Updated: Layoff notices on hold for now, judge rules
Mayor Nutter demands more accountability from the Philadelphia School District, and layoff notices begin going out to thousands of district employees today.
Updated: Layoff notices on hold for now, judge rules
Kristen Graham
UPDATE, 6 p.m. - The district says in a press release that 3,024 employees total will be given layoff notices. Among those, 1,523 are teachers and 490 are central office staff. Layoffs began today and will continue.
Site selection - planned for Wednesday after school - is still on for now, but the district's General Counsel is reviewing, a spokesman said.
UPDATE, 4:05 p.m. - An injunction has been issued, and layoff notices for 1,500 teachers are rescinded at least until a June 14 hearing, reports my colleague Troy Graham, who was inside the courtroom.
UPDATE, 3:30 p.m. - PFT President Jerry Jordan is waiting to be heard on a temporary restraining order to halt layoffs. Jordan says that the PFT is aiming to stop the "erroneous" exemption of Promise Academy teachers from layoffs. "That's a violation of the contract," Jordan said.
Jordan said he was told the proceedings were delayed because the district is waiting for an outside attorney - not an in-house district lawyer - to come and argue the case.
UPDATE, 2:40 p.m. - PFT President Jerry Jordan is at this moment filing a lawsuit over the district's layoffs, a union official confirms. Will bring you updates as I have them.
UPDATE, 11:15 a.m. - I'm told that layoff notices at central office have not gone out and it's not clear when they will. At schools, a few principals have already begun notifying teachers; most are waiting until the end of the day.
Also, Councilman Bill Green today sent Mayor Nutter a letter about his demands for accountability from the school district. Read my City Hall colleague Troy Graham's blog post about that letter - and the letter itself - here.
EARLIER: It’s the start of an incredibly crucial - and difficult - week in the Philadelphia School District. As my colleague Troy Graham reports here, Mayor Nutter yesterday sent this letter to the School Reform Commissioner and Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman demanding a better accounting of how the district spends its money and more say-so. The mayor set Thursday at noon as a deadline for gaining a new “education accountability agreement.”
Also, layoff notices begin going out today for thousands of Philadelphia School District employees. The total layoff number is not clear, but the district will need to lose more than 3,000 positions, and PFT president Jerry Jordan told me on Friday night that he’s been notified that 1,498 teachers will get layoff notices.
For the past few months, I’ve been hearing from anxious teachers and other employees who have been on pins and needles - when would the ax fall? Who would be spared? I spoke with one teacher, who asked that I withhold her name, who is waiting to hear. Both she and her husband teach in the district, and both could be laid off. “As it got closer, I kept saying, ‘We’ll be fine,’ but then we hear these numbers and I just don’t know,” she said.
It feels surreal, the teacher said. “You don’t go into teaching for the money. You go into it for the stability - because you know you’re going to have a pension when you retire,” she said. But now, no guarantees. Even if one or both of them remains employed after June 30, the prospect of a pay cut is real. The district has said that it must get $75 million in concessions from its five unions. Jordan, the PFT president, has said he will not negotiate, but district officials have threatened to ask the School Reform Commission to use its special powers to impose terms on the unions.
The teacher feels sick. She’s angry, she said, about how the district got here. And she’s got her family to think about. “If both of us get laid off, we’re screwed. we have a son, and we need health benefits. I guess we’ll collect unemployment, and wait to get called back,” she said. With other districts laying off too, looking elsewhere doesn’t seem like a viable prospect. Teaching at a Promise Academy, overhauled district schools whose teachers get more pay and, the district says, cannot be laid off, is not a possibility. Promise Academies have longer school days and years, plus Saturday school, and the teacher’s family commitments prevent her from doing that.
Check back - I’ll update with news, (follow me at Twitter, too; I tend to update first there) but in the meantime, have you received a layoff notice today? Contact me directly at kgraham@phillynews.com. Or share your story here, in the comments. Good luck on this tough day.
Cleanup- The SRC also voted to allow exemptions for Promise Academies. That lasted.... uhhhhh.... 4 whole hours before a judge ruled for an injunction. The SRC thinks it can cancel the contract, but in fact it cannot. This too will be in front of a judge and will cost the School District a cool half a million in unnecessary legal fees to lose once again...— plead.5th- I'm interested to hear from SDP_STAFF--- who will be affected besides classroom teachers and clerical staff? How about Psychologists, New Teacher Consultants, ESOL teachers, Content Specialists? Are there any departments that will be shutting down? I felt so bad seeing teachers at my school getting their notices today, and I feel like it will be even worse getting the notices a second time.— cityteacher
- If the SRC succeeds in breaking the union contract, which after all, is the purpose of all this brinkmanship, it will be all over for the schools. Killing the union under the guise of saving jobs is just another tactic in the relentless dismantling of the public schools.
They want teachers to become at will employees so they can keep firing the higher paid employees and substituting cheaper teachers. That is a given. Education is the last thing on their minds.
Those who advocate for breaking unions and school choice are the enemies of public education. They want to hasten the privatization of schools and contracts make that harder to do.
The parents of this city must wake up before it is too late. They are selling you snake oil. They want you to take the chance that some school somewhere will take you child when it is all a great big pie in the sky.
Those who bash teachers should be ashamed. They are the only people holding civilization together.
— Magistra 
Comment removed.- SDP_Staff, Consider this a history lesson. This isn't about "breaking the union." It's about ending urban public education by privatizing the privilege of doing education business in Phila. The PFT (Union)was broken a decade ago when Dwight Evans and fellow PA legistlators passed legistlation crippling the union's right to COLLECTIVE bargaining. The same gang also bought out then mayor John Street for $75 mil and opened the door for the SRC to replace the school board.— lefty
- Interesting — kimash
- Why is the District using an outside lawyer? Don't they pay enough for ones in-house? Jesus, there goes the budget again!— Audax
- Clean up Philly, The union will never agree to renegotiating contracts. Unions will ALWAYS opt for raises, hands-off benefits and pensions and "bonuses" before layoffs, even though dues contributions are affected. They recognize that most layoffs return when early class size numbers (increases in the reporting of September/ October " on paper" class size numbers) result in returns to service. On occasion, the union will agree to work place rule changes and subtlely crafted longer days with the SD. But reopening a contract? Nope!— lefty
- Ok maybe I am missing something, but how can you have site selection when you are laying off teachers...— fedupphilly
- Nutter is kicking cause he knows she is down. In a real fight he would just take another sucker punch....duh didn't hire/recruit Ackerman. SNL: What's up with that?— Clark_Kent_SuperHero
- Random thoughts:
1. collect property taxes from the cheats and deadbeats.
2. I worked in central admin for 2 years then I went back to the classroom. Why? I'd rather work with students than adults. There was a lot of misuse of federal gov't grant money and too many people eating far too many breakfasts and lunches.
3. abandon ship if you can.— krammar - I do not believe that the layoffs will not happen. What I think is funny is that there is a veteran paragraph in the letter they gave us today. I call downtown because I am a Veteran and a disabled Vet to see what I needed to do to prevent the layoff or put me to the top of the list because of my military service and yet no one had any answers. Wow, so let's take the smart ones out of the class and leave the rude ignorant people downtown. So I still have no answer. I served my country and now the youth of America and am rewarded with a layoff notice because the Queen wants to put millions into Promise Academies?? That money is not going to help those schools! I wonder if the worthless student advisors and parent ombudsmen will get lay off notices....oh wait I forgot they had their names changed so they have no worries.— newteach79
- The PSD employees just have to understand that it is what it is ... all of us are dealing with the very same issues. The top administrators do little to really resolve issues and the front line workers get the blame for everything. Throwing money into this SD though is not the answer. No matter how much they get, they can't do the job. Too many minorities failing and it snowballs into bigger problems for them down the road.— hape2bamom
- The SRC has threatend to end the contract June 30 if we(PFT) do not contribute 75 million for the Queen's Folly. I believe they will have to fear for their safety if they try it.The Queen is going to go down by June 30..without a new clothing allowance !!— bull****meter
- have the teacher roll back salaries and pension and health benefit to save jobs— hannigan
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
