Teachers Play Musical Chairs as School Starts in La Mesa-Spring Valley District

Attention, students: Expect to see a lot of new grown-ups at your neighborhood school when classes begin today in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District.

One hundred and twenty-two teachers—or about one–fifth of the district’s certificated workforce—changed schools.

So much movement happened this summer it took 4,500 cardboard boxes to pack more than 20,000 textbooks and other materials that followed teachers to their new schools, said Claudia Bender, assistant
superintendent for human resources.

The intense movement was due to layoffs, the restructuring of two Spring Valley schools, the addition of sixth-grade instruction at elementary schools and changes to special education programs, Bender told the school board Tuesday at its Date Avenue headquarters.

“We had a very eager staff that was willing to move as needed,” Bender said.

Bender provided some numbers.

• The district created 35 new sixth-grade positions at
  its 17 elementary schools. The move reduced the number of middle school teachers. Middle schools will teach seventh and eighth grade only.
• Bancroft and Kempton elementary schools will have 12 and 15 new teachers, respectively. The Spring Valley schools are federally classified Program Improvement sites that have not met academic targets on the annual state testing for two consecutive years as required to exit their status. They’re being restructured and have been “re-staffed” with new teachers, said schools Superintendent Brian Marshall.
• Some 102 teachers were laid off and 56 classified
  positions were eliminated last school year due to budget reductions. There was a lot of “bumping” among the employees who remained, Bender said, referring to the contractual agreement that allows senior employees to take the jobs of less
  experienced ones if they meet the required qualifications.
• Fifty-four teachers who were laid off were brought back after
  teachers who were not laid off left the district or took personal leave, Bender said.
• Twenty-seven special-education teachers and 50 classified special education paraprofessionals were assigned to new schools, Bender said. Special-education programs were realigned due to new attendance boundaries, Marshall said.

The board took action on the following agenda items:

• Voted 5-0 to nominate trustee Emma Turner for the California
  School Boards Association Board of Directors.
• Voted 5-0 to enter into an agreement with San Diego State
  University’s Department of Social Work to place student interns in the district.