With expanding class sizes and 41 teachers not scheduled return
this academic year, the Hollister School District is scrambling to
fill teaching vacancies and have classrooms ready when the bell
rings August 23.
With expanding class sizes and 41 teachers not scheduled return this academic year, the Hollister School District is scrambling to fill teaching vacancies and have classrooms ready when the bell rings August 23.
As of this week, 19 teachers were dismissed, 14 resigned from their jobs and eight retired, according to HSD Human Resources Director Bill Jordan. The 19 teachers who received pink slips were let go because they were teaching with emergency credentials and are not completely certified. Because of a need for teachers in the past few of years, many school districts in California have been hiring teachers on emergency credentials, which means they have a college degree and have passed the California Basic Educational Skills Test, but haven’t completed all of the certification requirements. The layoffs came as no surprise for the teachers who were notified of the possibility on March 15, Jordan said.”It’s a pretty standard procedure,” he said. “After we’ve seen what kind of vacancies we have open, we can then re-hire them if we chose to.”
If HSD chooses not to re-hire anyone, the district would save $2.8 million, according to Jordan.
It could be a possibility because HSD voted to raise the class size in fourth through eighth-grade classrooms to 35 student for every teacher during budget cuts in June. The district also voted to change the size of kindergarten classes, raising the ratio to 32 students per teacher for a portion of the day and making some kindergarten teachers teach other grade levels. The shifting of vacancies, paired with more than 10 percent of teachers possibly not returning, has left many teachers wondering where to set up their classrooms.
Some schools are left with more vacancies than others, and HSD is still moving teachers around to different sites to fill them, Jordan said.
According to Cerra Vista School teacher Sharon Wise-Howard, some teachers she knows are being moved to grade levels they’ve never taught before, and she can’t imagine having to move classrooms two weeks before classes begin.
“I don’t know what I would do,” she said. “I have over 2,000 books in my classroom.”
Rancho San Justo Middle School counselor William Jacinto said creating student schedules has also been put on hold until he gets word from the district about two questionable vacancies at that school.
“It cuts down my time to be able to make adjustments to their schedules,” he said.
Aside from the added stress of getting the classrooms and schedules ready, Hollister Elementary School Teachers Association (HESTA) Grievance Officer Geoffrey Holland said the union feels the HSD has been working fairly well inside of the guidelines of their contracts.
“There’s been a little concern about the shifting around of schools, but it’s just a matter of wait and see,” he said.
Teachers who are still waiting to hear if they’ve been re-hired should talk with the principal of their school, Holland said.
“I think it is more of a concern at the elementary school level, but now that the principals are back on campus, they should go to them with their concerns,” he said.
