Nearly 500 teachers and staff members in PCSSD schools located in Jacksonville will receive letters stating that their contracts are not being renewed on Thursday.

Faculty and staff at nine Pulaski County Special School District schools are expected to receive "reduction in force" letters on Thursday, effectively laying off nearly 300 teachers and 200 support staff members. The letters to PCSSD staff cite the impending detachment of the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District as the reason to not renew nearly 500 employee contracts.

"Those letters are notice of separation from PCSSD - meaning that July 1, 2016, the employees in those schools will no longer be employees of PCSSD," said Dr. Jerry Guess, superintendent for PCSSD.

According to Dr. Guess, the "RIF" letters were distributed to school administrators on Wednesday, and will be hand delivered to teachers on Thursday. The letters will be delivered to staff at Arnold Drive Elementary, Bayou Meto Elementary, Dupree Elementary, Pinewood Elementary, Taylor Elementary, Tolleson Elementary, Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville Middle School & North Pulaski High School.

"It's a difficult situation because those employees who are currently PCSSD employees will be reduced as a result of the detachment, and not automatically receive jobs with PCSSD," said Guess.

The teachers and staff laid off effective July 1, will also have to apply for jobs within the new JNPSD - something district leaders there say they've been discussing for months. JNPSD officials say because the teachers being let go from PCSSD have technically never worked for them, the teachers will have to go through background checks and other vetting before being rehired to work in the same school.

JNPSD Superintendent Tony Wood released this statement:

"The Jacksonville North Pulaski School District is aware of the Pulaski County Special School District's plan to implement its reduction in force policy for employees assigned to schools and departments located within the JNPSD geographical area. JNPSD is currently accepting applications for several positions and will continue posting for other positions as quickly as possible. JNPSD encourages the PCSSD employees affected by the reduction in force to visit the JNPSD website (jnpsd.org) for employment opportunities. JNPSD will be hiring approximately 300 teachers and many support staff for the 2016-2017 school year."

According to the RIF letters, teachers and classified personnel will have the opportunity to request a hearing regarding their dismissal. Those requests for hearings must be submitted within 30 days for certified personnel and 25 days for classified personnel.

The Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act offers teachers the opportunity to have individual hearings regarding their dismissals, but Dr. Guess said because of the volume of staff being reduced, "in a case like this where there is a common issue among many employees, usually one employee or several employees will represent all of the employees in that case."



