Little Rock Interim Superintendent Dexter Suggs has notified 63 central-office staff members -- including the deputy superintendent, all three associate superintendents and various directors -- that their jobs are being eliminated and their contracts will not be renewed for the 2015-16 school year.
The certified letters, dated Friday, went to a mix of state licensed and classified employees after district leaders said they received approval from Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key to make the cuts, which will produce an annual savings of about $3.5 million. Key acts as the school board for the district, which has been operating under state control since Jan. 28.
Kimberly Friedman, a spokesman for the Arkansas Education Department, said Monday night that Key is reviewing the Little Rock School District information.
The district released a list of names and positions Monday. Suggs said the cuts at the upper, senior-leadership level are meant to preserve resources for the schools.
"Our objective is to push as much funding to the schools and to the teachers in the classroom to provide the resources they need," Suggs said. "We are going to lead by example and make the hard decisions so we don't jeopardize programs such as magnet schools, theater, band and athletics."
Suggs told the district's Financial Stability Committee, led by state-appointed chairman Baker Kurrus, last week that the plans were underway to eliminate about 60 jobs or about 30 percent of the district's central-office workforce for the coming year. He met with the committee again Monday morning to announce that the notices were sent over the weekend and to begin talks about other cost-saving measures.
The wording of the employee notices varies slightly depending on whether the employees are state-licensed educators, but each says that the reason for the job cuts is the need to reduce and restructure staff as the result of "the impending loss of desegregation funding."
The Little Rock district is a party to a January 2014 settlement with the state of Arkansas, the North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts, the Joshua intervenors who represent black students in the three districts, and the Knight intervenors who represent school district employees in the districts.
The settlement ends the state's more than 20-year-old obligation to pay desegregation aid to the three districts. The last payment will be in the 2017-18 school year. The state's aid has grown to almost $70 million a year. The Little Rock district's annual share is $37,347,429.
Suggs told the seven-member Financial Stability Committee, which includes Little Rock City Manager Bruce Moore and Central Arkansas Library System Director Bobby Roberts, that there will be as many as six new administrative positions, the duties of which will cover some of the tasks now performed by the current staff. The job descriptions for the positions should be ready within a couple of weeks, he said.
Many of the district positions being cut are held by veteran district employees.
Those whose positions are being eliminated include Deputy Superintendent Marvin Burton and Associate Superintendents Dennis Glasgow, Sadie Mitchell and Daniel Whitehorn.
Others are Robert Robinson, director of classified staff; Renee Kovach, director of certified staff; Leon Adams Jr, director of the federal Title I program; Anita Farver, coordinator of Title I; Shoutell Richardson, director of elementary education, Suzi Davis, director of English and Reading; Vanessa Cleaver, director of math; and Marcelline Carr, math instructional teacher.
Others on the list include Karen DeJarnette, professional development specialist; Laura Beth Arnold, grant project director; Lori Altschul, director of gifted and talented education; Brenda Allen, coordinator of the Accelerated Learning Center that is an alternative education program; and Cassandra Norman-McGhee, coordinator of career and technical education.
There are 23 secretaries on the list, six foremen from the maintenance and operations department, and two student discipline hearing officers, Richard Hurley, a former personnel director in the district, and William Broadnax, a former high school principal in the district.
Eligible licensed staff were told in their letters that they will be offered other positions in the district, such as a teaching position. Others receiving letters were told they are welcome to apply for district jobs for which they are qualified. All the employees are entitled to challenge the loss of their jobs to Key or his designate by asking in writing within a certain time period for a hearing, the letters to the employees said.
In addition to the notices sent to the 63 employees whose jobs are being cut, 12 district principals were notified that their contracts are being shortened and their salaries will be adjusted accordingly. The contracts for the four magnet elementary school principals will be changed from 12 months to 11 months, and the contracts for all middle school principals and the coordinator of the Hamilton Learning Academy will be changed from 12 months to 11.5 months.
Suggs said Monday that the state-approved plan to go from a college-style block schedule to a seven-period class day at all middle schools and three of the five high schools will result in a smaller number of teachers at those campuses. But decreasing staff can be accomplished largely through employee attrition, or resignations and retirements. The district hires as many as 175 new teachers a year to fill vacancies, he said.
Peggy Nabors, a Financial Stability Committee member who is a former president and staff member for the Arkansas Education Association teacher and support services employee union, asked Suggs why the district didn't include the district's employee reduction-in-force policy with the letter sent to the employees.
She said the district policy would inform the affected employees about their rights to appeal and to seek other positions, and let them know that a fair and open process is used in making the decisions.
Suggs said that the notice letters refer to the applicable provisions available in state law. He also said that attorneys advised him that the district's employee layoff policy didn't apply to all the affected staff.
Suggs and Chief Financial Officer Kelsey Bailey presented the Financial Stability Committee with a 29-item list of possible cuts that could occur in phases over the next three years to help offset the loss of the desegregation aid.
Some of the options include reducing the contracts for all 12-month district employees by five days to save $604,000, reducing legal fees by hiring a staff attorney at a savings of $400,000, eliminating nine compliance special education teachers from the central office staff for a savings of $735,643, reducing overtime by 50 percent at a savings of $304,125, and reducing extra duty stipends by 30 percent at a savings of $314,835.
One of the other proposals calls for reducing the district's contribution to employee health insurance benefits from $357.70 per month by as much as half for a savings of $3.2 million.
Nabors also said she was "gravely concerned" to see the proposal that would be a "big hit" to employees and is subject to contract negotiations. She said district employees will "panic" when they see it.
"We're in a situation where everything must be on the table," Suggs said.
Kurrus also said the district must cut expenses.
"It's time to pull the fire alarm," he said. "We have no choice but to align expenses with revenues."
Cathy Koehler, president of the Little Rock Education Association union of district employees, told the committee that the district and union leaders have never discussed, nor reached an agreement, on employee pay raises for the current 2014-15 school year, although those negotiations for 2014-15 are provided for in the 2013-15 employee contracts.
"I want you to know that the employees out of respect for the unsettling situation that we are in have been very patient and kind and stayed in the background through all of this to allow everyone to ascertain exactly what is going on," Koehler said.
The Financial Stability Committee will begin to look at possible consolidation of administrative facilities in the Little Rock district as a way to save money. The district has as many as 12 sites -- including school bus lots -- that are non-school district operations.
Metro on 04/07/2015