The San Diego Unified school board is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to warn its newest teachers that their jobs are at risk, alerting an estimated 337 out of its roughly 600 probationary teachers.
San Diego Unified has ruled out layoffs for permanent teachers after its teachers union agreed to furloughs, but it could still cut probationary teachers, who have spent less time in the school district and have less job protection. The school district doesn’t have to warn probationary teachers that their jobs could be cut until April 15; permanent teachers must be warned by March 15.
The number of teachers who actually get those warnings could change along with the turbulent school budget: San Diego Unified is still tallying up information about who is leaving the school district, which could end up sparing more jobs. Teachers union President Camille Zombro said she believes the layoff warnings are unnecessary and that the school district can shrink its staff painlessly through attrition.
How would that work? Check out our earlier explainer from the school district.
This blog post originally stated that all school districts, not just San Diego Unified, have until April 15 to warn probationary teachers of a possible layoffs. San Diego Unified is actually unique in having the April 15 date because of an agreement with its teachers union. Most school districts have to warn probationary teachers by the same March 15 deadline as other teachers. We regret the error.
— EMILY ALPERT