Last week INDY reported that, despite rumors of mass layoffs, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) is not currently laying off teachers, and that changes in staffing are part of a routine allotment process that is playing out differently this year because the district has changed its allotment formula in response to declining enrollment. As a result, 31 staffers have been left in a very scary vocational purgatory through the spring.
A group of teachers, through an anonymously penned open letter, say some educators have already been notified their jobs won’t exist after school gets out for the summer.
“Although the district claims that no teachers have been ‘laid off,’ some have received letters stating they ‘would not be offered a contract for employment for the 2025-2026 school year due to a district-wide reduction in positions,’” says the letter, currently making the rounds on Facebook groups and provided to the INDY by a teacher who signed on.
INDY viewed a notice to a teacher, signed by CHCCS Superintendent Nyah Hamlett, that informs the teacher that they will not be offered a contract for next year. It did not leave much room for the possibility of future employment in the district.
That language doesn’t exactly line up with the message that Hamlett sent to the district last week, in which she said that those staffers were in a unique circumstance that “could include, but is not necessarily limited to: Their position is transferring to another school, their position is not (yet) available for 2025-26 because of enrollment or course registration numbers (but this could change), or another situation that is unique to their position or their school.” The superintendent did, though, say that “we can’t make guarantees at this time” about finding other positions for the affected staff.
The district says that 17 of the 31 teachers have already been reassigned to other roles in the district, leaving as many as 14 without contracts, depending on how many can be placed in other schools.
The district has not said how many teachers received the same notice from Hamlett that they would not be offered a contract for next school year, or how closely potential reassignments may align with teachers’ previous roles.
The teachers argue that “while the promise of a job somewhere in the district may seem reassuring, it disregards the years that teachers have spent building meaningful ties within their current school communities,” and that the district has “downplayed the real impact of recent staffing decisions, creating confusion and frustration among teachers, families, and the broader community.”
“The reality is that educators are being removed from their current positions,” the letter reads, “which will inevitably lead to the elimination of certain programs in the 2025-2026 or 2026-2027 school years.”
CHCCS spokesperson Andy Jenks declined to comment on the open letter, saying that it would be “inappropriate to comment on any individual’s specific situation.”
“We are doing all we can to place people in additional positions, or to work creatively in such a way as time goes on—meaning things can change in the spring and the summer as master schedules are put together—to do what’s best for all staff, students and families,” says Jenks.
“The dollars follow the student,” has become an oft-repeated phrase in North Carolina education circles lately as enrollment has dropped in most of the state’s public school districts, which get funding from a mix of federal, state, and local sources. While CHCCS still has one of the highest per-pupil expenditures (thanks in part to a special district education tax), the district has lost about 1,000 students, or 7 percent, in the past five years.
In implementing a reduction in force (RIF) plan last year, officials said that the district has missed out on $8 million in annual funding due to that lower enrollment. That RIF was focused on cuts to the central office before impacting any personnel in a student-facing role. Last week’s changes, hitting mostly teachers, came as the district adjusted for an average class size of about 21 students for one teacher, which is a higher number of students than in past years.
“Four or five years ago, even as enrollment numbers were dropping, some of the allotments were held harmless or stayed the same. But as the years have gone on—and we’ve communicated our financial situation to our staff and to our community—this is an example of where difficult decisions are being made to ensure the long-term financial health of our district,” Jenks told INDY last week.
No Triangle school district is having happy meetings right now. Durham Public Schools is still trying to find ways to fill a $7 million shortfall this year, and INDY recently reported that Wake County Public Schools (which has not suffered from an enrollment drop) is looking at “tough choices” amid $19 million in cuts needed across the district to close the gap between the $60 million increase the district says it needs and the $40 million increase it hopes to receive from the county.
The CHCCS board will likely discuss personnel in its closed session at Thursday’s meeting and—if Facebook posts and online petitions are any indication—parents and teachers are likely to exercise their First Amendment rights during what may be a longer-than-average public comment period.
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Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at chase@indyweek.com. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.