In June, Kokomo-Center School Corp. approved laying off 20 teachers.
By Monday, with the school year in session, Superintendent Jeff Hauswald said there are just six teachers left on the recall list. Two of the six teachers are in temporary jobs in the corporation, he said.
Hauswald said when school officials originally considered what jobs could be eliminated through consolidation, there were 47 on the list. About 20 teachers retired, and the board planned to issue reduction-in-force letters to 26 teachers.
By state law, teachers who will be subject to a reduction in force must be notified by May 1. Kokomo-Center’s contract allowed the corporation until May 15, to allow time for teachers to consider a retirement incentive package offered.
By the time the board voted on the reduction in force, there were just 20 names on the list, he said, and 14 have been called back.
Hauswald said when those teachers are called back, they can either accept the job offered or decline. Of the 14 who have been called back, he said, seven have accepted and seven have declined. Some of those have found jobs elsewhere, while others are not interested in the job offered, he said.
Those teachers are not placed back on the recall list, he said, and “once we offer the position back, we no longer have to pay unemployment,” which is a cost savings.
That leaves six teachers on the recall list, he said, and two are in temporary jobs, with hopes those jobs can become permanent.
Hauswald said that leaves just four teachers that have not been called back.
He said when former superintendent Chris Himsel presented the reduction-in-force plan, he had been hopeful many teachers could be called back.
Hauswald said additional retirements and resignations made it possible to hire back some of the teachers, while others were needed because enrollment has been higher than projected in some grade levels at the elementary schools.
Hauswald said schools have to be cautious with enrollment projections, because once the school year starts, teachers may not be laid off if there are not enough students.
He said the Kokomo school board will consider a reduction in force of classified, or non-teaching, staff, at a special board meeting at 3 p.m. Thursday.
Taylor Community Schools was the only other Howard County corporation that had a reduction in force.