Falling enrollment leads to Janesville teacher cuts
Six Janesville public school teachers will be laid off at the end of the school year.
The school board voted 8-1 Tuesday to approve the teacher-staffing plan for 2009-10. The plan will mean laying off six teachers, said Steve Salerno, director of administrative and human services.
Salerno asked the board not to make him reveal the names of the six teachers. They had not been notified before the meeting that they might be laid off and deserved that professional courtesy before the information became public, he said.
Salerno did say the teachers are all at the middle school or high school level, one is a foreign-language teacher and the others are either in art, music or physical education.
The layoffs are because of anticipated falling enrollments.
The staffing plan calls for an overall reduction of 14.5 teaching positions. The other positions were accounted for through resignations or retirements.
Board member Tim Cullen tried to stave off any layoffs. He proposed a three-point plan:
-- No layoffs.
-- Accept $900,000 in administrative budget cuts proposed by the superintendent.
-- Reduce the budget for teacher compensation from a 3.8 percent increase to 1.8 percent.
Superintendent Karen Schulte had suggested 2.8 percent to cover teacher pay and benefits, but Cullen said the even lower increase would be the price that the teachers would have to pay in order to save their colleagues' jobs.
Cullen acknowledged that the final compensation figure would be determined through negotiations, but he said it would set the tone for negotiations. Cullen figured 1.8 percent would cover increases in benefit costs but probably mean little or no pay increase.
Most board members had a variety of objections to Cullen's plan.
Bill Sodemann said positions should never be kept if they are not needed.
Peggy Sheridan said it would set a bad precedent for the next year, when even more layoffs might be needed.
Cullen's plan failed on a 7-2 vote, with only Cullen and DuWayne Severson voting yes.
The lone "no" vote for the staffing plan was Cullen's.
In a related matter, the board did not vote on a series of budget cuts and additions recommended by Superintendent Karen Schulte. The board appeared ready to vote before members discovered that the agenda listing would not legally allow them to vote.
Schulte removed one item from her list. She had proposed a new "director of development" to oversee an endowment fund. That position would have cost about $88,000.
Schulte gave no reason for the change but said she would continue to work on the endowment fund idea.
The board will vote on Schulte's recommendations at its meeting Tuesday, May 12.
Other business
In other business Tuesday, the Janesville School Board:
-- Elected DuWayne Severson to a second year as board president. Bill Sodemann continues as vice president. The board voted unanimously with no discussion.
-- Learned that the district has hired a new manager of information technology. He is Steve Schlomann, who has been running the department since the old IT manager resigned in November. Schlomann was brought in as part of the services of Elert & Associates, the company that helped the district deal with a computer virus that crippled district systems last fall and winter. School board member Peter D. Severson called the appointment an excellent choice.
-- Learned that Superintendent Karen Schulte is recommending cutting the manager of buildings and grounds. Peter Geyer is the longtime holder of that job.
-- Met in closed session to discuss bargaining strategies with AFSCME Local 938, which represents custodians and food and maintenance workers. The board also met to plan for contract negotiations with the Janesville Education Association, which represents the teachers. Contracts for both groups run out June 30.
The board decided in closed session to add two of its members to the negotiating team for the teacher-contract talks. They are Greg Ardrey and Diedre Richard.
The board decided in December not to have any board members on the negotiating team, but board President DuWayne Severson said members changed their minds because of "the changing economic climate in our community."
Apr 30, 2009 at 3:54 p.m.
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TheJoker - You still didn't answer the question. After all, you're stating we don't know the facts. The fact is the 5,000 people that lost their jobs include the suppliers. Where are you still getting the 25,000 difference in population? Let's assume all 5,000 did indeed live in Janesville, which isn't even close. Are you assuming each worker had a family of 5? I'll mark your words that you will be wrong and are extremely exaggerating the numbers. Sure Janesville will see a drop, but not as drastic as you're predicting. I'm not being a goofball about it or attacking you either.
Apr 30, 2009 at 3:40 p.m.
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People, people. Please get your facts straight before you attempt to attack me. No, not everyone who worked at GM lived in Janesville. BUT many other people who worked at the GM support companies did and they almost all live in Janesville. Mark my word, Janesville is and will continue to see a drastic drop in population and may get closer to Beloit in terms of population.
Beloit only has one high school-Beloit Memorial. They used to have a Catholic high school but Catholics outside of Beloit refused to send their kids there and it closed. Beloit Turner is in the Town of Beloit. Turner is like Ofordville in its relation to Janesville. Besides, Turner was created to be an alternative to those parents who did want "diversity" in their children's schools.
Face it, Janesville is and will take a huge hit in population and will result in school closings and consolidation. I agree, don't be a goofball about it.
Apr 30, 2009 at 2:31 p.m.
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rkerman - The people of Janesville voted on it and it was needed. This was before GM was being shutdown. Nobody thought GM would actually pull out of this town. People were talking about it years ago and were in denial. Also, as I said earlier. Not everyone works at GM.
Apr 30, 2009 at 2:29 p.m.
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Vigilandy - Exactly! If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that people truly believe that all 63,000 people in this town worked at GM.
Apr 30, 2009 at 2:28 p.m.
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Why did Janesville spend so much money on school additions last year?
Did the funding for these massive additions actually pass a voter referendum?
How could we let that happen when we all knew many years ago that GM was going to pull out?
Bob Kerman
Apr 30, 2009 at 2:24 p.m.
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Why do people assume that everyone who lost their job at GM lives in Janesville? Beloit, Delevan, Clinton, Edgerton, Evansville, Rockford, etc, all had people work at GM or one of their smaller supply companies. Maybe we should just close Janesville and move to one of the other cities because they are doing so much better and are not feeling the effects of GM closing.
Apr 30, 2009 at 1:59 p.m.
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Well, the city of Beloit has a population of about 38,000....not sure of the population of the town of Beloit.
Apr 30, 2009 at 1:09 p.m.
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prevention - We're merely trying to figure out where joker is getting his facts and numbers from. Pretty simple.
Apr 30, 2009 at 12:43 p.m.
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Please show me where he states "City of Beloit"
Apr 30, 2009 at 12:34 p.m.
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minihowie, if you want technicalities.... City of Beloit has only one high school... Memorial; Town of Beloit has only one high school... Turner. Get over it and don't be a goofball about it
Apr 30, 2009 at 12:32 p.m.
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So when did Beloit only have 1 high school?
Turner & Memorial
Apr 30, 2009 at 11:42 a.m.
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Joker-Could you please explain to us how you think the population of Janesville and Beloit will be comparable? Roughly 63,000 compared to roughly 38,000. Even with the loss of GM jobs and jobs related thats a difference of 25,000 people. Where are you estimating your unrealistic figures from?
Apr 30, 2009 at 11:34 a.m.
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MadeinUSA - Do you think everyone knew GM was going to be gone AFTER the renovations on the schools started? Cullen can pitch in a percentage of their profits? You think it's their fault? I got news for you. Be thankful companies like Cullen have work and are supporting jobs in this town. GM is going to do squat for this community anymore. You want to play the blame game, start with the right source.
Apr 30, 2009 at 11:05 a.m.
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I'm confused with this. The school district is going to cut six teachers, but make smaller class sizes at to schools. My logic says that you eliminate some teachers, but you are going to add more?
Apr 30, 2009 at 10:42 a.m.
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The consolidation into one high school will be sooner than you think. Once the population gets around what Beloit has, the need for only one high school will be obvious.
Apr 30, 2009 at 10:38 a.m.
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Cutting positions in art, music and phys ed. Great - just the things that stimulate the creative side of children's brains, and keep them from being completely obese. Also, the things that kids like the best, because it gives them a break from the same boring subjects!
Instead, why not get rid of some of the specialty schools (high rent costs, etc) and move those students into schools that have the extra space due to loss of enrollment?
Loss of creativity is a problem nationwide. A few years ago they already cut music, art and phys ed time.
There has to be another solution.
Apr 30, 2009 at 10:04 a.m.
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Soon need one high school? Define "soon".
Apr 30, 2009 at 8:57 a.m.
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How about those teachers who are about to be laid off take the jobs in wilson and Jackson schools that need smaller classes? Who were they planning to hire for those positions? It's too bad they don't use some cammon sense, then maybe they would know how to spend our money. Enough tax & spend!!
Apr 30, 2009 at 8:56 a.m.
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Hate to say it again and again, but I told you so. We need to consolidate schools and programs, not keep on building new wings at the school or adding new programs. We will soon only need one high school. The 2010 Census for Janesville will be shocking in terms of number of people who have left. It is time the School Board and Janesville face reality!
Apr 30, 2009 at 7:08 a.m.
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Once again, for those of you who did not attend or watch the school board meeting, the staffing plan is based on falling enrollment and staff-to-student ratios. "The staffing plan calls for an overall reduction of 14.5 teaching positions. The other positions were accounted for through resignations or retirements." It is not just an attempt to balance budget; the staffing plan is revisited every year to meet student needs.
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A school board member repeatedly asked Dr. Salerno for more information. He did not want to reveal details. Put the blame where it belongs, please.
Apr 30, 2009 at 6:37 a.m.
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Parker Alum - if you bothered to watch the meeting, Salerno did not saying anything more than "special area teachers" . He was forced to give more detail. In fact, he held the line with the Board by stating, "It would not be right to share more publicly."
Apr 30, 2009 at 4:32 a.m.
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we already knew this was coming
Apr 30, 2009 at 3:07 a.m.
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Gee, Salerno, the teachers being let go deserve the professional courtesy of information not being revealed about what school levels they are at or what subjects they teach before they are told. Now, from this article it's not hard to deduce for any of those teachers, their colleagues, students and parents reading this article who the doomed teachers could be. Shame on you. Better to have said to the board and press, "No comment."
Apr 29, 2009 at 9:25 p.m.
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How do they vote Shulte a 8% raise over the last superintendant when she has no experience, give the secretaries and clerks a 3% raise, then ask teachers to take a 1.8% raise, which will result in no raise they say.
Worst of all, why are the doing it in the gazette? It is disgusting that they won't even talk to the teachers just proclaim it in the paper.
Apr 29, 2009 at 9:22 p.m.
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Amen.
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