Employment Reductions Passed in Houston Schools

HOUSTON - Houston Independent School District trustees voted on Thursday night in favor of the superintendent's recommendation to cut 170 more jobs at the end of the school year. This brings the total number of jobs identified for elimination to 414.

The cuts have nothing to do with performance. Rather, HISD says the positions are tied to certain programs that are being eliminated.

Angry employees packed the school board room. Dozens of people signed up to speak to trustees about the controversial vote.

"This is an outrageous way to treat employees," said one man.

"What a disgrace," said another.

The majority of the 414 positions are in administrative offices. 99 are teachers.

"50 of those are on continuing contracts and would have to be placed somewhere else," said Norm Uhl, district spokesman.

Middle school music teacher Donna Taylor says she has reason to believe her pink slip is coming soon after 19 years in the district.

"The housing market is terrible. I can't sell my house. This would be very traumatic, and the man knows it," said Taylor.

Teachers say they're especially insulted by the district's recruiting efforts out of state.

"If you have a lot of teachers unemployed and you import teachers from other states, those unemployed teachers are going to affect Houston as a whole," said one woman who signed up to speak.

HISD has routinely gone outside the district to find quality teachers, but superintendent Terry Grier says the efforts have spawned misinformation.

"We've heard rumors we're out in California hiring teachers while we're laying people off. I want to be clear, we haven't hired one single person from California," said Grier.

HISD hires about 1200 new teachers each school year. Grier says staff displaced will have first consideration for positions within the district but there's no guarantee they'll be hired.

"We will not force principals or department heads to take any of these individuals based on seniority," said Grier.

"What it means under Grier is you have all the rights of a new applicant walking in the door, and all that rhetoric about how he's going to help them is nothing but rhetoric," said Gayle Fallon, teachers' union president.

Fallon plans to file a grievance on behalf of every union member whose job is cut. The reduction in force voted on Thursday will save the district $4.8 million dollars. HISD is facing a $28 million budget shortfall.