Schools, teachers still at odds

June 15, 2008

Last week marked another round of dueling news releases between the Volusia Teachers Organization and the Volusia County School District- The issue was teacher layoffs- Here´s what they said:

“Media Release

For Immediate Release

June 9, 2008

Contact: Andrew Spar

386-295-9450

Hundreds of Volusia Teachers Given Pink Slips Today

Daytona Beach -- Today, more than 200 teachers in Volusia County Schools are being handed pink slips due to budget cuts- According to the district these teachers are being “non-reappointed” due to the lack of funding from Tallahassee- Volusia County schools lost over 31 million dollars between the budget approved by the legislature in May of 2007 and the one approved last month- “While budget cuts are necessary, the depths of the cuts are much too deep,” said Andrew Spar, President of the Volusia Teachers Organization- The VTO has contended for some time, that the district is cutting more than necessary in an effort to pad its budget- Additionally, VTO finds that the lack of cuts among management in the district is embarrassing- “Our district leadership had led us astray- The Majority of cuts are coming at the classroom level- We have too many district administrators, too many deputy superintendents and too many administrators in our schools- Yet there are no cuts there- Since our Superintendent has come on board, two deputy superintendent positions have been added- This is all about protecting the top echelon of our district,” Spar added-

The VTO has filed a grievance against the district [citing] that they have not followed the contract agreement between the district and the union- The district contends they were not obligated to follow the agreement- “Because of the number of teachers impacted by the cuts and the time frame we are dealing with, it is important that we solve this problem quickly- For that reason we are asking the district to agree to take the issue directly to an arbitrator- It is the right thing to do,” said Spar- VTO is also examining other legal action against the district- “This is not about keeping people working who should not be in the classroom- This is about keeping people working who otherwise had good evaluations- These are good teachers who deserve a job,” Spar added- “I never thought I would be so disappointed in our district leadership- They have let down our students, our teachers and our community-”

Andrew Spar,

President,

Volusia Teachers Organization

www-vtoweb-org

386-238-1605 or 1-866-281-1605”

“For Immediate Release

June 10, 2008

Volusia Notifies Teachers of Employment Status

DELAND -- This week, the School District of Volusia County began the difficult process of notifying annual contract teachers who will not be reappointed- More than 200 annual contract teachers will not have a teaching position next school year-

The school district´s budget shortfall of $45-7 million and declining student enrollment forced the district to eliminate jobs, including administrative, teaching and support positions- Even with all of these cuts, nearly $5 million still must be trimmed from the budget-

In 2007-08, 17 district department administrator positions and 10 assistant principal positions were eliminated, and 29 assistant principals were moved from 12-months to 11-months- For 2008-09, 18 district managerial positions are being eliminated from the general fund budget, including an assistant superintendent position- District staff is being reduced by 10% and all administrator salaries are being reduced 2%- - - -

- - - The Volusia Teachers Organization (VTO) notified the school district that it is challenging the procedure followed to determine which annual contract teachers were non-reappointed- The district´s belief is that all terms of the contract between the School Board and VTO have been met- The decisions made in determining the teachers to be reappointed were made with the best interests of the students and school district in mind, rather than being based solely on how long the teacher had worked for the district-

The challenge by the VTO, if successful, will not result in any additional teachers being employed by the school district- The only result would be that some teachers who have been told they have a job would lose that job, while others that have been non-reappointed would be rehired-

Media Contact:

Nancy Wait, director of community information

(386) 734-7190, 255-6475 or 427-5223, extension 20230

Cell: (386) 822-2417

VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOLS

Post Office Box 2118

DeLand, Florida 32721-2118”

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