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Schools

Waukesha Teacher Retirements, Resignations Spares District from Major Layoffs

Still, Waukesha School Board approves layoffs of two full-time employees and 39 part-time employees.

With Wednesday night’s Waukesha School Board approval of teacher resignations and retirements, 128 teachers will be leaving the Waukesha School District after this year.

The board approved the retirements and resignations of 31 teachers Wednesday night, bringing this year’s total retirements and resignations to 128; and the layoffs of 39 part-time employees and two full-time staff members.

With 128 teachers resigning or retiring, Superintendent Todd Gray said that “we’re very fortunate that we did not have to generate a large teacher layoff list.”

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The district is experiencing a bumper crop of people retiring this year because of changes in teachers’ contracts for next year. If they had retired after this year, their benefits would have dropped in value by about half, according to Jack Bothwell, assistant superintendent for human resources/labor relations.

“The new benefits are significantly lower,” he said.

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To weather the large number of retirements, the district has been planning ahead by holding recruiting events, actively looking to fill positions and interviewing, according to Bothwell, who is also retiring this year.

“We could see this coming months ago,” Bothwell said. Some candidates will be returning for their second interviews soon.

In other actions, the board approved the layoffs of 39 part-time employees and two full-time staff members. According to contractual requirements, staff members must be notified by May 15 of their layoffs.

Part-time people are laid off if the district does not have a position for next year or if the district is unsure if they will have a position next year, explained Human Resources Chairman Patricia Madden. They will be recalled as part-time assignments are known for next year, she said.

 “I’m glad to see that our list is very small this year. It’s a very difficult thing for anyone to go through,” said Steve Edlund, a Human Resources committee member.

“It’s a formality and we hope that we’ll be able to call everybody back who receives that notice,” he said.

The two full-time layoffs were caused by the employees who have unique licensures that do not fit their current positions, according to Bothwell, and the district is unsure as of now where they would fit in for next year. Last year, they laid off 12 people for this reason and hired back 11 of them, he told committee members.

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