SD 227 lays off 48 teachers for next school year

SD 227 lays off 48 teachers for next school year

BY SARAH ZYLSTRA SouthTown Correspondent April 9, 2012 8:22PM

Rich Township High School District 227 has laid off 48 full-time teachers, 33 instructional aides and six administrative staff for the 2012-13 school year.

The dismissals should save the district about $5.5 million, according to Supt. Donna Leak.

District 227 is looking to close an $8 million budget gap for the next school year caused by less state funding, late payments from the state and district funds being diverted to Southland Charter Prep High School in Richton Park, which is in its second year. The district also will cut one period from the daily class schedule for 2012-13.

“The success of students is inextricably linked to the commitment and creativity of our team,” Leak said. “It takes significant revenues to boost that propeller. Unfortunately we are currently experiencing a loss in revenue due to circumstances that are largely beyond our control.”

Mike Curran, president of the teachers’ union, the Rich Township High School Educators Association, called the dismissals a “knee-jerk reaction.

“Some more creative ways should have been explored by the board before they sliced about 88 classroom positions,” he said. “We’re trying to address it behind closed doors.”

School board members Cheryl Coleman and David Morgan voted Thursday night against dismissing the teachers, and Coleman voted against dismissing the support personnel. Board member Sonya Norwood was not present.

“I understand that cuts must be made,” Coleman said. “I’m concerned at the number that we’re going with.”

She said the board initially planned to cut 16 teachers for a savings of $1.2 million, but the number kept growing.

“I still haven’t heard how we plan to help children with deficiencies,” Coleman told the board. “Do we have a game plan in place for that, and how do we plan on doing that?”

Leak said District 227 works with feeder schools to identify students who need extra help, offers summer programs in reading and math and gives students extra tutoring during school if they need it.

“We have a multitude of plans,” she said.  But all those items were in place prior to the layoffs, Coleman said.  “How will the programs look differently with the staff that is going to be less?” she said. “I know there is an impact. There has to be.”  That information will be provided at another meeting, board president Betty Owens said.

 Forum: Charter school editorial missed point 

May 7, 2012 11:14PM SouthTown Newspaper

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We at the Illinois Network of Charter Schools were dismayed to read your April 23 editorial questioning the funding for Southland College Prep Charter High School, a successful charter school serving students in Rich Township.

 

The editorial suggests that state funds are being unfairly taken from Rich Township High School District 227 for the state-authorized charter school, resulting in less opportunity for District 227 students.

With respect to funding, the editorial misses the central point — under the Illinois charter school law, money is designed to follow the student.

When a student in District 227 enrolls at Southland College Prep, the money for educating that student transfers to the charter school. Certainly, District 227 cannot contend that it should receive public funds for students it does not educate.

With respect to educational quality, there is no dispute that Southland College Prep is a desperately needed, high-quality option for students in District 227.

Southland College Prep exists because some community leaders and parents organized to create a public school alternative to the District 227 schools, where in 2011 only 28.5 percent of students met or exceeded standards on the Prairie State Achievement Exam.

Now in its second year, the charter school is doing so well that demand substantially exceeds the current capacity of 125 students per class. A lottery determines which students enroll.

The grand irony is that District 227 spent an estimated $140,000 on a fruitless lawsuit to try to prevent Southland College Prep from opening.

In its decision in favor of the charter school, the Illinois Appellate Court said it had “no doubt that the establishment of the charter high school is in the best interests of the students it was designed to serve and, eventually, its establishment may well serve the best interests of all District 227 students to the extent the academic success of the charter school raises the educational bar for the other three high schools.” 

We agree.

Jill Gottfred

Policy manager

Illinois Network of Charter Schools