NORWICH – It’s no secret that school districts statewide continue to struggle financially and are attempting anything and everything to cut costs. Yet the transfer of staff by the Norwich City School District administration has educators – both former and present – concerned for students next year.
During the public comments portion of Monday night’s school board meeting, Eric Cunningham, an NHS math teacher and president of the Norwich Educators Organization, said the month of June carries a lot of significance for teachers. With the number of staff transfers over the past two or three years – middle school teachers moving to an elementary school, high school teachers moving to the middle school and so forth – it’s difficult for those displaced teachers to prepare for the upcoming school year, according to Cunningham.
“‘Summers off’ aren’t really the vacation that many people think they are, especially with teachers not knowing what or where they’ll be teaching,” he added. “It’s a fact that, even with our time off, as teachers, we spend a sizable amount of time either developing new curriculums or revising old ones.”
This year, the district plans to displace a pair of teachers that Cunningham said he did not wish to name.
The NEO president said he believes many of these transfers are done without any sort of reasoning and – while he understands that some movement is inevitable – teachers require ample time to prepare for those types of changes.
Retired long-time Norwich educator Don Chirlin said it’s important for instructors to know what exactly they’re going to be teaching the next year. He added that being certified to teach grades 7 through 12 doesn’t necessarily mean a teacher should be placed arbitrarily, a practice he said he believed “doesn’t work very well.”
If a teacher is not comfortable in the classroom, he added, it’s the students who suffer.
Board member Linda Horovitz said she’s concerned some teachers are being specifically targeted, another disadvantage for students, and added that teachers are the backbone of the school district.
According to Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan, Cunningham was referring to a second grade teacher who was moved to the sixth grade – due to a retirement – and a special education teacher who was relocated from Stanford Gibson Elementary to the high school.
“All teachers have been informed of their teaching assignment for next year,” said O’Sullivan. “As we have retirements and resignations over the summer, as we always do, assignments might change. Additionally, we have to hire new teachers over the summer and, depending on their skills, experiences and certifications, we may also make changes in current teaching assignments that best fit the needs of the students and programs.”
O’Sullivan added that districts are obligated to assign staff and fill vacancies based on tenure law, seniority rights, bumping rights and certification status. While a teacher may not like an assignment or feel it’s the best fit for them, he added, districts can’t pick and choose what staff they can or should retain without following tenure and certification law. This is illustrated, he said, in the very sad, but common problem of districts having to lay off the newest teachers without regard to skill, ability, enthusiasm or results.
“Every year we have to adjust staff according to class size and budget,” stated the superintendent. “Districts across New York state are cutting staff and reducing budget, so naturally we have to move staff to fill vacancies caused by budget.”