Colleagues,
The closing of even a single school is usually difficult and controversial. So when the District announced an ambitious plan to close multiple schools because of declining enrollment, along with grade configuration changes that would create separate middle schools, it understandably conjured fears of massive layoffs of teachers, maxing out of class sizes, and a chaotic transition next school year.
None of this is likely to happen, though. Thanks to the availability of some additional Federal and State funding, and collaborative negotiations, we were able to conclude a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the District that ensures the following changes for the next school year:
– For the 2024-2025 school year, general education class sizes at elementary schools will be lowered from a maximum of 26 to 24 pupils; and at middle schools from a maximum of 28 to 25 students.
– The District will invest in additional safety and social-emotional supports where they are needed the most.
– Secondary school teachers wishing to transfer will be able to apply to a maximum of seven (7) schools, and K-12 teachers to a maximum of eleven (11) schools.
– Since new schools will not yet have School-based Planning teams during the staffing and transfer days, the District and RTA will constitute interim teams to rank teachers at the new schools. The placement process for new schools will occur prior to teacher transfer days.
– Teachers who are moving from schools that are closing, phasing out, or moving as a school, will each receive a $500 stipend to partly compensate for moving time and expenses.
– Teachers accepting positions at middle schools will receive a one-time “hard-to-staff” stipend of $5000. Special Education, Bilingual, ELL and ESOL teachers accepted to teach in middle schools would receive a one-time $6000 stipend. Teachers accepted at middle schools will be required to complete up to twenty (20) hours of paid professional development and team-building in August 2024 prior to the opening of schools. The exact dates will be made known before March 1, 2024.
The language of our newly negotiated MOA is attached. It should be noted that this is an agreement for only the transition year (2024-2025) because the available additional funding must be spent by no later than next September. Our students and their teachers need and deserve this and more. That is why we will continue our fight for more funding and better teaching and learning conditions for all our schools. And we will continue to address other aspects of the transition that have not yet been resolved.
As always, please contact us if you have questions or need assistance. And thank you for all that you continue to do, every day, for all our students.
Adam Urbanski, RTA President