Some parents in Oak Park School District 97 are upset that more than a dozen teaching assistants received a reduction-in-force (RIF) notice by the district this spring.
Twenty-four TAs received a RIF notice, as did other staff in the district in early April. Parents have set up a Facebook page, “Oak Parkers for a Quality and Diverse Education,” in protest. Emails sent between parents found their way to Wednesday Journal, saying the district was letting go of 20-something TAs “with little or no transparency.” The TAs include those who work in regular and special ed classrooms. Those parents have called for a meeting with D97’s director of special education, and they also plan to voice their concerns at the D97 school board’s May 22 meeting.
The district has actually sent RIF notices to 24 teaching assistants, according to spokesperson Chris Jasculca. RIFs are done every year, he explained, and some TAs could be brought back, depending on classroom needs for the upcoming school year.
The RIF process occurs each spring in school districts throughout the state, as mandated by law. If staff might be laid off, they must receive a written notice in the mail by their school district. Most years, some or all of those staff members are rehired back. But this fairly routine process, which in past years resulted in virtually no public outcry, has been different this year.
Oak Park and River Forest High School and its school board were besieged by vocal parents and students upset at the RIF process earlier this spring.
The school board last month voted to rehire 16 of 21 teachers who had received notices on March 22. But not before hosting a special public meeting days before their vote to give the teachers’ supporters a change to voice their displeasure.
