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QuickTake:
Licensed staff across the district demonstrated before and after school Wednesday in a show of solidarity with teachers affected by layoffs.
At 7:45 a.m., about 45 teachers and other licensed staff quietly walked together into Springfield High School, sharing a moment of unity as students streamed through the gates.
Due to the projected costs of a new teachers union contract, Springfield Board of Education voted last week to cut $2.34 million in spending in the middle of the school year, laying off 27 teachers and other licensed staff members by the end of January, despite public pushback.
Health teacher Cynthia Sleight was a part of the display of solidarity union members organized in her building on Wednesday, Jan. 21. While her job is safe, she said, the past week has been a difficult one for teachers. Most of those who were either laid off or transferred to another school were notified on Tuesday.
“We do this job because we love our students and we love teaching,” Sleight said. “This job can be emotionally exhausting and overwhelming on the best of days, so adding worry about your job, your insurance, your friends, your colleagues, your students has a profound effect on morale.”
In addition to 27 high school and middle school teachers losing their jobs district-wide, there are additional teachers from all grade levels being “bumped” to other schools as seniority guidelines for layoffs create gaps. Sleight said she worries about the students who are losing teachers to the layoffs and reorganization of staff, especially students for whom school is a haven and teachers are key supporters.
“This midyear change will deprive many of our middle and high school students of the consistency of being taught by the same teachers and of the connections that teachers have worked hard to build over the last five months,” Sleight said.
The district published the number of full-time equivalents they were cutting in a Jan. 13 post: two district-level positions, eight high school positions, 16 middle school positions and one elementary position. Hamlin Middle School is losing four teachers to layoffs and four to displacement, according to three sources who spoke to Lookout Eugene-Springfield. Sleight has two Springfield High School colleagues who are being transferred to a middle school.
“At middle schools, changes will feel more noticeable for students and families due to schedule adjustments,” the district’s post states. “Schools are focused on helping students feel safe, supported, and connected as they adjust.”
Staff reshuffling happens in school districts during layoffs due to seniority rules, said Jonathan Gault, president of Springfield Education Association, the district’s teachers union. Teachers who are the newest to the district, regardless of their overall teaching experience, are at the top of the list when the district makes cuts.
Staff with more seniority can then be pulled from other buildings to fill essential positions. Specialists, such as school counselors or music teachers, are more likely to be retained, regardless of their seniority, however, because there are fewer of them.
Some staff who remain at Springfield middle and high schools have been assigned additional classes on top of their current workload to absorb students who are now without a teacher, according to two teachers. At the middle school level, a collaboration period teachers used to use to meet with colleagues will now be replaced with a sixth class, said Brian Richardson, a spokesperson for the district.
Richardson said the district is following the reduction-in-force process outlined in the collective bargaining agreement and Oregon law. He said while the district is avoiding increased class sizes, layoffs may cause numbers to rise.
In addition to walking into school together at the beginning of their work day, Springfield High School teachers also walked out together at 4:10 p.m. and gathered with other teachers at the Springfield Public Schools district office. More than 50 people gathered at the district office.
Wednesday’s demonstration was strictly about the midyear layoffs, Gault said. But union bargaining with the district is still ongoing, with their next mediation session scheduled for Friday. Gault said they’re reaching the end.
“We’re hoping we can reach a tentative agreement on Friday,” he said.
This story has been updated to include information provided by Springfield Public Schools after the story published.
