Some Albany teachers can finally take a big sigh of relief. At the Albany Teachers Association’s April 14 meeting, President Loring Barker shared some wonderful news: the Albany School Board rescinded all pink slips given out to probationary teachers for the 2009-2010 school year. This means that an estimated 29 probationary and tenured teachers will have a secured job in the Albany district for the following year. However, the fate of 38 temporary teachers, who work on annual contracts, is still up in the air.
While faculty members are rejoicing over the retention of great teachers and maintained department size and strength, some are worried over what this means for Albany’s budget plan. With the money needed to pay these teachers, the possibility of eliminating the seven-period day at AHS seems all-too-real.
However, the Albany Unified School District will not know their definite fiscal plan until the Governor reveals the revised state budget in May. The passage of Propositions 1A and 1B in the May Special Election is also crucial in keeping California public education and the AUSD afloat.
Still unknown is the amount of financial support that donations to SchoolCARE will provide and how much the Albany 2005 parcel tax, Measure A, will bring in for the district.
still don’t get how the budget cut will affect our seven-period day. Is it 1 less period = less school time? Cause i heard there was a 0 period. still 7 periods…
Our district, like many others, is struggling to pay for all the expenses. Paying those teachers who would teach a 7th period day is a large expense. By enacting a 6 period day, the district would save significant amounts of money. This does not only affect those students who desire to take a 7 period day. Even students who only want to take 6 periods have less of a chance of receiving the classes they requested because there are fewer sections of the class available.
However, the only the way the district can count the 7th period as part of the amount of school instruction minutes is if AHS can guarantee that each student will be allowed to take a 7th if desired. Therefore, a 6 period day, if that was the case for next year, would enact longer school days to compensate for the loss of minutes from cutting the 7th period.
From what I understand, to compensate for the loss of a 7th period, some students, such as those in music, will be offered the opportunity to take a 0 period class. This is primarily for students whose schedules demand a 7 period day.
As I said in the article, this is only a possibility and much is still unclear about next year.