SOUTH BEND — Despite losing more than 800 students to charter schools, voucher-accepting private schools and neighboring school systems last school year, South Bend Community School Corp. plans to lay off just six teachers for this fall.
The school board gave the administration permission this week to send the legal notices — called Reduction in Force or RIF notices — to the six certified intermediate center and high school teachers affected.
Jason Zook, the teachers union president in South Bend, said about 50 teaching positions were reduced because of the enrollment decline.
The retirement of 30 teachers this summer helped absorb some of those positions, he said, while others were absorbed by teachers who resigned or didn’t have their contracts renewed and others who were terminated because their one-year emergency teaching licenses expired.
All six teachers who received RIF notices are eligible to apply — if their certifications match up — for other teaching positions within the system that are currently open.
Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp., where enrollment increased by about 90 students last school year, issued no RIF notices to teachers and likely will have about 25 teaching openings for the fall, an official said.
School City of Mishawaka, which experienced an overall enrollment increase last school year of about 50 students, thanks to a more lenient open enrollment policy for out-of-district students, expects to hire about six new teachers for next school year.
Mike Pettibone, interim assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said Thursday an additional 120 new out-of-district students have indicated interest in enrolling next school year.