Tuesday evening approximately 50 Mansfield City Schools teachers were invited to participate in the “bump” process, which is a part of the reduction in force (RIF) procedure at Mansfield City Schools. These displaced teachers were given the opportunity to select new positions in the district for next school year because of their seniority.
It had been reported that the new teacher evaluation process mandated by the state would factor into the process; but according to Superintendent Brian Garverick and Union President Jen Lepard, teacher evaluations were not a factor in the RIF process.
The RIF process is complicated and emotional for all involved. It is effectively a four part process. First the commission and the school board identified positions to eliminate.
“You look outside of the classroom first–support, things that do not directly impact the classroom, but eventually you get to the classroom. Then you look a the systems where you can reduce. You look at enrollment, services provided, requirements by ODE [Ohio Department of Education.] Cuts are made by position,” said Garverick.
The second step is to identify which staff members currently hold those positions, those staff members become “displaced.” Displaced staff are not necessarily laid off, although the process and stipulations are different for certified and classified staff. Displaced staff with seniority are invited to participate in the “bump” process, the third step.
This is where things become complex because multiple factors are considered. For certified staff there are three criteria that dictate the process: certification(s), seniority, and type of certificate.
Once the list of displaced staff is formulated they look at what certifications those teachers hold on a teacher by teacher basis, then all teachers with the same certification are reviewed, if there is a teacher with less seniority than the displaced teacher that teacher is “bumped” and their position is placed in the pool for the bump process.
For the sake of example, Jane Doe has an early childhood certification and was displaced. When reviewing the current staffing, another teacher, John Doe has the same certification, but has worked for the district for five years less than Jane. John is “bumped” and his position becomes available to a displaced teacher with more seniority.
This process is followed for each identified position and a list of employees with greater seniority is invited to the “bump” meeting. These teachers in order of seniority get to chose a position for which they are certified and qualified from the pool of bumped positions.
There is one caveat to this, there are two types of contracts in Ohio, limited and continuing. A continuing contract allows for “super seniority” or a type of seniority that supersedes years worked, thus a teacher with a continuing contract could “bump” a teacher who had worked in the district longer.
After the displaced teachers with seniority select their new positions through the “bump” process the district enters into the final step. At this time letters are delivered to the teachers who will not be returning to school in the Fall.
Garverick has been delivering these letters personally for the last two days. “Today is one of the most difficult days of my career; but we’re working closely with the commission to move forward, get out of fiscal emergency, get back on our feet and continue to do what we can to serve the families in our district. We’ll get through this, we’ll get through it as painlessly as possible, but that doesn’t make it easy. These teachers are crying–they’re gonna miss their children, these families. It’s just heartbreaking, it impacts this whole community.”
Brad Strong has been with the district for twenty years. His position at Springmill Learning Center was eliminated, but his seniority afforded him an invitation to the “bump” meeting on Tuesday.
Although he’s packing up his office at Springmill, he’ll have a job next year. “It’s bittersweet. I went home last night and my wife and I still have jobs, not everyone can say that. Those are the lucky people, the ones still employed. Those are the ones counting their blessings today,” said Strong.
“The reality is that it’s horrible. I know at the end of the day this will impact people’s lives. Many bad things will happen. These are real life decisions that impact people’s lives. People will move, lose their homes, go bankrupt, marriages will suffer, personalities will become different, people will become bitter. The damage from this, it’s very real.”
Strong is not alone in his compassion for his colleagues. Union President Jen Lepard expressed her concern as well, “It’s a sad day because there’s a lot of good teachers, a lot of young teachers who have lost their job and it’s their livelihood. It’s sad, I hurt for all of my members.”
The “bump process” for the classified staff has yet to be initiated and will follow a slightly different format according to their contract. The date for that has yet to be determined.
We’ll get through this, we’ll get through it as painlessly as possible, but that doesn’t make it easy. These teachers are crying–they’re gonna miss their children, these families. It’s just heartbreaking, it impacts this whole community,” said Supt. Brian Garverick.
