It was really quiet when I stopped by the big pink offices of San Diego Unified this morning. That’s probably because a whole lot of people aren’t working there anymore. Thanks to a golden handshake that was offered to encourage veteran employees to leave the school district, hundreds of employees said goodbye to their schools or offices last week.
Curious to see who headed out? Here is a list of the departed employees and their salaries, provided to me late last week in response to a Public Records Act request. The idea is that the more expensive employees on this list will be replaced by less senior employees who earn less — or not replaced at all as a gentler alternative to layoffs. That helped the school district avoid layoffs while still eliminating jobs.
But here’s the thing to watch: The last time that San Diego Unified did this, it ended up rehiring a number of the employees on the list because of the “brain drain” that resulted. Will that happen again? It remains to be seen.