Laid-Off Wyandotte Teachers Could Be Reinstated

Board of Education members have balanced next year’s budget and determined there could be enough money to recall a couple of teachers who .

But those recalls won’t come before the start of the school year, which angered one school board member.

Board Treasurer Robert Kirby, , said teachers should be given their jobs back immediately.

“I’m not impressed,” he said. “I don’t want to fail our kids.”

School Superintendent Patricia Cole and Business Manager David Gutenschwager both said it would be fiscally irresponsible to bring teachers back until the district knows for sure how many students will be enrolled in the fall.

If there are enough students to warrant more teachers, Cole said, .

“We have to wait for the bodies to walk in the doors,” she said. “If those numbers hold as we think they are supposed to, we will need to call back two or three teachers in the fall.”

In years past, Gutenschwager said, the district has recalled teachers based on the number of students officials thought would enroll. When the number of students actually enrolled came in substantially lower, he said, the district was stuck because it had already brought the teachers back.

“In a sense, we were overstaffed,” Gutenschwager said. “I might as well say it. We were overstaffed the last couple of years.”

In today’s economic times, he said, the district can only afford to have the number of employees it absolutely needs.

“I wish we had enough (students) to call them all back,” Gutenschwager said.

Kirby said he fears if teachers aren’t brought back now, even if the numbers warrant them coming back in September, other reasons will be found to keep them laid off.

“My thing is if you don’t plan for it, you aren’t going to get it,” he said. “We are going to get soaked in the fall, I do believe.”

If that happens, Kirby said, it’s the students who will suffer with large classrooms.

“When I see 38 in a classroom, that’s unacceptable,” he said.

While classrooms average 30-35 students, officials said, there were some high school math classes this year that had as many as 46 students per class.

“We’ve got to get control,” Kirby said. “I just don’t see it. We’re hoping and praying we get enough students to come in. We shouldn’t be basing it on a wing and a prayer.”

Board Trustee Kathy Bedikian said she has faith in school administrators to ensure that classroom overcrowding does not occur.

“I’m not particularly worried,” she said. “I know we are going to make this right.”

Board members voted 6-0 Monday night to approve the 2011-12 school budget, which totals about $31.8 million. Board Secretary Jerry Kupser was not at the meeting.

The budget assumes that the district will lose 150 students next year. That number could end up being higher as a number of parents from outside the district who initially said they would be enrolling their elementary-aged children in Wyandotte have since changed their mind, said Jane Allman, the district’s director of personnel and policy.

Those losses, however, could be offset if students who attended the in the fall switch over to the public school system, officials said.