DIGGING DEEPER
The Dayton Daily News was first to report Dayton’s school layoffs. We fact-checked the school board’s financial claims, and have provided the most frequent updates on how the layoffs affect DPS schools.
Dayton Public Schools is quickly adjusting staffing plans after the school board tabled dozens of layoffs and personnel moves Thursday night, pushing those decisions back to Dec. 6.
Twenty-seven teachers who had already switched classrooms as part of a transfer process to avoid layoff have been told they will stay in those new roles, according to district administrators and teachers union president David Romick.
“And I agree with that because moving them back now, and then possibly moving again (after a school board vote Dec. 6), would be doubly or triply disruptive,” Romick said Friday.
School board President Adil Baguirov emphasized that his departure from Thursday’s tense meeting was only due to a personal issue, and not any sign that he was leaving his position.
“I didn’t resign or plan to resign from anything,” Baguirov said Friday.
Thursday’s agenda had called for votes on the futures of 41 teachers, paraprofessionals, mental health technicians, plus clerical, building trades and operations employees. Twenty-one had been scheduled for layoff, 12 were to be reduced to substitute roles, and nine were changing assignments, some to lower-paying jobs.
Those employees will now stay in the roles they’ve held all fall, at least until the Dec. 6 meeting, where staffing will be considered again.
In addition to those 41, several other employees who were scheduled to switch schools Monday, including some classroom aides, will stay in their existing roles for now. The 19 central office employees who were laid off last week remain laid off.
School board member John McManus, who stepped in to lead the board meeting after Baguirov left, said the school board wants to see further study on the staffing plans. It’s possible the board could call additional meetings between now and then.
“It’s still less than 24 hours after the vote, but it’s my hope that members of the board and administration put our heads together quickly on some possible paths forward that reflect the concerns of the people of this community,” McManus said Friday. “In my opinion, the voices of the community and our employees are especially essential in the days and weeks to come.”
Romick said he expected there might be changes in the staffing plans for other bargaining units, “but I’m not sure that will be the case with ours,” adding that teachers had “just about finished our process.”
Asked about plans to hire 28 additional teachers — a move Baguirov mentioned earlier this week — DPS legal and human resources officials said Friday they couldn’t comment.
Baguirov said Friday that the hiring of those teachers was never planned for this month. He repeated that those teachers would be paid with federal Title I money, the same funding stream used to pay dozens of paraprofessionals who had been slated for layoff.
At Thursday’s meeting, many employees argued that the staffing changes were rushed, shouldn’t have been done around the holidays, and complained about the impact of those changes that have already happened.
Several classroom paraprofessionals said they were insulted by Baguirov’s characterization of their roles, and urged board members to come out and see the academic work they do and the connections they make with kids.
A bus driver said layoff of four transportation supervisors left drivers without needed support, including proper response after a recent crash. A mental health technician said when she informed students she might not be back next week, they asked, “Who do you need us to beat up?” leading her back into counseling mode about the right way to deal with problems.
Diana Walusis was one of several teachers who talked about the challenge of switching schools in mid-year, pointing out the effort that goes into building students’ trust, determining their strengths, weaknesses and learning styles — to say nothing of teaching new subjects they hadn’t prepared for.
At the end of Thursday’s five-hour-plus meeting, Superintendent Rhonda Corr thanked people who participated, “especially the people who came in with the right spirit, in wanting to collaborate. It’s really easy to be an armchair quarterback and sit back and judge.”
“Absolutely the summer would have been the most ideal time (for these moves). But the reality is we’ve lost students. And that is the only reason we’re having these conversations,” Corr said. “I wish we had the coffers where we could just hire more and more and more people, but we also want to be very strategic, that when we do, we’re bringing the right people on board.”
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