ECISD terminates four contracts

Four employees whose positions were being eliminated resigned at the last minute, then the ECISD Board of Trustees terminated four other contracts Wednesday after a half-hour closed session.

At the special meeting, the board also agreed to a reduction in force that eliminates ECISD’s Channel 10 television station, reorganizes the Education Foundation office into the public information office and modifies staffing patterns for Early Education Center social workers. Officials said this was done because the district was unable to find positions for some employees in those departments and the employees didn’t turn in retirement or resignation papers.

Before an audience made up almost entirely of media members, the board voted unanimously to lay off Education Foundation director Jaclyn Gaona, Channel 10 general manager Mike Barker and early-education social workers Shawana Glenn and Jessica Remenaric.

Ector County Independent School District Superintendent Hector Mendez said the district had a hard time finding positions for those being cut because they don’t have certifications. But he expects to find jobs for the remainder of the 104 employees who are being cut (and are not retiring) as a reaction to a projected state budget shortfall.

Mendez said it looked like the planned $17 million in budget cuts for the 2011-12 school year puts the district in position to deal with a reduction in state funding, the exact amount of which likely won’t be known until summer.

“ECISD is in good shape,” he said. “Parents should feel good about the fact we did not increase class size. We did not eliminate classroom teachers.”

Mendez said the four employees who agreed to resign late, Channel 10 anchor Amy M. Young, bilingual teacher Pedro Belloc, first grade teacher Imelda Loya and history teacher Stan Wilkins, did so after the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting was posted late Friday. ECISD is required to post the agenda at least 72 hours before the meeting.

Wilkins’ mother, Trustee Yollie Wilkins, was the only board member not to attend the meeting.

Also Wednesday, the board voted to renew and extend contracts for hundreds of teachers, administrators, professional-support employees and head coaches and campus athletic coordinators. Administrator and teacher contracts are typically approved at February and March board meetings, but budget uncertainty led to those decisions being pushed back closer to a deadline of 45 days before the end of the district’s instructional year, which will be June 2.

Board President Tom Pace said it was good to have the process of dealing with people’s jobs behind the trustees.

“This has been a very difficult process because we are dealing with people’s lives,” he said. “It’s been hard on the administration, and it’s certainly been hard on the board. It shows a real effort on the part of the administration to keep that impact at a minimum.”

One employee slated for job elimination who agreed to retire weeks ago was Randy Talley, ECISD’s special projects director. But he said Wednesday, though there is no agreement in place, there is a chance he could come back and do some consulting work for the district.

Talley said his work could include seeking grants and looking for business partners for ECISD’s New Tech Odessa High School, which opens in August. But state funding is a major factor in whether the district could keep him around on a part time basis.

“We’re waiting to see exactly how much money the district is going to lose before we decide on that type of thing,” Talley said.

Talley, who tried to retire after serving as ECISD fine arts director before taking the special projects job in 2009, said he means it this time and is going into the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. He plans to spend more time as choir director at First Methodist Church.

“This is the real deal,” he said.

@OAschools