The St. Paul School District sent letters to 46 teachers at three struggling schools last week, telling them that they're being reassigned to other jobs in the district.
The letters came as part of the forced restructurings of Humboldt Junior High School and Arlington High School, a consequence of years of subpar test scores dictated by the federal No Child Left Behind law. Some staffers at Humboldt Senior High also received letters because their school will be affected by the restructuring at the junior high.
Signed by human resources director Teresa Rogers, the letters told the 46 teachers that "this assignment change is not related to any issue of misconduct, nor should it be construed as a failure on your part."
"I'm really disappointed," said Arlington teacher James Evans, who received one of the letters and spoke at a teachers union rally Tuesday. "I felt that my years at Arlington had been a success."
In December, the district told teachers at those schools that those who wanted to remain, except for specialty staff for Arlington's biotechnologies program, would have to reapply for their jobs this spring.
But the union decided that "something just didn't feel right" about that process, said union president Mary Cathryn Ricker. We tried "to simplify the process and not put every staff member though it," she said, which resulted in the letters sent last week.
Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said Tuesday that restructuring the schools means setting up entirely new programs. The district needs people who have the "skill set" and the "right attitude" to be part of the reborn schools, she said.
Dozens of teachers rallied outside the district headquarters Tuesday because the St. Paul Federation of Teachers feels it has not had adequate input into the restructuring process as a whole. "The district doesn't need to do this alone," said Ricker. "We have 3,600 members."
