School Board sends out layoff notices

Seniority no longer a deciding factor in which teachers go

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff writer

When the Burlington Area School District issued layoff notices in 2009, there was an uproar over the possible cut of Project-Based Learning at Karcher Middle School – because teacher Cyndi Smith was low on the seniority ladder.

“PBL was never on the cutting board, per se,” said then-BASD Assistant Superintendent Pat Hoffman in October of 2009. “In the seniority system, the PBL teacher was low and she would’ve been going.”

PBL was eventually saved until the 2011-12 school year, when Smith became a regular teacher at Karcher and the program became part of the regular curriculum – at least in theory.

Now, with the preliminary list of layoffs in from BASD, seniority is no longer the question. Last week, the BASD School Board approved preliminary notice of non-renewal to be sent to 17 teachers.

Full contract reductions are being handed to Kathy Behrens (phy ed), Ed Brenton (Project Lead the Way at Burlington High School), Marilyn Briggs (special ed), Carmen Brito-Reiselbach (Spanish), Karen Fohey (Spanish), Joan Horn (special ed), Dorothea Janisch, Leslie Moritz (second grade, Waller), Linda Oja (orchestra), Mike Silkwood (tech ed), Amy Solum (computer ed), Jennifer Stever (high school science), Lorrie Wagner (phy ed) and Dan Walker (elementary art).

Partial contract reductions were announced for Melinda Hoffman (.2, counselor at Waller School), Ben Johnson (.6, high school band), and Shelly Mutter (.4397, phy ed, Dyer).

Assistant Superintendent Peter Smet confirmed the layoffs Tuesday, saying that administration had recommended the cuts using certain criteria, but the board ultimately had the responsibility for making the cuts.

“They were hard decisions that had to be made,” Smet said. “The board makes the ultimate call.”

He did say that this year’s cuts were not done by seniority – as evidenced by at least one of the cuts. Behrens has been a phy ed teacher in the district for 26 years, the last 12 of which she has spent at Cooper Elementary School.

Her position is a .733 FTE spot.

Johnson, meanwhile, was the target of a layoff in 2010, but a booster group – which eventually because the music education support group “Music Matters” – managed to convince school district officials to hold off on the cut until they had a chance to raise money.

Karen Tolle, who co-directs Music Matters, said Oja’s cut seemed to indicate a cut in elementary orchestra, as well.

“Disappointing doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Tolle said. “I know we have a strong support in the community for music education.

“For some reason, it’s not translating into support at the district level.”