Non-Tenured School Employees Receive Non-Renewal Notice

On Friday, 227 Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District employees were given a non-renewal notice that said their contracts would end on June 30th.

The letters went out to all non-tenured employees, regardless of their position, says Superintendent Dr. Margaret Hayes.

"It's really simple," she said in a phone conversation Tuesday afternoon. "Because our budget went down, we don't yet have a final budget, and so we were in a position where we had to notify all non-tenured staff, in any capacity, that at this point in time, we cannot guarantee a position."

The notice is not a pink slip for all.

"We do expect that the vast majority of them will be called back," Dr. Hayes added, "but at this point in time, we just can't predict how many we are going to need, so it was wise to let everyone know so that we can do this in an orderly fashion. This notice is to help them understand."

Eighty-two teachers, four secretaries, 11 custodians and 130 school aides were given the notice. The deadline to notify the employees was May 15th. Dr. Hayes personally signed every letter.

"We have to have a certain level of staffing in order to operate our schools, but we just don't have the specifics yet," said Dr. Hayes. "We can't offer them a contract until we know specifically what our needs will be."

The Board of Education will have a better idea after the May 17 public hearing on budget reductions.

Addressing when the staff members will be notified if they are being asked back for September, Dr. Hayes said, "It will take a couple of weeks to assess where our needs are relative to the reductions that we have to make in the budget, and we also have to take into account any retirements and review where personnel are best placed. We always try to notify people that will be re-employed as quickly as we can. We want them to be well-prepared and be able to make good plans."

The BoE will also have to wait until enrollments are finalized, which normally happens over the summer. Dr. Hayes said the aides know that the need for aides fluctuates every year, based on enrollment.

"Every year we review it, but in the last couple of years, we often did not have to go through this process of giving out these non-renewal notices because, given the budget being finalized by this time, we knew what our needs were," said Dr. Hayes.