Recently, the San Diego Unified School District has given “pink slips” to at least 483 certificated and classified employees across the district, planning to lay off positions in order to lower the predicted 94 million dollar budget deficit.
A pink slip is a notice given to employees in the school district informing them that they may be laid off over the summer and will not be working the next school year, according to UC High Teacher and Union Representative Samantha Cruz. “Essentially, it’s a very nice way of saying ‘We’re firing you,’” said Cruz.
“The date for the first pink slip notification was March 15 for any district employee, and the final lay off notices were on May 15. In between those dates, some layoff notices may be rescinded; therefore, the staff member that got their pink slip rescinded would be given the guarantee to have employment for the following year,” said Principal Mike Paredes.
Classified staff and certificated staff at UC High received pink slips. According to the California Department of Education, “Classified staff are employees of a school, district, or county office of education who are in a position not requiring certification, including paraprofessionals, office/clerical staff, custodians, bus drivers, and business managers. Certificated staff are employees of a school, district, or county office of education who are in a certificated position to do their job, including teachers, nurses, administrators, guidance counselors and psychologists/pathologists” (cde.ca.gov).
“The district is facing a multimillion dollar deficit, so there’s a need to eliminate positions and the majority of cuts are on the district level. The district is saving money because they will have fewer positions, but those folks who were in those positions that have been eliminated then have rights to other positions which is why we have the layoffs or bump notices,” said Paredes.
According to an official San Diego Unified School District presentation held on March 5, 250 positions will be eliminated with 123 positions to be filled, leaving 127 as the “…anticipated number of educators who will not return in 2024-25” (go.boarddocs.com). Certificated employees may be impacted by being “…[reassigned] from one site to another in the same service/credential area, reassignment from one service/credential area to another, and laid off based on credential type and seniority.” Classified employees may be impacted by being “‘Bump[ed]’ into a vacancy in the same classification or into a formerly held classification, a ‘bump chain’ often impacting additional people by a factor of 3 to 5, and layoffs’’ (goboarddocs.com).
According to Paredes, “Bumping is the term that is used for certain positions where a staff member who holds priority may bump another staff member out of a spot. Bumping is more common when talking about classified positions and this particular layoff season there are a number of employees at the district level whose positions were eliminated, but they have seniority rights based on the years of service to the district in that position.”
Cruz said, “Some of our staff have revealed and divulged that they’ve gotten pink slipped, and it is definitely going to create a shift here at UC. Those who have been pink slipped are really going to impact UC and I’m very worried about it.”