Top Teachers in Seminole Angry About Being Dropped

Dave Weber
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Some of the most experienced teachers in Seminole County schools are being pushed out the door because of budget cuts, but school-district officials say they have no choice.

About 75 teachers who five years ago signed up for deferred retirement pay in a state incentive program designed to keep them in the classroom during a teacher shortage now have been told they probably won´t have jobs next school year. Most are teachers with 35 or more years of experience and say they were caught off guard.

“It´s a slap in the face,” said Susan Behel, 68, a longtime science teacher at Lake Brantley High who was told she won´t be coming back. “I have contributed a lot to this school.”

Just last week, Behel was in Cambridge, Mass., where the Harvard University Graduate School of Education recognized her as one of four teachers nationwide to receive the Singer Prize for Excellence in Secondary Education. It´s the latest in a slew of honors she has received through the years.

Behel rushed back to Florida after the awards ceremony to take 37 Seminole students to the state science fair in Lakeland, where 32 -- including some whose research projects she directed -- brought home prizes.

On Tuesday night, Behel and more than 100 other teachers and supporters complained to the School Board, which was sympathetic and offered hope they might get teaching positions.

“We are going to try to find a place for teachers who want to extend in the DROP program,” School Board Chairman Diane Bauer said.

School-district officials have been able to find slots for 39 senior teachers but say the statewide budget crunch leaves the other 74 in a jam.

“We are trying to keep as many of these teachers as we can,” Superintendent Bill Vogel said.

But the state is slashing budgets, including school spending, because of the slowdown in the economy and dwindling sales-tax receipts. Seminole expects a shortage of $26 million or more for next school year because of the state funding cuts and increased costs for gasoline, health insurance and other items.

As a result, Seminole officials plan to eliminate 300 jobs, including 154 teaching positions.

The problem for Behel and the other longtime teachers is that they gave up seniority when they agreed to take part in the state´s Deferred Retirement Option Program, which puts retirement checks in the bank for them to collect later if they keep working. Those who now have completed five years in the program can be rehired for up to three more years -- but only if the school district wants them.

They also fall to the back of the line. That means teachers with as little as four years of experience outrank them in the juggling for jobs.

Gay Parker, president of the Seminole Education Association, said the union might discourage teachers from entering DROP in the future if it is a punishment rather than a reward. Parker and teachers also pointed out that many highly paid school-district administrators, including the superintendent and Personnel Director John Reichert, have kept their jobs after DROP.

Vogel came back to his job after completing DROP two years ago, and Reichert finished DROP but resumed his position just a couple of months ago.

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