Naperville career center braces itself for suddenly unemployed teachers

Naperville's Community Career Center has helped a lot of people with their job searches in recent years, but very few of them have been educators.

Now, center officials are preparing for that to change as many area school districts face budget deficits that could result in the dismissal of previously unheard of numbers of teachers.

"We haven't seen an increase in teachers seeking our services here at the Community Career Center," Associate Director Kimberly White said. "However, I do anticipate we will be fielding calls from those finding themselves being let go in the coming days."

State law dictates school districts must inform nontenured teachers whether a job will be available for them in the coming school year by the end of the month. So the next two weeks are likely to trigger a flurry of teacher dismissals at many districts across the suburbs.

Elgin Area School District U-46 could lay off as many as 1,000 teachers, officials say, and Indian Prairie Unit District 204 in Naperville and Aurora plans to release 145.

"School districts are dabbling in unchartered waters - laying off teachers in large numbers is just not the norm," White said. "I would encourage school districts to look into offering outplacement counseling for their teachers."

Several districts already have heeded that advice by informing teachers of their status in January, helping them plan, and providing counseling opportunities to help them prepare for the potential of losing their jobs.

St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 officials informed 15 teachers, 75 support staff members and four administrators being let go of their status in late January. Those cuts are expected to help the district plug a $5.8 million hole in next year's budget.

"Superintendent (Don) Schlomann really wanted to take a humane and sensitive approach and he believed giving the staff time was the best way to do that," district spokesman James Blaney said. "The hope is that letting the affected staff know far enough ahead of the cuts gave them time to work and make plans for what was going to follow professionally."

St. Charles Education Association President Pam Turriff said she also worked "very hard" with the administration to "make this difficult time as easy as possible."

Specifically, Turriff said she has continuously sent staff any information she has gathered regarding the state's current $13 billion deficit situation, unemployment benefits, tips for getting new jobs and solutions for coping with anxiety after a job loss. She has made herself personally available to her roughly 2,000 members.

"I have attended meetings with many of the teachers in D303 and the director of human resources to counsel and help them through the process of being non-renewed. And I am on call 24/7 for members facing a personal crisis," she said. "Each situation is different and I try to deal with every member on an individual basis if possible. I also work with other local association presidents, as we are all faced with the same unfortunate crisis in our schools."

In Indian Prairie Unit District 204, where 145 teachers have learned they will not be returning, the focus has been on making information available to the affected staff while trying to limit the potential disruption.

"We are working with our employee assistance program to have (counseling services) more available. And HR will host several drop-in opportunities for released staff to come in and ask questions about benefits or anything else they may be worried about," Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Nancy Valenta said. "The message of informing staff who will be released will occur within a short time period across the district in order to reduce anxiety. All nontenure staff will be addressed so we avoid staff making assumptions."

It's clear the district is still looking for more ways to help during what administrators have called a "very rough time."

"If you hear of other ideas that we may benefit from, I'd welcome the suggestion," Valenta said.

Indian Prairie Education Association President Val Dranius was uncomfortable even broaching the subject of losing members.

"With everything concerning the state budget and the district budget being so fluid, it is too early for the association to make a statement," she said.

Her sentiment was shared by Elgin Teachers' Association President Tim Davis, who could lose as many as 1,000 members on Monday, March 15. U-46, currently $48.6 million in the hole, has announced plans to make more than $31 million in cuts to next year's budget and could nearly double that if the state makes further funding cuts.

In 2003, to trim $40 million from its deficit, the district let about 800 nontenured teachers go and class sizes rose to 35 students per teacher.

"They haven't received their (Reduction in Force) notices yet and I want to make sure this is a sure thing before we put anything out there," Davis said. "The RIFs will be announced at the March 15 board meeting, and at that time, we'll have links on Web sites for our teachers to access."

District spokesman Tony Sanders, however, said arrangements already have been made for staff to seek professional help from counselors arranged through the district's insurance provider.

The variety of solutions are impressive, White said, as the districts seemed to find solutions for their individual groups.

"When someone is facing termination, knowing that the employer is at least connecting them with a place where they can go to have someone help them with their resume or offer career counseling is huge," she said.