RETOOLING: Preparing for Downsizing Closing Schools and the Impact on Staff Transfer & Layoff

1. RETOOLING:Preparing for DownsizingClosing Schools and theImpact on Staff Transfer & Layoff East China School District Ketha Knuth, MASPA Trustee Assistant Superintendent, Personnel & Operations

2. SURVEY • Stand up if your district declined in enrollment this Fall count. • Stand up if you have closed a school(s) in the past 3 years. • Stand up if you have reduced any positions in your district in the past 12 months. • Stand up if you have subcontracted an employee group, besides sub teachers, in the past 3 years. • Stand up if you have any employees on layoff (#-5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100+). • Stand up if you have plans to lay off staff this spring or before.

3. Overview • Closing a School • Setting the Stage • Planning • Committee Work • Communication • Decision making • Implementation

4. Overview • Staff Transfer and Layoff • Preparation / Planning / Establishing a Timeline • Communication Plan • Who? Where? When? What to say? • Support and Follow up • Application / Resume / Cover Letter / Interviewing Skills / Reference Letters • Benefit, Payroll, Unemployment Information • System for follow up contact

5. SCHOOL CLOSURESetting the Stage • Annual update to staff, Board of Education, community groups • Showing enrollment trends in public board meeting and the impact on financials • Regular Board updates - televised • Communicating with union leadership key factors – student enrollment decline, etc.

6. Strategizing • Gaining resolve as leader as to direction • Bring together leadership team • Educating stakeholders • Determine whether to do the process in house or use consultant? • Knowing your district data and trends

7. SEMCOG’s Forecasted Population for the EAST CHINA SCHOOL DISTRICT(By Age Group)

8. ENROLLMENT BY LEVELFALL 2001 & 2008

9. SOUTH & NORTH END ELEMENTARYENROLLMENT DECLINES Loss of 14% Loss of 25%

10. FALL 2001 & 2008 K-5 ENROLLMENT DECLINE & DECLINE %

11. ENROLLMENT/CAPACITY BY SCHOOL *Includes Use of Portables **Capacity with K-2 CI Program moving to Gearing

12. Planning • Impetus – what is it? Data, Economy, Enrollment, Funding, Budget? Be aware of your“window of opportunity”. • Frame the decision as “which school(s) to close” as opposed to “whether or not to close school(s)” • Acceptance level – should not be a surprise that a school(s) needs to be closed

13. Board Resolve • The three month period of the process, you should be strengthening the Board and explaining what is coming. • Strengthen the board’s resolve to follow the process. • The planning process is the critical moment, not the “school closing decision” moment. • Build trust by keeping board informed and by having a good process

14. Planning Pitfalls • Choosing a committee that’s not reflective of all the stakeholders (i.e. all administrators, no community members) • Not laying groundwork, therefore Board of Ed, community, & staff are not with you • Timeline is too loose, too long, up in the air • Not planning down to the detailed level – turning over every stone

15. Time Frame for Process • Determine Board decision process 3/23/09 • Set committee meeting dates 1/21/09 • Determine committee decision process 3/6/09 • Layout the structure of the process – Board meetings, committee meetings, key district events, contractual timelines, staffing process.

16. FULL SPEED AHEAD

17. Committee Make-up • Determine who selects committee members & what committee make up will be • Include stakeholders • Parents (not necessarily from buildings potentially affected or level affected) • Administrators, Board members, Teachers • Operations & Transportation • Superintendent calls & personally invites each committee member

18. Committee Meeting Planning • Develop Committee Expectations and Guiding Parameters • Our parameters included keeping secondary boundaries the same, having enrollment equity between schools, considering building capacity, enrollment trends, and unique building features/conditions. • Determine agenda items for each meeting

19. Name and Purpose of Committee • Determine the charge and name of the committee and define its purpose. • The purpose of the Elementary Building Closure Advisory Committee is to identify and recommend to the Board of Education on Monday, March 9, 2009 an elementary school to be closed at the end of the 2008-09 school year.

20. SAMPLE COMMITTEE AGENDA 1. Call to Order 2. Introductions 3. Committee Purpose & Expectations of Committee 4. Meeting Goal 5. Review Committee Meeting Dates and Timeline 6. District Enrollment and Finance Update 7. Recognition of Persons Wishing to Address the Committee 8. Present and Review Binder Information: 9. Determine Other Information Needed for Next Meeting 10. Adjournment

21. CRITERIA FOR FINAL DECISION-MAKING • Building Condition • Future Building Needs (2009-2020) • Operational Expenditure Impact • Geographic / Site Consideration • Space Utilization • Transportation • Boundary Change • Other Factors – Staffing, Equity

22. Information to Committee • Every meeting ended with “What else do you need to know? What additional information would you like to have?” BE RESPONSIVE – No problem, I’ll get that to you. • Information included: enrollment history, current, & projections, # of lunches served, square footage of classrooms / buildings / grounds, age of major mechanical systems, etc.

23. PROJECTED ENROLLMENT BY BUILDING(if Washington Closes) *Plan to move the Washington K-2 Cognitively Impaired Program to Gearing **Includes the use of portable classrooms

25. STAFF REDUCTIONS BY AREA

26. EXPENDITURE IMPACT (if closed) *Not including Future Capital Improvement Costs if Building Stays Open

27. FINANCIAL IMPACT

28. Communication • History of Communicating • State of the District address to each building, PTO, Rotary, Parent Advisory Council, Superintendent’s Advisory Council • Communicating during Closing Process • Special link on website to school closing process • All committee documents on web the next day

29. Communication • Information to Administrative Team • One way E-mail link for community input, FAQ’s & recognizing input at committee meetings • Periodic Board of Ed updates – enrollment, funding, giving them ways to address community comments • Public comment at Board of Ed meetings & school closing committee meetings • Newspaper articles

30. Open Meetings Act • Committee should be open to the public • Plan public comment period during the meeting • Minutes

31. Communication Pitfalls • Having a closed process or closed meetings • Not having a formal structure to get community & stakeholders’ input • Not keeping the Board well informed before, during, and after the decision

32. Planning for the Decision • Cabinet talking about it – input – early resolve • Who makes the decision – Board of Ed • Be clear about committee’s charge – take action at Board of Ed meeting defining this

33. Decision Time • Set Process & Timeline and stick with it – beware of smokescreens • Develop rubric for building condition (tours) & overall decision • Criteria – facts & data – thorough • Committee – Consensus? Thumbs up? Majority (what does that mean?) Deciding how the committee would make decisions

34. Decision making Pitfalls • Not deciding before the process begins what process will be used for deciding • Not having enough data / information to make the decision • Not getting the Board to understand the value of sticking with the process – people can disagree with the end decision, but have a process that can be defended

35. Implementation • Kindergarten Round up – select dates strategically • Set dates for implementation prior to process beginning & then follow them • Notification letters out to students / parents the day following the Board meeting – Not 1 mistake GOAL • Communicate the SOC process during the closing process

36. Implementation • Plan welcome / transition activities for staff / students / parents (open houses, assemblies, staff meetings, etc.) • Superintendent to school selected to close the morning following the Board of Ed decision to meet with staff • Assistant Superintendent for Personnel to school within a week to communicate the staffing process

37. Implementation • Moving Process • Staffing Process • Facility Closure – alternative uses / close it up – senior center – Council on Aging • Transportation logistics – new run development • Smooth opening of 09-10 school year

38. Implementation Pitfalls • Not keeping the focus on the project – lots of details – thinking you’re done after the school closing decision • Care of confidential files – what goes in trash and what is shred • Not having student database absolutely accurate

39. Staff Transfer and Layoff • Staff Transfer and Layoff • Preparation / Planning / Establishing a Timeline • Communication Plan • Who? Where? When? What to say?

40. Preparation, Planning, &Establishing a Timeline • Use backward planning - Have a draft of your staffing timeline completed by mid-January – know your contract deadlines for each of your employee groups • Review & revise with Superintendent input • Set appropriate meetings with other departments (new HS grad requirements, shared time enrollment, new elem Spanish program)

41. Preparation, Planning, &Establishing a Timeline • Include in your timeline the In-district and County-wide School of Choice deadlines & approvals • Include the scheduling of kindergarten round up • Select dates for displacement, transfer, layoff notification

42. Preparation, Planning, &Establishing a Timeline • Select dates with Board of Education dates in mind • Keep in mind when job fairs are scheduled • Do work on enrollment projections – be involved with new enrollment – overflows & caps • Meet with secondary principals multiple times regarding master schedule – they will protect & advocate for more positions than are needed – be prepared

43. Preparation, Planning, &Establishing a Timeline • Pressure from union to change schedule – accusations of manipulating the schedule • Run class size reports, etc. • Understand curricular progression (EX: next year’s senior math requirement) • # of students in county tech program • Determine where sharing of staff between buildings reduces an FTE – principals in habit of “filling schedules”

44. Preparation, Planning, &Establishing a Timeline • Prepare all letters, displacements lists, required notices ASAP – include crucial return language – seniority date adjustment, what step upon returning, recall language, days in bank • Prepare recordkeeping documents, record of layoff, recall order, etc.

45. Communication Plan • Superintendent presentation to all buildings, employee groups, PTO’s, & community groups • Meeting with union leadership – planning • Union meeting presentation – prepare all staff • Administrative Team meeting updates • Employees Impacted

46. Teacher Layoff & RecallInformation Meeting Presented by MEA Uniserv Director to union membership • The purpose of today’s meeting is to review contract language in the areas that affect displacement, bumping, and layoff. • There will be opportunities to ask questions following the PowerPoint presentation.

47. Displacement Language • Article 9.C. (2nd paragraph) When an elimination of a position occurs (e.g., a particular building is reducing from three 2nd grade teachers to two 2nd grade teachers), the teacher with the lowest district-wide seniority of teachers in that grade level would be placed on the district-wide displacement list to select an available position by seniority.

48. Displacement Language • Article 9.C. (3rd paragraph) The same procedure would be used at the secondary level if a department would need to be reduced or eliminated. Persons in that department with the lowest district-wide seniority would be placed on the district-wide displacement list.

49. Involuntary Transfer Language • Article 9.E. Before there is an involuntary transfer of a teacher, the principal and/or superintendent will discuss the transfer with the teacher and review the reason(s) for said transfer. The involuntary transfer of a teacher shall not be arbitrary or capricious.

50. Article XX.B. B. Prior to finalizing the reduction of staff, the Superintendent will meet with the Association to discuss procedures for implementation for the proposed reduction. The following information will be provided by the Superintendent: 1. A seniority list showing district wide seniority within the bargaining unit. 2. Information on attrition during past year and projected attrition for next school year.