E.C. teachers accuse administrators of harassment
By HEATHER BREMNER, Staff Writer
Pink-slipped El Centro Elementary School District teachers claim they're
being harassed - by administrators. Some of the more than 100 educators
who received preliminary layoff notices Feb. 24 are accusing board members
and administrators of playing politics.
"Are we being harassed? You bet we are," said Maggie Knox, presidentof the
El Centro Elementary Teachers Association. "There is no loyalty in the
El Centro Elementary School District anymore, unless you know someone."
Instead of basing the teacher layoffs solely on seniority, the ECESD is
incorporating a clause taken from the California education code and the
ECESD contract that stipulates: "The El Centro Elementary School District
may deviate from terminating a certificated employee in order of seniority
if the district demonstrates a specific need for personnel to teach a specific
course or course of study and that certificated employee has special training
and credential necessary to teach that course or course of study."
The specific ECESD needs are the cross-cultural language and academic development
certificate and the bilingual, cross-cultural language and academic development.
Many of the potentially dismissed teachers don't possess the CLAD or BCLAD but
have taught in the district for up to eight years.
Teachers think the process is inherently unfair because they said the district
never forewarned them they needed to earn the CLAD or BCLAD to save their jobs.
In addition, the district is paying for some teachers to earn their CLAD.
But district Superintendent Michael Klentschy said those accusations are "not true"
and "unfounded." About five years ago the district ran a two-year program giving
every employee the opportunity to earn either a CLAD or BCLAD during district time,
said Klentschy. Some teachers took up the offer and some didn't. "It's a twofold
issue," he said Tuesday morning. "Do we base the process on seniority or do we put
the needs of the students first?"
Possessing a CLAD or BCLAD is not yet a state requirement - it will become one
in 2005 - but is now included in the credentialing program in California. Though
Klentschy said the district is simply trying to meet the needs of its students,
Knox insists district officials have some type of ulterior motive.
Instead of laying off the newest teachers, who sit at the bottom of the pay scale,
the district can eliminate higher-paid teachers who do not possess the CLAD or BCLAD.
"They're not only weeding people out but weeding people in they want," she said.
Klentschy said that statement also is false. The bulk of the teachers given layoff
notices are not the highest paid, he said.
The board chose to focus on hiring only teachers with the certifications because
every year the district is required to conduct a census determining the number
of students who are English learners. Because the ECESD has a high percentage
of the latter, he thinks it's in the best interest of the students to require
teachers obtain a CLAD or BCLAD.
But one teacher who has taught in the district for five years - she asked to
remain anonymous for fear of retaliation - said she rushed to earn her CLAD and
then was informed by a district administrator that she had missed the deadline.
The district is conducting hearings Wednesday and Thursday for teachers who
desire to protest their potential layoffs. The teachers will argue that the
layoffs should be based solely on seniority, while the district will maintain
its position that teachers must possess a CLAD or BCLAD to assure their jobs are safe.
Staff Writer Heather Bremner can be reached at hbremner24@yahoo.com or 337-3445.
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