May 11, 2010
Dear Colleagues:
Earlier today I shared with you that the district was able to reduce certificated layoffs by half the number that was noticed in March. I am relieved to announce that at 6:00 p.m. this evening President Kelly from the teachers’ union and I reached a conceptual agreement just as the full meeting of the Board of Education (BOE) was set to begin. While the agreement is yet to be formalized and ratified by the UESF members and adopted by the BOE, I am hopeful that the economic proposals we discussed will allow the district to reduce our teacher layoff numbers to below 200 positions and reduce our paraprofessional layoffs by more than half.
As you know, state law requires that layoff notices be sent to certificated staff by May 15. Given the legal time constraints, until the final agreement with the teachers’ union is ratified by their membership, the district will still have to move forward with issuing final notices for 348 certificated positions.
I am grateful to have arrived at a conceptual agreement with our teachers’ union leadership and look forward to finalizing the details so that we can let more of our great teachers know that their jobs are secure as quickly as possible.
Yours truly,
Carlos A. Garcia
