Retiring teachers need fast decisions

Board of education members have voted in favor of moving the deadline to Feb. 1 for teachers who may seek retirement and cash incentives.

Originally, the deadline was March 1, but  - with support of Columbia’s teacher’s union - board members moved the date up one month.

Columbia Superintendent Francine Coss said it was important to know as early as possible if teachers plan on leaving the district and Horace W. Porter School.

Coss said teachers must have worked at the school for at least 15 years before they are eligible for the retirement incentive.

If teachers announce their departure in time, they will receive a $5,000 stipend every year for four years once they leave.

If they do not meet the deadline, but retire, they do not receive the pay-out.
Coss said the reasoning for the change was to make the school a better, less stressful environment for teachers and employees at the end of the school year.

“We’re trying to counteract the stress level in school,” she said during the Dec. 7 board of education meeting.

According to Coss, for the past two years, school administrators have given pink slips to every teacher who is not tenured because they were still unsure which teachers were retiring.

She said the practice has led to high stress levels and discord among school officials and teachers.

Although a “blanket of pink slips” are distributed, not every teacher is laid off.

Teachers are then told later in the year if their contract is renewed with the school.

Coss said - with the change - teachers will only receive pink slips if they are truly being laid off at the end of the academic year.

Board of education Chairman Nelson Petrone said Columbia was able to offer a cash incentive to retiring teachers because of the practice of replacing high-end, expensive teachers with newer, less expensive educators.

With the savings in salary line items with less costly teachers, school officials can afford to offer the incentive, they said.

In addition to saving money and addressing the tense atmosphere in Columbia, Coss said it gives school officials more time to search for replacement teachers.

“We get the ball rolling,” she said to board and audience members. “We get to the newbies out there.”

She said it is better to start recruiting potential teachers earlier rather than waiting until the last minute after other schools in the area have already combed through the available selections.