Live Blog: Emergency Meeting - 10/02/08

-RIFs PASS
-DISTRICT MAY CHALLENGE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS IF EMPLOYEES DON'T SETTLE!
-PRINCIPALS MAY GET TO CHOOSE WHO GETS RIFFED FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES!
-TRUSTEES HAMMER FOR CUTS IN CENTRAL ADMIN!

We're live. They just turned the mic's on and it's 3:00! Refresh your browser often.

3:15 and we're finally really, really, underway. Absent: Nancy Bingham. There has been some speculation that the vote will drag on into Friday.

First up: we need a motion and a second to bring the "RIF" issue to the Board. We have it.

Hinojosa is speaking now.

The RIF numbers have changed a bit. Now they're talking 650 "contract" employees to include about 550 teachers.
Hinojosa says there may be some good news at the end of the year. Attendance is up. So we'll get money for that.

Central staff cuts are being talked about. 164 positions have been eliminated.

Hinojosa specifically mentioned cuts in OPR! We'll talk more about the Office of Professional Responsibility next week, by the way.

Hinojosa is thanking the employee organizations (such as AFT and NEA).

Hinojosa is talking about meeting with Aimee Bolender. "She's been tough but fair." "She's against a RIF."

Hinojosa said he'll meet with these organizations weekly.

There will be no "bumping" (a process where RIF'd teachers can remove other teachers based on seniority).

October 9 will be "d-day" for non-contract employees. This is the day they'll be fired (assuming the Board approves the RIF).

October 10 through October 17 will be when the contract employees get their pink slips. They will be paid through January 16 if they accept a severance (settlement) offer.

Hinojosa is now going through the formulas that will be used to determine who stays and who gets the axe. He has made several references to "modeling" the RIF before it gets implemented.

Criteria used for RIF'ing teachers (in order): certification, performance evaluations, seniority as the "tie breaker," and professional background.

As far as reassignment/replacements: HR will do a quality check and attempt to reassign back to the same campus, then the learning community, then district-wide.

Employees released through the RIF process will have 3 working days to accept a "settlement offer"--money to leave the District.

Oh, this is good. Each employee RIF'd will be given 3 minutes to speak to "high ranking" DISD officials to explain how they've been affected by the layoffs.

3:34 - Hinojosa's done with his presentation. It's opened up to Board members asking questions. Leigh Ann Ellis is asking for clarification on the procedure.

Carla Ranger is concerned that letters were being sent to non-contract employees last Thursday when trustees were in a meeting--and the Board wasn't told.

Hinojosa is explaining that these employees don't need to be approved by the Board for RIF'ing.

Jerome Garza noted that several trustees gave the "go ahead" to Hinojosa for this. Ranger noted that she didn't give her approval. Hinojosa responded that he made an announcement on September 29.

Jack Lowe called on Ron Price. "I'm not finished," Ranger responded and continued to chide Hinojosa.

Ron's up. Ron is responding to Ranger by saying he (and other trustees) gave Hinojosa a directive to have some RIF's in the administration before he "touches one teacher."

"There are no winners here today," said Ron. Uh oh. It looks like Ron's going to be a "yes" vote for a RIF?

"If we don't take action [...] we may lose our programs."

We're blogging from the auditorium down the hall. There are probably 30 people here. There is quite a bit of grumbling in here.

"The decision we make today is going to affect children and that bothers me," added Price.

"The commissioner is watching [...] and I don't want TEA coming in [and taking over]," said Price.

Carla Ranger is back up. She says she understands that some employees were treated "harshly" when they were terminated. She wants to know how people are actually fired.

Kim Olson, HR Director, says that supervisors are given a "script" that they read from, and give the employee a letter.

Ranger indicated she'd heard that police had come in, and a whole bunch of other things.

Olson said she wasn't aware of any mistreatment. "There was one individual who struggled," said Olson.

Struggled?

And about the "settlements." "It seems people are giving up their rights for money," said Ranger.

"I'm going to let the lawyer answer this one," said Olson.

There was much grumbling in the auditorium.

Jack Elrod, the attorney, noted that these were "at will" employees with no "property rights."

"We're talking about people who are quite innocent in all of this," said Ranger.

Garza's thanking Hinojosa for answering the Board's questions and providing information. Uh oh. Looks like another "yes" vote.

4:08 - Jack Lowe echoes that he wants to continue to receive updates "good clear reporting on how it's going" with the RIF.

It's sounding like they're going to move forward with the RIF.

Everyone seems pleased with "better communication" from the administration. Edwin Flores especially.

The problem with the communication is: is it accurate? For instance, if financial information had been accurate, we wouldn't be sitting in this meeting right now.

Has Hinojosa picked up some administrative experience he didn't have until recently?

So the information Board members receive is only as good as the folks preparing them. That, of course, will be the central consideration moving forward.

Ron Price is asking for the total amount that could be trimmed if the District eliminated all contracts under $50,000.

"We can get that number but not real quick," answered Steve Korby.

"I thought we were here today to talk about how to keep people employed," added Price.

Price is wondering if the District could save some money other ways than firing teachers.

Korby noted that they would need time to go through the contracts--and that it would take some time.

Price is still pushing on the contracts. He wants the District to look at contracts before firing employees.

Hinojosa says that contracts just can't be "blanketly" eliminated.

Price asks Jack Elrod (attorney) if the District can freeze any future contracts under $50,000.

"Yes you can," answer Elrod.

Eliminating contracts is very popular with the audience in the auditorium. There is much expression of that here.

What Price wants to say is: "after today, eliminate all contracts [...] until we get through this budget crisis."

There was much applause in the auditorium.

Price express concern that there are "hundreds" of these contracts for less than $50K.

Price called Elrod back to the mike to ask him about cutting salaries by 5% across the board. Elrod noted that it would open the District up to lawsuits.

Elrod noted that everyone under contract has a "property right" and could appeal.

Carla Ranger asked if there was a possibility for asking employees to take a voluntary salary reduction.

Hinojosa: "We had many discussions about it." He noted that "projections" would be very difficult to predict because they didn't know how many people would participate. "It just wasn't feasible from our perspective."

4:35 - Ranger still has a problem with giving people a settlement. She calls it "grieving over money."

Will the District challenge a person's unemployment if they choose not to settle?

"It will be a case-by-case basis," replied Elrod.

Uh oh. So if you don't take the deal, the District might go after your unemployment benefits? Talk about adding risk to the equation!

Now we're back to how the RIF is going to be implemented across the District.

Hinojosa is explaining that first the campuses will be "leveled" (staffed as required by law/formula). Then RIFs will happen by campus.

Price is concerned that the magnet schools are not losing their fair share. Now they're talking about learning centers.

Carla Ranger is concerned about how the RIFs will impact low-performing schools. All schools "need to staff to formulas," noted Korby.

Now we're back to an issue: whether principals have used this opportunity to retaliate against personnel with whom they aren't pleased. We're on to discussing the procedure again.

4:56 - A couple of trustees came in to the auditorium. Looked around and walked out.

Principals have given the central office names of people who meet the criteria!

Here's the issue in a nutshell: because the district has such a short time to implement the RIF, the central administration is sending the formula around to principals at schools. The principals will, apparently, send back a list of people who meet the criteria.

Then someone at central administration will review the submissions to be sure the principal hasn't made a mistake.

There will, however, be limited "bumping." Here's how it will work. If a 20-year English teacher (with good performance), say, gets cut--the District will look around to see if there is someone with lesser seniority and/or poorer reviews is employed at another school.

Lew Blackburn is on a roll! He is taking whacks at the central office staffing noting that many of the positions cut were "vacant" anyway. Lew is pushing them on it.

"We're planning on going department by department and justifying every position," replied Steve Korby.

Catcalls in the auditorium. Neither this audience or Lew Blackburn is satisfied with that answer!

Blackburn is pointing out the org chart and how many people are employed in the "teaching and learning" department. "And we only lost 6," commented Blackburn.

Hinojosa said that they're moving people around.

Lew got on to human development. Olson noted that the department had cut 19 positions. Lew noted that HD's budget had doubled since last year. "I hope we're going to make some changes there."

Now on to OPR!

Out of 12 people, they're losing 7.

What did those other seven do in the first place? Anybody know?

Ron Price is on a roll! He is all over Denise Collier about the teaching and learning division. He's saying he "sees people all over the place" and can't figure out how they contribute to educating one child.

Lots of applause in the auditorium.

Lew Blackburn again! The central administration is getting reamed tonight! "Trustees, I think we need to look at more cuts in the central office level."

"We have a lot of coordinators around here." "We need to have fewer coordinators and save some of the teachers."

Lew is on to contracts under $50,000. He noted that he had seen many contracts coming in at "$49,999" to get under that threshold.

"If you have a $10 contract it should come before us ... because those $10 add up."

5:24 - Carla Ranger now.

She's trying to get the administration to commit that nobody in central administration has gotten a contract since April.

They're dancing the answer!

Jack Elrod said that he's not aware of anyone in central admin with a contract except Hinojosa. Hinojosa noted that there are some Chapter 21 employees who have contracts.

Ranger is pushing.

Elrod noted that they're winding down all contracts due to "best practices" in place at all school districts.

Ranger says her understanding is that contracts are winding down. But she understands that there are one year contracts. She is concerned that former contract holders are not being informed that they no longer have contracts.

Now Ranger is on to why trustees didn't get the list of those who were cut last week in a timely manner.

Ranger is on to consultants. Korby is replying that every consultant is being reviewed to see if any can be cut.

Back on multi-year contracts. Olson cedes that there about 18 positions who have multi-year contracts that are being allowed to expire.

5:49 - The auditorium is full of teachers wearing red shirts. They're an unofficial truth detector. Each time Collier, Olson, Korby, or Hinojosa says something questionable, they question it!

Blackburn started about staff development.

"We no longer have staff development," said Olson.

Remember that truth detector? It seems to be alarming here in the auditorium.

Oh, it's "professional development" according to Denise Collier.

Blackburn: "instructional coaches?"

There are 42 of them according to Collier. She noted that they're working on getting these placed in to federal funds. Collier notes that they're assigned to the lowest performing schools and how they work.

Blackburn: "the Institute for Learning?"

Collier's explaining what this does. She hit "academic rigor" and the audience here growned. As she's explaining more, the teachers are grumbling more. She said they're trying to reduce the budget by over $150,000.

"What does the transformation office do," asked Blackburn?

"It was set up with the Dallas Achieves initiative," Arnold Viramontes starts off. Viramontes notes that the Dell Foundation gave a $5M dollar grant.

"So they operate from that grant," asked Blackburn?

"No, they manage the grant," replied Viramontes. They're paid out of general operating fund.

But that isn't all of the employees apparently. Viramontes is sort-of dancing the answer. But we have it nailed down.

Donna Micheaux on the hot seat now. She is being asked how big her department is. Bottom line: "I can't give you the total number."

"How can you not know how big your staff is," asked one of the teachers?

Micheaux is answering what her staff does. She's having a hard time.

She doesn't know!! She doesn't know how big her own department is!!

She says she will have to get back to them with the specific information.

Now we're on to Safety and Security. Someone on the blog brought up Hinojosa's driver.

Price noted that the chief is in the audience. He's being called to the mic.

"What do you want to know," asked John Blackburn, chief of Safety and Security.

He's being asked for the number of employees over the last 3 years.

All the high schools have a police officer, and about half the middle schools have them.

Blackburn defended the patrol officers.

Blackburn noted that driving officers do "proactive safe school checks" since there are no officers in the elementary schools.

"Yeah but you can never find an officer," said one of the teachers here in the auditorium. This is why I like being in the auditorium!

But at least Blackburn knows what goes on in his department.

Overtime reductions: Blackburn noted that no overtime is worked in the course of normal duties. Overtime is worked during sporting events. Blackburn noted that they're short personnel because of the hiring freezes, and stringent hiring procedures he has in place for hiring new officers.

"We make sure the people we're hiring are the ones we want to be on this police force."

6:12 - Lowe speaks up: "I don't want my silence to imply that I don't have an opinion."

"I want to thank [the administration] for the work that you've done." "We discovered a pretty big problem 3 weeks ago." "I appreciate you and I know we will continue."
"This is a step in the process."

The question has been called!

Motion passes 5-2 and one abstention!

Get ready to be RIF'd!

We're staying around live in the auditorium as Aimee Bolender explains the ramifications to employees.

There is a Question and Answer thread at here.