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Berkeley teachers react to layoff notices 

Henry Viets, an elementary school music teacher, knew he was going to receive a layoff notice this week. But that didn’t prepare him for the way he would feel Tuesday when his supervisor served the documents. 

“You get this feeling of, yes, you truly are expendable,” said Viets, in an interview earlier this week. “Today, teaching was just horrible.” 

The Board of Education, strapped with a $6 million deficit rooted in financial mismanagement and state funding cuts, voted Feb. 27 to issue layoff notices to about 200 district employees, including more than 150 teachers. 

The board plans to rescind many of the notices in the next two months as a cloudy budget picture clears up. But by law, the district must inform certain classes of teachers and administrators by March 15 if they might be laid off next year. Most of the pink slips went out this week. 

“It’s pretty disheartening,” said Gurjeet Ahluwalia, an extended daycare teacher at City of Franklin Microsociety Magnet School who received notice Wednesday. “They should have found some other way to (cut the budget).” 

“This is really, really difficult and puts us in a lot of distress,” said school board member John Selawsky. “Nobody wants to layoff teachers. ... But, because so much of our budget is personnel, it would be virtually impossible to make cuts without affecting personnel.” 

More than 80 percent of the district’s budget is tied up in salaries and benefits, said Selawsky, who added that the board has attempted to spread the cuts as much as possible, chopping $1.1 million in personnel at the central office. 

State law will determine which teachers actually get laid off in the end. The law prioritizes seniority, but makes exceptions for new teachers who have credentials in specialized areas held by no one else. 

Jody Sokolower, who teaches Identity and Ethnic Studies at Berkeley High School, said the district will suffer if it loses young teachers, particularly teachers of color. 

“For the kids, it’s really important to have teachers who are young and teachers who are non-white,” she said, arguing that some students find it easier to connect with these instructors. 

Kate Aughenbaugh, a seventh-grade science teacher at King Middle School who received notice Tuesday, said the loss of young teachers will also have an effect on staff chemistry. 

“You always need that balance between young idealism ... and the older, experienced veteran teachers,” she said. “Otherwise it gets stagnant.” 

Cynthia Allman, a kindergarten teacher at Malcolm X Arts & Academic Magnet School who received notice Tuesday, said the pink slips have an effect on teacher morale. 

“It’s hard to stay focused,” Allman said. “It’s hard to keep your optimism.” 

Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, said instructors, unsure about whether they will have a job in Berkeley next year, are facing a difficult decision about whether to search elsewhere. 

“As each week goes by here, it’s prime hiring season in other districts,” said Fike, noting that many teachers are asking the union what to do. “We can’t give them the answer. We’re really depending on the district to come up with that answer quickly.” 

Viets, the music teacher, said he is already looking elsewhere for a job. Even if he is not laid off, Viets said, some in the music department will not return, increasing the workload for the remaining staff, and making a job in the Berkeley schools less attractive. 

Allman said she will wait it out, hopeful that the board will rescind her layoff notice.  

“I love my job. I love my school,” she said. “I think the people of Berkeley are really commited to keeping young, well-trained teachers.”