FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alan Giles
District General Council
612.668.0480Update on the Teacher Realignment Process in Minneapolis Public Schools
August 10, 2004 - For the fourth straight year, the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) has been forced to make significant budget reductions, which includes eliminating many valued staff positions. In June, the Board of Education approved a budget that reflected a gap of $22.8 million between revenues and expenditures. The reduction of more than 600 teachers, 153 of which have tenure, for next fall reflects an anticipated enrollment decline of 4,600 students from Fall 2003 to Fall 2004.
"With the loss of this many teachers, significant changes are inevitable," said Minneapolis Public Schools Executive Director of Employee Relations Steven Belton. "When cuts go so deep, the process of how the most senior teachers are retained becomes more complicated."
The Minnesota Teacher Tenure Law, required Minneapolis Public Schools to reassign approximately 140 tenured teachers who hold more than one license. In the 1986 case of Arlene M. Strand, et al v. Special School District No.1, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in that the Teacher Tenure Act requires districts to save tenured teaching positions by reassigning (realigning) teachers who hold multiple teaching licenses.
"While we believe we have followed the intent of the law and we have preserved positions of 92 elementary tenured teachers and 63 others, we, like many parents, are not pleased with a process that disrupts staff," said Board of Education Chair Sharon Henry-Blythe. "Teacher stability is important to us because we know it's important to families and ultimately affects student achievement. Further, we do not necessarily agree that removing classroom teachers from certain grades and assigning them to other areas where they hold a teaching license is in the best interest of our students."
At a Board retreat on Saturday, July 24, understanding the concern some teachers and families have about this realignment, the Board recommended that Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles work with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and request them to "expand the district administration's discretion in realigning tenured teachers within the parameters of the Minnesota Teacher Tenure Law and the Minnesota Supreme Court decision." Specifically, the Board recommended two courses to pursue with MFT:
1) Instead of exempting from alignment any "categories" of tenured teachers (such as Spanish immersion), allow district administrators to exempt at their discretion and interpretation of the following language in the Strand decision: "the school district's needs reflecting the welfare of the students and the public."
-OR-
2) Allow district administration to exempt from realignment tenured teachers who require specialized training for magnet or SLC (small learning communities) programs and less restrictive special education classrooms (such as Autism).
On Monday, July 26, Superintendent Peebles summoned the district's lead general counsel, Allen Giles, and executive director of labor relations, Steven Belton, and assigned them to negotiate with the MFT and the state's teacher union, Education Minnesota, in the above matters (1 and 2) as directed by the Board. Their findings were to be reported back to the Superintendent 48 hours later.
On July 28, in their written response to the negotiation efforts by Giles and Belton, the union stated that:
* It did not have the legal authority to give the district independent discretion to realign teachers and would not agree to do so; and
* It did not have the legal authority to authorize the district independently to exempt teachers based on specialized training and would not agree to do so.
The union noted that legislative authority was necessary for the Board to obtain the discretion it had sought from the union.
"Following our discussions with MFT, it is clear that any change to the realignment process will require legislative action," said Belton. "We all agree -- the unions, the district's general counsel, outside legal counsel and myself -- that the district has only one legal option and that is to continue the current realignment procedures."
"We, as a board, understand that the realignment process will not change for this fall and we will place this issue as a top priority in our legislative agenda for this coming session," said Henry-Blythe. "Clearly, this is a complicated issue and a difficult one for some staff and families who may lose a valued teacher to another district school as a result of realignment."
On July 24, the district legal counsel proposed and the Board accepted a long-term solution that calls for the district to pursue legislative change for subsequent years. Legislative change could include:
* Bargaining for factors other than seniority to be the primary consideration in teacher layoffs;
* Including a new area of licensure for specialized training in some disciplines such as autism;
* Requiring discontinuance, and subsequent bumping, of teaching positions within each school building rather than within the district.
MPS administration has instructed realigned teachers to report to the assignments they received through the placement process and principals are moving forward and building relationships with their new staffs. "All realigned teachers will receive training, orientation and ongoing mentoring to make certain that our students' learning is not compromised," Belton said.
"While this is not the best way to start the school year, Minneapolis Public Schools will comply with the law, but we will actively pursue legislative changes to this law that are in the best interest of our students, parents and teachers," said Superintendent Peebles.
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