Retirements, resignations cut BASD total to eight
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
The Burlington Area School District School Board will consider next Monday a list of layoffs that is much shorter than originally proposed.
According to BASD Superintendent David Moyer, the layoffs of eight teachers covering 5.8 full-time equivalent positions will be voted on next Monday in the monthly Board of Education meeting.
The district has finished its hearing process, with 14 of the original 17 teachers who received preliminary notices of non-renewal requesting private conferences.
BASD School Board President David Thompson said Tuesday that a number of the other teachers issued preliminary notices took other avenues, including retirement or resignation.
Moyer declined to give names or comment on the hearing process except to say the situation would be resolved at next week’s meeting.
“I’m not going to comment,” Moyer said. “These were private conferences.
“Following Monday’s board meeting, it will be resolved,” he added. “We have a few loose ends that are hanging out there.
“By the conclusion of Monday’s board meeting, we expect to have any loose ends tied up.”
The district had a number of dates set to hold the private conferences, which could be requested by any staff member receiving the preliminary layoff notices.
It is unknown at this time how many of the teachers actually went into the conferences versus having the matter settled beforehand, though Moyer said Tuesday at that the board had reconvened in open session.
“The board has voted in open session to approve the administrative recommendation to issue eight final notices of non-renewal,” said Moyer. “I’m not commenting any further on anything that relates to personnel matters.”
Moyer expressed concern that the names of the 17 teachers had been released to the public, and that teachers had faced undue public scrutiny.
However, when the preliminary notices were issued in April, Moyer went out of his way to say the majority of the layoffs were due to declining enrollment and schedule changes.
“The board (in April) took the least severe route in terms of teacher non-renewals,” Moyer said April 3. “They dismissed only the people dictated by declining enrollment, the high school schedule change, the restructuring of the middle school PE program plus some minor program adjustments.”
Moyer added at the time that there might also be non-renewals due to specific personnel issues unrelated to the budget situation, but otherwise, “we only cut the people necessary.”
How the final number of layoffs would affect the BASD budget was not immediately clear. Assistant Superintendent Peter Smet was out of the office through press deadline.
Thompson said the process “has worked, but it has been difficult for all parties concerned.”
“We’re kind of feeling our way as we went,” the board president said.
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