More than 60 teachers won’t be returning to Tucson’s largest school district in the fall, as TUSD isn’t continuing their contracts, some because of a decline at enrollment.
The TUSD governing board decided against renewing the contracts on April 13 for the teachers, two counselors, two nurses and one dean.
All the staff members had been at the district for less than three consecutive years and so were in a probationary period and not guaranteed an automatic rollover of their contract, according to the district. There are also teachers on the list whose principals didn’t recommend retaining them and others who resigned or left the district mid-year.
“Not all of these recommendations were performance related, several were a result of positional cuts at schools that had lower enrollment and could no longer sustain the position,” Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said in an email.
The district would not say how many of the positions were cut because of an enrollment decline.
The unanimous decision by the governing board came just weeks after Trujillo expressed that the district wouldn’t have to lay off anyone.
“It’s one of our proudest achievements, to be able to navigate this pandemic successfully without having to execute any reductions in force, especially in the teacher ranks,” he said at an April 1 news conference.
TUSD — the third-largest school district in Arizona, serving about 42,000 children — has seen a 7.4% enrollment decline from last school year, about 3,350 students. Of Tucson’s nine major districts, TUSD was the last to reopen for in-person learning, remaining remote up until March.
School districts across the state saw enrollment declines as schools moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Across the state, there are 38,550 fewer students in public school from last year and an even larger decline in school districts as thousands of children moved to charter schools, many of which had more in-person learning options.
The pandemic has also exacerbated a teacher shortage statewide, with more than a quarter of teaching positions in Arizona being vacant, according to survey results released in January by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association.
Despite the shortage, several districts in the state have let teachers go due to enrollment declines, most notably Gilbert Public Schools, which recently laid off 152 employees for next school year.
Tucson Unified did not to respond to questions of how many teacher vacancies they have this year, but Trujillo said TUSD doesn’t have a teacher shortage throughout the district, but rather a shortage of certified special education teachers and to an extent math teachers.
The district has about 35 special education teacher vacancies, which is 10 to 15 more than the previous three school years, Trujillo said during the April 1 press conference. There are eight special education teachers on the list of noncontinuing contracts that was approved Tuesday.
TUSD also has a critical shortage of bus drivers, with 137 vacancies, and 141 vacancies for teacher aides in special education classrooms. The district has about 8,000 employees.
Trujillo has said that he thinks some of the students who left TUSD this school year will return, and said that students have enrolled since the district opened campuses for in-person learning in March.
A male jaguar not previously detected by researchers was videotaped just three miles south of the recently constructed border wall between Mexico and the United States. The jaguar appeared for the first time on camera traps along the riparian corridor of Cajon Bonito in Sonora, Mexico. The lands where the jaguar was recorded have been managed by the Cuenca Los Ojos foundation to preserve and restore biodiversity during the last three decades. Researchers have dubbed the jaguar El Bonito. Credit: Ganesh Marin, the project leader, is a Ph.D. student in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona and a National Geographic Early Career Explorer. The research project is a joint effort of the University of Arizona and the University of Wyoming in collaboration with the Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation and members from Santa Lucia Conservancy, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Phoenix Zoo and Arizona State University.
Photos: TUSD begins in-person full-time instruction
TUSD in-person instruction
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Julian Salomon, second grader, listens to his teacher Ingrid Reyes during class at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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Grace Beltran, co-teacher and curriculums service provider, teaches a group of students about spacing by having students hold out their arms before classes started at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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Roman Leon, fourth grader, completes his bellwork during the beginning of class at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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A student walks past a hand sanitizer station while heading outside to eat breakfast before classes start at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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Julian Salomon, left, second grader, listens to his teacher Ingrid Reyes during class at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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Kindergarten students work behind plexiglass during class at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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Kinder-gardeners jump on one leg while playing "Simon Says" outside during a break from class at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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Trevor Salago, magnet site coordinator, gives hand sanitizer to kinder-gardener Alexander Morales-Bermudez at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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Maria Doniz, janitor, sanitizes a students desk while the class plays outside at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
TUSD in-person instruction
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A drawing talking about mask wearing made by Grace Beltran, co-teacher and curriculums service provider, is taped to a wall at Holladay Magnet Elementary School, 1110 E. 33rd St., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 23, 2021.
