Detroit sends layoff notices to all public teachers

By Tami Luhby, senior writer
15 April 2011 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Detroit Public Schools district is sending layoff notices to all its 5,714 teachers, saying it must determine its staffing needs amid a drop in enrollment. The district is also mailing non-renewal notices to 248 administrators. Detroit has lost one-quarter of its population over the past 10 years and now has as many people living in the city as did in 1910, two years after Henry Ford debuted the Model T. While not every teacher will lose his or her job, there will be a reduction in staffing, the district said Thursday. The effective date will be July 29. “The timeliness of the process allows for ample preparation so that the district can assess staffing needs to create a smooth transition for the start of the school year,” the district said in a statement.
The district is also warning the Detroit Federation of Teachers that certain provisions of the union contract may change under a new state law that gives certain powers to the district’s emergency manager, Robert Bobb. The law allows emergency managers to reject, modify or terminate collective bargaining agreements. Bobb said he “fully intends to use the authority” granted under the law. …

Detroit public school teachers get layoff notices

Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Jerry Norton
15 Apr 2011 CHICAGO (Reuters) – The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit’s troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district’s 5,466 unionized employees. In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district’s temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers “in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district’s declining student enrollment.” … Bobb said that he planned to exercise his power as emergency manager to unilaterally modify the district’s collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011. Under a law known as Public Act 4, passed by the Michigan legislature and signed by the state’s new Republican governor in March, emergency managers like Bobb have sweeping powers. They can tear up existing union contracts, and even fire some elected officials, if they believe it will help solve a financial emergency. …