In light of recent budget cuts and the announcement from Fossil Ridge High School’s administrative team that seven teachers will not return for the 2016-2017 school year, it is important for students to stay informed on Fossil’s future. Many students make comments such as, “They should fire Teacher X because he looked at me funny in the hallway,” or “The only reason Mrs. Y hasn’t been fired is because she has tenure.” Ignorance about the process the administration undertakes as they look at the school budget and determine what teachers will not return creates rumors everywhere in the school. Here are some of those rumors, debunked:  

Teachers with tenure cannot be fired. – MYTH

This statement is slightly true, slightly not, and one of the biggest things that’s wrong with it is the fact that teachers do not actually have tenure anymore, they are either probationary or not. While it is true that non-probationary teachers are guaranteed a job, that job is within the Poudre School District, not solely at Fossil. In order for a non-probationary teacher to be relieved of their position, there needs to be sufficient evidence that they are not performing well or they have committed a felony. You may think that one math teacher of yours is the worst person on the planet, but that does not mean that they are not properly doing their job.

New teachers are more likely to be let go. – FACT

Any teacher hired in PSD, no matter their experience, is a probationary teacher. For the first three years, their job is not guaranteed, and that teacher can be non-renewed for many reasons, the main one being a lack of funds. This school year, no new teacher is being let go because of poor performance, but many will not return in the fall due to extreme budget cuts.  

A teacher from another school might replace a teacher at Fossil. – FACT

Budget cuts similar to those seen at Fossil happen all over the district – in some cases, another high school in the district may not be able to support one of their non-probationary teachers, so that teacher will move to Fossil to replace a probationary teacher. This happens at Fossil, too. Some teachers do not fully lose their jobs, but they will get cut-down to part-time, and if they are non-probationary, they will spend the other part of their time at a different school.

Teachers from one department, such as the arts, are more likely to be let go because of a bias against the arts. – MYTH

When the reduction of teaching positions is only due to budget cuts, staff reduction is based on student enrollment for the following school year.  Principal Will Allen says, “I had the burden of reducing our staff budget by a large amount of money. In order to do that, I had to look at all departments and all teachers within all departments, compared with the classes that students were enrolled in, and then I had to decide what we could afford and what we couldn’t afford.” If only ten people sign up for a fashion class, chances are the fashion teacher will be let go, reduced to part-time, or transition to teaching something else, because putting ten people in one class block means that a class of another subject will have to exceed approved class sizes. At the same time, the administration wants to ensure that students can take classes that interest them, so they try to balance out the cuts. Allen said, “We had to make certain decisions and try to spread out that impact across all of the different departments.”

Budget cuts are common, and students should not let the chaos of staff reduction make them worry about their future at Fossil.