9 schools' jobs not renewed, letters tell 463

Jacksonville-area teachers, others get early district alert

The Pulaski County Special School District sent letters this week to 290 state-licensed teachers and 173 support-staff members in nine Jacksonville-area schools telling them they are not being recommended for rehiring for the 2016-17 school year.

The notice to the 463 employees comes as the district -- at one time the largest district in the state -- prepares for the July 1 detachment of the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District from the Pulaski County Special district.

The Pulaski County Special district's intent to not rehire the faculty and support staff in the Jacksonville-area schools was announced last year as part of a plan for accomplishing the separation of the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district from the Pulaski County Special district.

"Due to the impending detachment of the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District from the PCSSD, effective July 1, 2016, the PCSSD will no longer operate the school facilities located in the JNPSD and the PCSSD will accordingly need to reduce expenditures to meet available revenues," this week's contract nonrenewal letter to teachers says.

"[Y]ou are being recommended for non-renewal because you are assigned to one of the JNPSD schools," reads the letter signed Pulaski County Special district Superintendent Jerry Guess.

The letter was dated Wednesday and distributed Thursday at the schools.

"It's a tough day," Guess said Thursday about having to release the employees for the coming year.

The new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District -- which was created by an Arkansas Board of Education order in late 2014 after Jacksonville-area residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of it that September -- is expected to hire many of the nonrenewed employees.

But current staff members in the Jacksonville schools are not guaranteed jobs and will not be automatically hired by the new district.

Instead, teachers, counselors and other certified staff members, as well as support-staff members, who would like to work in the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district schools must apply, interview and be selected for the jobs in the new district.

Phyllis Stewart, the new district's chief of staff, said Thursday that she expects about 300 teachers and an undetermined number of support-staff members will be needed by the new district. The actual number of employees will be based on the student enrollment, which is expected to be about 4,000.

Current employees in the Jacksonville-area schools are invited to submit online applications to the new district, Stewart said.

Already there are several jobs posted on the new district's website: jnpsd.org.

The posted jobs include middle-school teachers, art teachers, a teacher/athletic director, special-education teachers and secondary-school math and science teachers. The district is also advertising now for school bus drivers and a diesel mechanic.

The job postings can be viewed by clicking on the "Apply Here" link on the district's website.

District staff members are available to assist candidates with the applications, Stewart said. The office number on the district's website, however, is no longer a working number. The district office number starting next week will be 241-2080.

More jobs, including elementary school jobs, will be posted on the website as soon as possible, Stewart said.

District administrators intend to begin recommending staff members to hire to the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board in April, but Stewart also said the hiring process is likely to be ongoing through much of the summer.

The employees in the Jacksonville-area schools are also eligible to apply for vacancies in the Pulaski County Special district outside of Jacksonville, but they are not eligible to "displace" or "bump" current employees holding the jobs.

The Pulaski County Special district didn't have to send out the contract nonrenewal letters to the affected Jacksonville area employees until May 1, which is a deadline set in state law.

"Jacksonville wants time to staff their schools," Guess said about the early notice.

Guess said he was heartened Thursday by an email from Jacksonville's Pinewood Elementary School faculty and support staff members who wore pink to work "to celebrate that good things are coming in Jacksonville."

"It made me feel a little better," he said about the email. "It's a sad day, you know, even for me," he said and then read from the email in which the staff members explained their wearing pink on a day they received pink slips: "It's a new beginning for which we are very excited."

"It's not a negative display. We've known for a year that this is coming," the email to Guess continued. "We are here and working hard because we believe our kids are worth it."

Ashley Bonds, who is in her first year as a library/media specialist at Pinewood, said Thursday that she is exploring her options for the coming 2016-17 school year.

"I have not made a decision yet what I will do," Bonds said in an email. "I plan on applying to JNPSD when the library media positions are posted."

Besides Pinewood, the Pulaski County Special schools that are in the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski district are Arnold Drive, Tolleson, Murrell Taylor, Bayou Meto, Warren Dupree, Jacksonville Middle (currently operating in Northwood School), North Pulaski High and Jacksonville High schools. Employees in those schools are the ones who received the letters telling them that they won't be employed by the Pulaski County Special district next school year.

The letters tell the employees that they do have a legal right to have a hearing to contest to the nonrenewal of their contracts.

Support-staff members must send a request for a hearing to Guess within 25 days.

Teachers must make the request for a hearing in writing to the chairman of the district's Community Advisory Board, Lindsey Gustafson. Teachers must also send copies of that request to Guess and to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key within the next 30 days.

The Community Advisory Board, consisting of community representatives, makes recommendations on staffing disputes to Key, who acts in lieu of a school board in the state-controlled Pulaski County Special district.

The district was taken over by the state and its School Board dissolved in June 2011 as the result of financial mismanagement that was uncovered by a state audit. The district was also cited by the state for declining financial reserves that put it in jeopardy of illegal deficit spending if left unchecked.

The contract nonrenewal letters distributed this week will not be the only such letters sent out by the Pulaski County Special district regarding the coming school year, Guess said Thursday.

He said additional letters will be sent to Pulaski County Special staff members in the next few weeks as part of the district's effort to adjust to having a smaller student body and school system.

Metro on 02/26/2016

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