Parents protest teacher layoffs at Bayview school

From the Bay Citizen,

A small group gathered Friday afternoon at an elementary school in San Francisco’s Bayview district to demand that parents be more involved in school district decisions like how many teachers are laid off at their children’s schools.

A total of 11 staff at Charles Drew Elementary School may lose their jobs next year: six certified teachers, four classroom aides, two employees in the child development center and one community relations officer, according to the United Educators of San Francisco, which represents more than 6,000 employees of the school district.

“It’s the hardest-hit elementary school in the city and nobody was given any notice about it and there was no input about it,” said Sid Breckenridge, with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, who helped organize the protest.

Several parents spoke about how layoffs would impact their children.

“The parents are really tired of not hearing about anything until it happens,” Breckenridge said.

The San Francisco Unified School District faces a projected deficit of about $25 million through June 2012, officials say, and has sent out pink slips to 400 teachers, administrators and other staff.

The slips are distributed based on seniority within the areas being cut. Matthew Hardy, a union spokesman, said that’s why it’s worse for Charles Drew.

“Drew has a lot younger teaching staff,” he said.

The district says it will be able to rescind some of the layoff notices if the mayor and Board of Supervisors deem it eligible for $8 million in rainy day funds for the 2011-2012 school year.