Fewer teachers, but few teacher layoffs, for Portland Public Schools
Published: Monday, August 09, 2010, 2:31 PM Updated: Monday, August 09, 2010, 2:53 PM
Portland schools have cut roughly 120 teaching positions to balance the district budget, but retirements and resignations created enough vacancies that nearly every teacher who lost his or her position will get another teaching assignment in Portland this fall, district leaders say.
At this point, among teachers who had permanent teaching positions last year, only a handful of music teachers and one or two career-technical teachers are in serious jeopardy of being laid off, district officials told principals in a memo issued Friday.
In fact, in high-demand areas such as language immersion, counseling, Spanish and special education, the district plans to hire teachers this month.
Music is the biggest trouble spot, for teachers trying to keep their jobs and for schools trying to find the right match. An experienced music teacher whose job is eliminated is eligible to claim a music teaching job in another school. But the difference between what's needed to excel at teaching elementary vocal music versus to lead a high school band can be considerable.
As of Friday, the school district's human resources department had 54 teachers who had lost their
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