Half of Albert Einstein Math Teachers Set for Layoffs

Before he taught math at , Gary Prentice spent 15 years as a financial planner. Fellow math teacher Theresa Philipps is a former accountant.

Besides their real-world experience, the two have something else in common: they both might be unemployed this fall.

"It's a morale buster for everybody," Prentice said. "You go through this every year and you never know who's going to be next."

Of the six math teachers at Albert Einstein, five received pink slips as part of the Sacramento City Unified School District's "worst-case scenario" budget, which prepares the district for the nearly that will be needed if temporary tax increases aren't extended.

Many teachers appealed, and a state judge said two of the Albert Einstein math layoff notices should be rescinded.

The district won't say which teachers received layoff notices, but the results of the hearings list the 266 pink-slipped teachers who appealed. Among them are Prentice, Philipps and Ying Chang, another Albert Einstein math teacher. A language arts teacher at the school also received a pink slip, Prentice said.

Principal Amy Monte declined to comment for this story.

Prentice said math teachers at the school have been working as a team for five years, including three years of middle-school-focused training as part of a grant from California State University, Sacramento. He said bringing in replacements would undo years of progress.

"It takes three to five years to build a team," he said, adding that many teachers avoid teaching middle school. "It's a real unique set of kids in the seventh and eighth grades."

The specialized training Albert Einstein math teachers received wasn't enough to save their jobs, but the district made a similar argument in avoiding layoffs of elementary and middle school teachers at its under-performing "priority schools," where instructors have been receiving extra training and trying out new techniques.

Still, Prentice doesn't hold anything against the school district.

"It gets to a point when you think the American people say education is a priority, but they don't act like it when it comes to funding it."

Prentice, who also spent 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corps before his career as a financial planner, predicts a higher dropout rate if the district is forced to follow through on its plan of layoffs and .

"I'm not really worried about my job," Prentice said. "I'm worried about what will happen to the kids if I go."