SAN ANTONIO — Several San Antonio ISD schools are designating positions that could be eliminated by next school year, local union representatives say.
According to the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, Burbank, Jefferson and Fox Tech high schools are just some of the campuses letting teachers know internally that they may not have a job next year. It comes as SAISD prepares to implement a controversial plan it has referred to as "rightsizing" that will close more than a dozen schools in order to combat enrollment trends.
The plan was approved by a 5-2 vote in November.
"Some staff members are being told that their position is being eliminated and they are being displaced, and it's having an incredibly profound effect," said Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers Local 67. "We don't have a list exactly of what those positions are."
Lopez confirms Fox Tech High School is giving an initial number of seven positions positioned to be cut. For Burbank High School it's 11 positions, and for Thomas Jefferson High School it's 14. She explains some positions that are being prepared to be cut may not even be filled by an instructor currently.
"What we are observing is that secondary campuses, or middle and high schools, are the ones being hardest hit with the reduction in allocations," Lopez said. "We've been really clear that this is really hard, and the district should understand the impact that they're having and they should be doing everything they can to mitigate that impact."
San Antonio ISD officials are not confirming numbers at this time to KENS 5, but said in a lengthy statement that evaluating "the appropriate number of personnel needed in the coming year" is an annual procedure. SAISD also said it would help staff "who may be impacted" to find other jobs in the district.
"This annual staffing procedure identifies where positions are needed for the following school year, allowing us to shift employees to the campuses where they are needed most and to allow principals to align their personnel to their community’s needs," SAISD's statement reads. "The district uses uniform guidelines for the allocation of instructional, administrative, and clerical positions so that student needs are met."
SAISD also noted that some district positions were made possible by COVID-era federal grants and funded only for three years. The district received about $100 million for each of the past three years to respond to pandemic challenges.
Following SAISD school closures last year, Lopez says there is frustration across the board as the district is leaving even the union with questions.
"We go through this process every year and every year there are some displacements," she said. "But to see it in such high numbers is very alarming because, again, we know the effect that that will have at that campus. These kinds of decisions and processes need to be done in a in a transparent way. And so right now, I think the question is what campuses are being impacted? How are they being impacted and what is district leadership doing to mitigate the negative consequences of that?"
Instructor allocation is a process that occurs within SAISD every year.
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