the work force shrinking, they have to make tough choices. Small enrollment for specialized classes may mean cancelling those offerings. That could leave teachers looking for a new job and students having to reschedule classes.

The shuffle will continue through May, when layoff letters go out. Nontentured teachers -- generally those with four years' experience or less -- will be selected based on low performance ratings, licensure problems or short-term employment arrangements. If that doesn't cover the need, nontenured teachers in good standing will be cut.

Tenured teachers can be dismissed for performance reasons, or could end up jobless if there's no position left that fits their qualifications.

Teacher assistants also face the prospect of massive layoffs, and some have been rattled by a recent demand that they meet new standards for credentials. Until now, the credentials were required for new hires and assistants working in high-poverty schools that get federal Title I money, but teachers in lower-poverty schools hired before 2008 didn't need them.

Gorman said today he's been urging all assistants for years to get those credentials. The current plan calls for eliminating about 350 assistant jobs in grades one and two, leaving stiff competition for the remaining kindergarten jobs. Decisions about who stays and who goes will be based on job evaluations, Gorman said, rather than the assistant's current grade level.

Teachers who lack the credentials won't be automatically dismissed from a low-poverty school, Gorman said, but they could have a tough time landing jobs at other schools if they're forced out of their current post.

"We're running out of options for where to place people," he said. "We never in the world thought we'd lose all these TAs."

But he offered some encouragement to families of severely disabled students, who have worried that the new requirement could lead to the loss of assistants and personal aides who have expertise with the special needs of the students they work with. Special-education assistants will not be part of the overall teacher-assistant cut, Gorman said. But he said he is pushing them to get the credentials, too.

New CMS teacher hiring project raising eyebrows

Everybody knows Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has been laying off teachers here of late. That's why some people want to know why a national non-profit group that helps school systems find teachers is setting up shop in Charlotte this spring and is currently advertising for a $70,000-a-year coordinator to help recruit up to 100 teachers annually for CMS. The group, called The New Teacher Project, says it operates in more than two dozen cities, helping school systems end educational inequality by helping recruit effective teachers and by advancing best practices in effective teaching.

Some observers have asked why CMS would be getting involved in this kind of project at a time when its laying off so many existing teachers. "How does this look politically and to the public?" one person wrote in the comments section to an Observer story.

The answer, says school system spokeswoman LaTarzja Henry, is that CMS isn't trying to hire outsiders to replace laid-off teachers. She said CMS is in a partnership with The New Teacher Project to help plug vacancies in hard-to-fill subject areas such as math, science and teaching exceptional children. She said CMS still has vacancies in those areas, despite the fact that so many laid-off teachers are looking for jobs. The New Teacher Project has expertise in finding non-traditional candidates for the jobs, she said. It gives them intensive training that helps them get licensed to teach and become effective educators.

I'm still awaiting details on how many such positions are open now in CMS, and on what the contractual arrangements are between CMS and The New Teacher Project. Will update when I get them.