Falls school district to send out 52 layoff notices

Menomonee Falls - Fifty-two Menomonee Falls School District teachers will receive a preliminary layoff notice in early April, but officials estimate that fewer than the equivalent of eight full-time employees will actually be let go.

Those numbers are down from earlier estimates. The School Board originally anticipated issuing 60 to 70 preliminary layoff notices and the equivalent of seven and 12 full-time employees ultimately being laid off.

"Because we're in declining enrollment, our revenue limit decreases. Because we're in declining enrollment our need for staffing at the middle and high school decreases," Superintendent Patricia Greco said. "Part of the challenge is our revenues are going down because one of the criteria for our revenue limit is our student head count."

The district has to let teachers know if they are in danger of a layoff within a certain time frame, and that always happens before final enrollment and budget numbers are available. Therefore, the district tends to err on the side of sending out preliminary layoff notices to more people than will actually be affected, rather than sending out too few and running the risk of paying for teachers it can't afford or doesn't need.

There are multiple reasons the number of preliminary layoff notifications are significantly higher than the anticipated permanent layoffs.

Some teachers may have dual certifications, meaning an instructor certified to teach English could also be certified to teach kindergarten. This instructor may not have seniority in English, but may in kindergarten and will not be permanently laid off. Preliminary layoffs are occurring in all subject matters until administrators and School Board members finalize the specific staffing once student registration is complete.

Final layoff notifications will be sent out in June, School Board member Gina Palazzari said.

The School Board was able to slightly reduce the number of preliminary layoff notices it is handing out from earlier estimates because the middle and high school students are starting to choose their classes for next school year, and that helps paint a clearer picture of what staffing needs will be.

"We're just happy it's reduced," Palazzari said.