Dimpled smiles should be abounding on the campuses of Culver City schools this afternoon, not because summer recess began last week but because nearly all teachers who received potential layoff slips last March will be retained after all.
Supt. Patti Jaffe announced that of the 19.2 teaching positions at risk, 18.6 will be back on the faculty in late August when classes resume.
This means that the all-spring war between factions of the Teachers Union and factions of the School Board ended before the war in Libya, before the war in Afghanistan and the before war in Iraq.
In non-school language, the School District will lose only a single half-time teacher.
“This is wonderful news for our teachers and our students,” School Board President Scott Zeidman told the newspaper this afternoon. “This is what we have been saying all along. We had fully anticipated that we would not be cutting teachers.
“Here is what people need to understand,” Ms. Jaffe said. “There have been a few more retirements, some people have moved out of state, and others have taken leaves of absence. Because of that, and our enrollment, we are able to fill the vacant positions with people who were on the layoff list.
“We are thrilled. We want these people back. They add so much to our school community.”
