Why MPS Has ‘Central Office’ Teachers

Milwaukee Public Schools administration building. Charles Edward Miller (CC-BY-SA)

The classic stance of labor unions is that, if a company must lay off workers, the last to be hired will be the first to go. Teacher unions have adopted that position, and it has been imbedded in teacher-district contracts for as long as anyone can remember. But the recent announcement by Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius that 181 support staff will be laid off and reassigned has turned that established policy on its head and met with both opposition and support.

On May 12 and 13, support educators who are assigned through central office were “laid off,” meaning that they were out of assignment but could reapply for some 140 positions similar or the same as what were their previous positions. Some 40 support staff members would be reassigned to fill vacancies in regular classrooms. Superintendent Cassellius has stated that her first priority is to fill the 80 MPS classrooms that currently lack a certified classroom teacher.

Newly elected school board member, Christopher Fons, warned the negative impact of the 181-support staff layoffs could have to this district in a May 22 Op-Ed published by Urban Milwaukee.

He stated that these teachers were wrongfully portrayed as central administration staff when, in reality, these are teachers that support students and teachers in specialized instruction for autism, early childhood itinerate, English as a second language, first nation, home and hospital, and visually impaired.

“If these teachers lose their jobs,” writes Fons, “there will be gaping hole in the instruction of the most needy.” Fons also points out that many of these individuals may not have “the necessary training to teach and lead” say, a K-4 classroom.

At a May 13 special board meeting, teachers voiced their concerns, many of them dressed in light green MTEA (Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association) t-shirts.

“All my growth I owe to my district mentor,” testified a first-year art teacher concerned that her mentor could lose her position. “I work in a school with over 50% special education students. Many of these students have diverse, high needs. My mentor paired me with resources… My mentor has modeled for me classroom management.”

A teacher for the visually impaired stated that the email from Cassellius referred to them as central office positions. “Many assumed they were administrative or nonteaching roles… In reality many of these positions are itinerate teachers who face students every day” often offering specialized instruction one-on-one.

Another itinerate teacher of blind and visually impaired students acknowledged that central city students deserve qualified teachers, but noted that “Excessed centralized staff provide our students with services mandated by IEP [Individualized Education Program] services. Administration is solving one problem by creating another. This discission was uninformed at best.”

But one of the major concerns expressed at the meeting was seniority rights. “We agree that we need to fill classroom vacancies,” said Ingrid Walker-Henry, MTEA president. “But the method has to be effective, and [this] instills fear and uncertainty in the workforce. The 181 have been demoralized with their seniority rights trampled on.”

Teachers also complained that these layoffs came too late for them to apply for regular openings at various schools. In spring, schools determine their teacher needs for the coming year based upon teachers leaving or increased enrollment. Then schools post openings and an interview process begins.

These central office assignment cuts come after the interview process and schools have accepted teachers into their schools for the coming school year. That means that the administration can place these 40 teachers into any school where there are vacancies. Most likely these will be schools with the greatest needs, often the most challenging schools. Cassellius is determined to staff them with the district’s most experienced and competent teachers she can find.

The Administrators and Supervisors Council supports the superintendent’s recommendation. Principals have long believed that they are too restricted in which teachers they must cut from their schools when staff reductions are required. Seniority often means keeping a less effective teacher and losing a younger, more effective teacher in the present excessing system. Principals often go to great lengths to keep a teacher with less seniority, such as looking to see if the teacher has additional teaching certification that the principal can place in the school’s teacher needs report.

Teachers counter that some principals would prefer to remove a more vocal teacher, perhaps the union representative, who challenges an ineffective principal. Holding excessing over the heads of teachers without seniority rights is seen as an effort to control the staff.

“We risk teacher turnover,” testified one teacher. “Putting 40 teachers in the classroom will not address core issues like respect, safety, and working conditions which are the real reasons that teachers leave.”

“Teachers are not game board chips that can be moved around interchangeably,” stated another teacher.

Walker-Henry echoed the concern of her teachers, “Massive, unnecessary excessing has resulted in a loss of trust, and now MPS runs the risk of losing these dedicated educators to retirement, other districts, or even other professions.”

In the end, the specialized services will most likely be covered, though perhaps by fewer personnel. So, the idea that special needs students will not receive any services under this reorganization plan is not technically correct. Some specialists will be placed as classroom teachers filling some of the vacancies.

By laying off all specialized teachers rather than using the established seniority system, it gives the administration the ability to pick through the available teachers and determine who will fit best where in meeting the needs of the district. But if Walker-Henry is correct, Cassellius is taking a gamble on losing teachers from a district that has faced chronic staffing recruitment issues.

Terry Falk served for years on the Milwaukee school board, and before that on the executive board of the MTEA.