SLzUSD: At Least 30 Teachers Spared the Ax, but Class Sizes Expected to Grow

For many teachers in the San Lorenzo Unified School District, the first days of summer will be filled with relief, as dozens of those laid off this spring—many for the second, third and even fourth time in a row—receive Assistant Superintendent Sharon Lampel's fateful call. 

"We have completely rescinded most of this year's layoffs," Lampel said with a smile. "This is my fun time of year, when I get to call people and say, 'Guess what? I have an assignment for you.'"

Though the district has rehired a majority of laid-off teachers every year since annual layoffs began earlier in the past decade, those decisions have often come late in the summer. Last year, many teachers were not notified until the week before school started that they would have a position, and still . 

"I'm far, far ahead of last year," Lampel said.

The new system isn't perfect. Many of the teachers have only been informed that they have a slot in the district, not necessarily where that slot is. Some don't yet know whether their layoff will be rescinded or whether they'll be rehired on a temporary contract.

Still, Lampel said, it's preferable to the alternative. 

"If we notify them as early as possible, then they can pace themselves over the summer," she said. 

But even as their colleagues breathe easy, other district teachers are fretting over budget plans, approved at Tuesday night's school board meeting, that would see class-size swell to 30 students for every teacher in kindergarten, first, second and third grades.   

Critics of the plan accused the board of sitting on reserves it could use to relieve pressure on overcrowded classrooms. (The school board recently voted to increase the district's reserve holdings as a hedge against budget uncertainty in Sacramento).

The district has long argued that reserves protect it from the looming threat of bankruptcy — while San Lorenzo Unified is financially solvent, many districts across the state are already broke or will be if Gov. Jerry Brown is not able to wrest his proposed budget from the legislature. 

But whether children in the district's can continue to improve on pace with federal expectations in increasingly crowded classrooms has both teachers and administrators concerned.   

"Class size is one of the top things on our list," said Dr. Dennis Byas, the district superintendent. "But until we know what's going to happen, we're stuck with these numbers."