School District Reluctant to Issue Massive Layoff Notices

The Shorewood School District has sent preliminary layoff notices to 13 teachers, but - unlike the scenario in other Wisconsin districts - the move has nothing to do with what's happening in Madison right now.

The layoffs, approved at Tuesday's School Board meeting, were sent to social studies, history and band teachers who received jobs that were only supposed to last one year. The positions were created after Shorewood received federal funding last year.

The teachers' contracts will be not renewed for a non-performance-based reasons, School President Paul Zovic said.

What the district won't be doing, however, is sending layoff notices to other Shorewood teachers, a step that has been taken by some districts because of the uncertainty surrounding the state budget.

Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday will unveil his 2011-13 state budget that is expected to include significant cuts in funding for local schools. The Wisconsin Association of School Boards, in anticipation of the cuts and the likely passage of Walker's budget repair bill,  is urging districts to issue preliminary layoffs by Monday.

Because the budget repair bill eliminates almost all collective bargaining rights, it may be difficult for districts to issue layoff notices after Monday, the group says.

Nevertheless, Shorewood officials say they aren't planning any quick decisions on laying off staff.

“It wouldn’t be worth the potentially significant disruption it would cause,” Zovic said. “There are still too many questions.”

The district has until May 1 to send out notices to teachers, according to its agreement with the teachers union, and Superintendent Blane McCann said he intends on waiting until things become clearer.

The 13 teachers are:

•  Bridget Richards
• Amanda Bornhofer
• Maria Gitter
• Jessica Eckert
• Jean Anderson
• Rachel Tinkler
• Amy Kilpatrick
• Elizabeth Teal
• Debra Schwinn
• Justin Olson
• Christine Albrightson
• Tanner Teipel
• Jessica Braun