Ed foundation saves two teachers’ jobs

RBUSD board members Todd Loewenstein and Drew Gamet receive a check from RBEF secretary Monika McCarthy. Also pictured, left to right, are the two teachers whose jobs were saved, Kari Hammerschmitt (Tulita Elementary) and Stephanie Graverson (Madison Elementary), RBEF board member Liz Marcon, RBUSD board member Jane Diehl, RBEF board member Vicky Gallion, and RBUSD board member Carl Clark. Photo by Ricardo Gallegos

 

The Redondo Beach Education Foundation did something it has never before done this week. It saved jobs.

Two teachers who received pink slips in March received a reprieve after the Education Foundation allocated $120,000 to bring them back to Redondo Beach Unified School District classrooms.

The two teachers, Kari Hammerschmitt and Stephanie Graverson, appeared the Board of Education Tuesday night for a formal announcement. They found out a week ago that their jobs had been restored. If you have been affected by loosing a job, consider checking the call center recruiting Utah services.

“It was amazing,” said Hammerschmitt, a fifth grade teacher at Tulita who has been with the district three years.

“I thought it was done,” said Graverson, a first grade teacher at Madison Elementary who has also been with RBUSD three years. “I didn’t think we were coming back.”

The pair was among 16 teachers who were received layoff notices in March due to state budget cuts.  Both received an email from assistant superintendent Nancy Billinger about a week ago that said simply, “Call me!”

Hammerschmitt actually returned from a family vacation in Hawaii to attend the board meeting.

“I am just very glad to have my job back, but what is really important is that the Education Foundation decided to put teachers back in the classroom,” said Graverson. “It’s important for the kids.”

The RBEF has been a relatively low profile presence the district – particularly in relation to neighboring districts,  such as Manhattan Beach, which has a foundation that contributes roughly $4 million annually in recent years – although the foundation has steadily grown in clout since reorganizing two years ago. It has supported a variety of programs, such as intramurals, teacher grants, robotics, and elementary music.

But this week’s contribution marks a significant step forward for the emerging foundation, which raised $208,000 in its “Club 360” fundraising drive in March and is currently conducting a “Save Our Schools” emergency fundraiser.

“It is definitely part of our goal to be a full service education foundation that provide for the needs of our community,” said RBEF secretary Monika McCarthy.

The RBEF presented a check to the school board that saves the two teachers jobs and funds the anti-bullying, district-wide Safe School Ambassador program next year. Money for science, math, and technology teacher grants has also been set aside.

Assistant superintendent Nancy Billinger said that district has been able to rescind the pink slips thus far for all but one of the 16 teachers put on notice in March, both due to the RBEF contribution and teachers who administrators learned in late June are taking leave of absences this year. She noted that class sizes will still increase from 22.7 to somewhere around 26 students at the K-3 level because the overall number of teachers will still decrease.

Billinger also cautioned that the teachers have only been brought back on temporary one year contracts

“So far we have been able to offer contracts to 15 of 16 teachers, and that’s great news,” Billinger said. “They have a one year reprieve, but they don’t have permanent jobs.”

The foundation isn’t done yet. The education foundation hopes, through its SOS campaign, to be able to save one more teacher. McCarthy noted that with the $20,000 contribution made by district administrators – who each gave a day of pay – the foundation is already part way there. RBEF is holding a poker tournament at the Blue Water Grill on Aug. 4 at which it hopes to raise significantly more money.

“It’s sort of like we’ve already got an arm and leg of a teacher,” McCarthy said. “Now we need the rest of the body.”

McCarthy said thus far 13 percent of district families are participating in the RBEF. The foundation hopes to broaden involvement from families and the rest of the community, who McCarthy said benefit from a better educated workforce and the higher property values that are associated with higher performing schools.

Progress is being made, McCarthy said, noting that one of the families of “Club 360” – which asks for $30 per month per family – is a single mother who, along with her teenage child, is paying $15 per month toward the RBEF. Likewise, corporations such as AES have increased their contribution.

“It is a crisis, and we are seeing a swell of people,” McCarthy said. “I mean, the support that is coming from people is amazing.”

The district has been forced to trim $8.6 million from what was formerly a $65 million annual budget over the last two years.

Billinger said the foundation’s progress has offered a ray of hope in a difficult time.

“They are just so impressive, so student-centered,” Billinger said. “They are really working cooperatively with the district on behalf of teachers and kids, and it’s been really refreshing – when everything else is so bleak, to have a group of parents step up and basically take charge of a mission to save teachers’ jobs and save class sizes.”  ER

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