New Haven Rehires Six More Laid-Off Teachers

With a week left before the new school year begins, the and New Haven Teachers Association were able to offer good news to some of its its former staff members.

On Monday, the district rehired six more laid-off teachers, according to Charmaine Kawaguchi, president of the teachers' association.

The move comes on top of the , after the district and teachers' association agreed to institute six furlough days, shortening the school year from 180 to 175 days. (One of the furlough days is a teacher preparation day.) Twenty-nine were also rehired before that to fill positions left vacant by retirements and resignations, according to Rick La Plante, spokesman for the school district.

NHUSD has been able to offer positions to all of the teachers who were initially laid off when the district was forced to make $6 million in reductions for the 2011-12 school year, La Plante said.

A total of 75 teachers and counselors were issued pink slips, according to Charmaine Kawaguchi, president of the teachers' association. Two counselors remain laid off, but the association is working to find positions for them, she said.

Many of the teachers on the layoff list have taken jobs elsewhere, moved or taken leave, making positions available for others, La Plante said.

“Somebody was going to be in those positions, we’re just glad it’s the folks who were with us,” La Plante said.

The rehiring of staff won’t mitigate any of the classroom cuts the district has made.

During the 2011-12 school year, kindergarten classrooms will be staffed at a ratio of 25 students per teacher, up from 20-to-1 in previous years. First and second grades will remain at 25-to-1, while third grade classes, which were staffed at a 25-to-1 ratio, will increase to 30-to-1.

More cuts may be made down the line.

The state budget plan includes a complex education bill that calls for mid-year cuts to K-12 education if the state does not generate at least $2 billion of additional revenue this year. If revenues are short, up to seven additional furlough days may be added to the school year, reducing it to 168 days, Kawaguchi said. The state’s decision will come in December.

“It’s going to get really tense around December,” she said. “If they do take more money away, we’re really stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

If mid-year cuts are to be made, the extra furlough days will have to be taken in the spring, Kawaguchi said.

“We’re all hoping that doesn’t happen. We’re watching the money very closely,” she said.