ANDERSON — More than 70 Anderson Community Schools teachers learned on Thursday that they might be jobless by the end of the summer.
Rich Dickerson, ACS personnel director, said the second round of layoff notices went out to teachers Thursday, warning them that their contracts may not be renewed for the fall.
Dickerson said he had not yet counted exactly how many notices had been distributed but estimated that 70 or so teachers got pink-slipped.
A preliminary round of layoff notices went out two weeks ago to about 115 ACS teachers.
At the time, ACS Superintendent Mikella Lowe stressed that ACS was not laying off 115 teachers but needed to warn some teachers that they were vulnerable to job cuts.
On Thursday, the second round of pink slips were delivered, and the list was whittled down to just over 70 teachers.
Anderson Federation of Teachers President Rick Muir said the school district will not lay off 80 teachers. “They’ve overly pink-slipped the first round and the second round.”
“I think they went a little high to be safe. They’re working on staffing,” Muir said.
Dickerson said ACS will begin offering teaching positions for the 2009-2010 school year to pink-slipped teachers as early as next week.
The number of layoffs, Lowe said, will depend on the holes in staffing left by retirements and resignations. The school reconfiguration will also present staffing challenges requiring additional teachers in existing schools recently consolidated with closed schools.
Physical education teacher Ty Bibbs hopes he’ll be one of the lucky few offered a position in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, Bibbs was handed a layoff notice that warned him about his uncertain future.
When he didn’t see any senior physical education teachers take the retirement buyout, Bibbs began to wonder if his six years in teaching were enough to keep him off the chopping block. “I kind of figured I was going to get one.”
Based on the teacher contracts, layoffs were based on seniority. The youngest, least experienced teachers are the most vulnerable to job cuts.
Bibb’s notice stated in underlined wording that the pink slip was not a reflection of his performance.
Bibb’s students regularly nominate him as the best teacher in Madison County in the annual Best of Madison County contest sponsored by The Herald Bulletin.
It’s not the first time Bibbs has gotten a pink slip. He was laid off by ACS four years ago but was rehired within months to serve in a special education capacity. He hopes the district can find a place for him again this year. “Hopefully I’ll be able to get called back. I think I’ve put in some good service to the community.”
Bibbs and the other 70 or so teachers who received notices will not know for sure if their jobs are gone until May 26, when the school board votes to terminate the contracts of those who’ve not been offered new positions in the upcoming school year.
With school starting in August, it doesn’t leave teachers much time to find a backup job elsewhere.
Though he’s worried about his own future with ACS and his ability to find a new job in such a short span of time, Bibbs is optimistic about his future and grateful that he does not have anyone to support but himself. “There’s people in a lot worse shape than I’m in.”
Contact Brandi Watters: 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com
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ACS gives out second-round layoff notices (w/video)
At least 70 teachers get pink slips
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