Salem-Keizer teachers ‘asked to do impossible job’
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Elizabeth Hogeland has middle-school kids in the Salem-Keizer School District. She said she’s already seeing overcrowding at her son’s school and, given the chance, would leave the district.
“My son is going into 8th grade and my daughters are going into 6th grade. And they already are overcrowded at my son’s middle school. The teachers are already under so much stress with class sizes,” Hogeland told KOIN 6 News. “There’s no way that one teacher can handle, you know, 35 to 40 kids, meet all of their academic needs, any social needs. I mean, they can’t do it. It’s impossible. They’re asking them to do an impossible job.”
Students at Salem-Keizer Public Schools stayed home Friday as the district officials let some teachers and administrators know they’re losing their jobs. Nearly 400 layoffs were announced last month to help fill a $71 million shortfall for the next school year — the biggest reduction Salem-Keizer has seen in more than a decade.
The budget cuts were announced at a school board meeting in April after two rounds of the school district recommending budget cuts. In December, $31 million in budget cuts were recommended. Then another $40 million.
The district said more than 100 employees were terminated. The others affected were offered alternative employment within the school district. The laid-off teachers will stay through the end of June with the changes taking effect for the next school year.
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Superintendent Andrea Castañeda said budget cuts weren’t made to programs like music, drama or sports.
“We reduced our expense budgets by about 10%. We’re going to be buying fewer things. We reduced our plans to make investments in some of our buildings,” she said. “So of the total $70 million, about 40% of it did not come from anyone’s salary or cost anyone a job.”
She added, “We have not entirely been able to close the gap for next year. But we brought it within reach.”
Castañeda said she’s working with teachers and administrators in the transition to help them find jobs.
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In a statement, the Salem-Keizer Education Association said, “The stress of this is overwhelming” and the district could have made different past spending choices to reduce layoffs.
Parents, like Hogeland, want the district to prioritize students in their funding decisions.
“The superintendent and a lot of the admins got really large raises this year. We know that the superintendent is making, you know, upwards of close to $300,000 a year and if they would take some pay cuts on their own and put it more towards the teachers and instructional assistants and all of the people that are tied directly in student contact,” Hogeland said.
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