The district's unions sent a joint letter to Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard about his firing of Marilyn Patterson-Grant. I've attached it to this blog. It's worth noting the unions say the district made an error in its email to staff about the length of time Patterson-Grant worked in the district. The other thing that struck me were the comments about the rubber room and teachers not knowing why they're there.
Patterson-Grant claims he discriminated against her because of her age, charges Brizard has denied. I've also attached her complaint to the EEOC to this blog. It's a good read.
Meanwhile, Brizard sent an email to some Central Office staff warning of layoffs. (I'm very suspicious of Central Office cuts. I still don't buy that 130 jobs were cut from Central Office; union numbers don't add up. Furthermore, I'm getting reports of workers being shifted to 690 St. Paul St.)
Principals have also been told to brace for budget cuts.
Here is Brizard's email:
Dear colleagues:
With the release of the District’s Strategic Plan we clearly defined two strategies for our work in the future. They are first, to reduce the size of and improve the responsiveness of the central office infrastructure and second, to the greatest extent possible allocate monies and decision-making to schools while holding all accountable. We also learned last week of the substantial budget reductions that we will face because of the dire condition of the state’s finances.
The financial reality only underscores the urgency to become a leaner, more efficient central office in service to schools. This will necessitate streamlining our organization and making staffing reductions. As I have said in the past, our intent is to make reductions as far from the classroom as possible. This means that prior to other staffing reductions we will substantially reduce central office positions as part of our proposed budget. We will engage our union leadership in assisting us with these difficult decisions.
I wanted to advise each of you of this so that you can begin to look at the potential impact on your individual situation and consider all of your options. For those eligible, please do not base any retirement decisions on the possibility of a separation incentive. We will not offer and cannot afford any retirement incentives, especially given expected double digit increases in the NYS Teachers’ Retirement System.
I know that this will be a difficult time for all of us. I would ask that as we move forward we continue to focus on the difficult work you do for the children of Rochester .
Sincerely,
Jean Claude
