Jesus Aguirre, DCPS Director of School Operations
Memorandum to all school principals, on the
Reduction-in-Force of school-based staff
September 18, 2009

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TO: All DCPS Principals
FROM: Jesus Aguirre, Director of School Operations
DATE: September 18, 2009
RE: Reduction-in-Force of School-Based Staff

Pursuant to the District of Columbia Laws and Regulations and Chancellor Michelle Rhee's authorization of a 2010 Budgetary Reduction-in-Force ("RIF"), each school principal must identify the positions, vacancies or non-personnel spending that will be reduced or eliminated in his or her school to meet the school's budget reduction target. Principals who will reduce filled positions to meet the reduction target must comply with the rules and guidance included in this memorandum and accompanying documents.

This memorandum and attached documents provide you with:

• An overview of and instructions for completing the RIF process (contained in this memorandum), including the Budget Reduction Worksheet (Attachment A), which you previously received
• Guidance in applying the competitive level criteria for both instructional and non-instructional staff (Attachment B)
• Examples of completed Competitive Level Documentation Forms ("CLDF") (Attachment C)

OVERVIEW AND INSTRUCTIONS

The following points are addressed in this Memorandum:

• Identifying the positions that will be eliminated within the school
• Rating all of the staff members currently holding those positions
• Documenting the basis of the rating for each of these staff member
• Notifying staff members who are being separated
• Major considerations/warnings in the rating and documentation process 

Identifying the positions that will be eliminated within the school

You must identify the positions within the school that will be eliminated to meet your budget reduction target by Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. As previously discussed, you will identify these positions in conjunction with your Instructional Superintendent and on the final Budget Reduction Worksheet you received earlier this week. Please note that at this stage you are only identifying positions that need to be eliminated to meet your reduction targets. As a result, you should only consider the impact that losing a particular position has on your school, as opposed to any consideration of who is in such positions. For example, which positions, if reduced, would have the least impact on the school, e.g.. teacher, aide, custodian, assistant principal, etc. You may identify filled teaching and non-teaching positions pursuant to the guidance given last week. In addition, you may also identify vacant positions or funding for non-personnel services. If you choose to eliminate a position, you will not be able to add the position for the remainder of the 2009-2010 school year.

Enter the position(s) you are eliminating on the attached Budget Reduction Worksheet and submit it to your Instructional Superintendent. Your Superintendent will submit the Worksheet to the Director of School Operations for review and approval. Worksheets submitted directly by the school to
the Director of School Operations will be returned. Worksheets will only be accepted from your Superintendent.

NOTE: The amount of budget savings that will be credited to you is the average salary for the position cut. Therefore, you should not be concerned with, nor should you consider, the individuals who are in the various positions or their particular salaries when determining which positions will be cut.

Rating the particular staff members

You will be notified by the Director of School Operations when your Budget Reduction Worksheet is approved. Once approved, you will receive a date and time to report to the Office of Human Resources to complete the rating and narrative documentation. The Office of Human Resources will also provide you with a list of all the personnel that are in the positions in your school that you have identified for reduction. The position title that is being reduced is referred to as the "competitive level." You must rate and provide a supporting narrative for each and every staff member only in a competitive level that is being reduced, utilizing the criteria below.

Since our principals briefings, we received further clarification regarding the question of whether you need to rate a staff member if he or she is the only person in that competitive answer. The short answer is "no." You do not need to rate a staff member if he or she is the only person in the competitive level.

The following is the rating criteria:

1. Office or school needs (including curriculum-specialized education, degrees, licenses, or areas of expertise) accounts for 75% of the total score
2. Significant relevant contributions, accomplishments or performance accounts for 10% of total score
3. Relevant supplemental professional experience as demonstrated on the job accounts for 10% of total score

In addition, the Office of Human Resources will calculate the fourth factor that is used in the RIF, length of service. Length of service includes credit for District residency, veteran's preference, and prior outstanding performance rating. This accounts for 5% of the total score.

NOTE: If there are employees--within the competitive level being cut-serving in temporary limited assignments (Lie,. WAE) or who received an unsatisfactory rating at the end of the 2008-2009 school year, these employees do not participate in the competitive level ranking. This means that such employees are removed from the rating process and separated first. So for example, if you are eliminating one math position, and you have five math teachers, one of which is a WAE or teacher who received an unsatisfactory rating at the end of last school year, that teacher is separated and you do not need to conduct the rating.

See Attachment B for detailed guidance on rating instructional and non-instructional staff. 

Documenting the basis of the decision

The rating and narrative writing will be done in the Human Resources conference room on the 6th floor at 825 North Capitol Street beginning the week of September 21, 2009. The Director of School Operations will be contacting you once your Budget Reduction Worksheet is approved to arrange an appointment. Please feel free to use the time before your appointment to take notes and/or collect supporting documents that you may bring with you to your appointment.

At your appointment, Human Resources will have a dedicated laptop for your use. This laptop will have a blank rating form for each staff member in the competitive level that is being reduced.

For example, if you indicated on your Budget Reduction Worksheet that you are eliminating one school aide, your laptop will have one blank rating form for each aide in your school. You will then rate each of these aides based on the three criteria and provide a narrative supporting your rating. Human Resources representatives will be available to assist you in this process.

Attachment B provides detailed guidance in the rating process. Attachment C contains examples of completed rating forms.

Notifying staff members who are being separated

The following is the process for generating and disseminating the notice to the affected employees:

• Human Resources will use your ratings, add the length of service calculation, and then issue a final ranking for all employees within the competitive level being reduced or eliminated
• Based on this final ranking, Human Resources will generate a notice for each employee being separated
• Human Resources will deliver these notices to you one business day before you are to deliver them to the employees 
• On the date printed on the notice, you should call the employee to your office after school, hand them the notice, and ask them to sign for it on the signature page that Human Resources will provide to you
• Return signed signature pages to your staffing specialist
• Please feel free to contact the Director of School Operations if there are unique security issues that you believe need to be addressed
• Human Resources will also FedEx the notice to impacted employees 

Major considerations/warnings in the rating and documentation process 

Please keep in mind the following when performing the rating process:

All staff members in the same competitive level should start out on an equal footing in the rating process. The same standards should be applied in rating each person in the competitive level

Do not be reluctant to give the very highest (10) or very lowest (0) rating based on your application of the criteria to the particular staff member

The fact that a staff member is out on an approved leave should NOT be considered in the rating. This means that neither the fact that they are on leave, nor the impact that their absence has had on the school or class, can be considered. On the other hand, the fact that such staff member is on approved leave should not protect such staff member from getting a low rating if it is based, for example, on his or her activities in the school while he or she was present or on other criteria having nothing to do with his or her presence in the school (e.g., lack of special training, degrees, etc.)

You must rate and provide a supporting narrative for everyone in the competitive level that is being reduced, even if you are reducing one position. However, if all the positions in the competitive level are being eliminated, you do not need to rate such staff member(s)

Attachment B: RIF Criteria for Instructional Staff

To rate employees in a competitive level for an instructional position (including teachers, counselors, librarians, instructional paraprofessionals, coordinators, assistant principals, deans of students, and other staff whose primary function involves working directly with students) principals will use the following factors and criteria.

Overview

All staff in the same competitive level at each school will be rated using the following four factors. Principals are encouraged to attach supplementary documentation related to the first three factors when available. Principals will provide rating information for:

1. Office or school needs (including curriculum-specialized education, degrees, licenses, or areas of expertise) accounts for 75% of the total score;
2. Significant relevant contributions, accomplishments or performance accounts for 10% of total score; and
3. Relevant supplemental professional experience as demonstrated on the job accounts for 10% of total score.

The Office of Human Resources will calculate the rating for:

4. Length of service (including credit for District residency, veteran's preference, and prior outstanding performance ratings) accounts for 5% of the total score.

Factors That Cannot Be Considered

Under no circumstances should any of the following factors be considered, either positively or negatively, in rating employees.

Factors To Be Rated By The Principal

Office or School Needs (accounts for 75% of total score)

Office or schools needs (including curriculum-specialized education, degrees, licenses, or areas of expertise) accounts for any factor that may have an impact on the success of the school or the achievement of the students at the school. All staff in the competitive level will be rated from a low score of 0 to a high score of 10. The score you assign to each person in the competitive level should reflect your best judgment of the extent to which the person meets the particular needs of your school.

Below are examples of factors that could lead to a high or low score for an individual. Please note that the list below is not exhaustive.

Significant relevant contributions, accomplishments or performance (accounts for 10% of total score)

To earn any points in this category, the staff member must make a clear, significant contribution above what would normally be expected of an employee in his or her competitive level. DCPS will provide principals with a copy of each employee's most recent performance evaluation when available. Employees will be rated from 0-10.

Examples of activities or performance that would earn points in this category include:

1. An employee with a performance evaluation from a prior year that shows exceptional performance.
2. An employee who has taken the initiative to create a program or activity, organize its implementation, and see it through to completion.
3. An employee who has established her own after-school tutoring program, developed supplementary lessons for the program, and effectively enrolled students and provided quality instruction.
4. An employee who, through his own initiative, starts a new, voluntary extracurricular instructional program (i.e. debate, speech, chess club, etc.), enrolls students, teaches students, and has them participate in competitions or other exercises.
5. An employee who establishes a new community outreach program to provide adult education to students' parents.

Relevant supplemental professional experience as demonstrated on the job (accounts for 10% of total score)

To earn points in this category, the staff member must have (a) completed additional training or had professional experiences outside standard training required by the District or required to maintain licensure and applied that training or experience at the school in a way that positively impacted school and student performance. Employees will be rated from 0-10.

Examples of activities or performance that would earn points in this category include:

1. An employee who enrolled in and attended a summer training program abroad; communicated with students during her travels through blogs, mail, and email; and then brought back information to conduct meaningful lessons related to the experience.
2. An employee who completed a law degree to improve his ability to teach government and drew on the experience of law school in conducting lessons.
3. An employee who attended an intensive science training program sponsored by NASA over the summer and brought back lessons from the experience to incorporate in her physics classes.

Factor To Be Calculated By Human Resources

Length of service (including credit for District residency, veteran's preference, and prior outstanding performance ratings) (5% of total score)

Seniority is rated on a scale of 0-10 based on years of experience. Employees receive one year of credit for every year of service subsequent to the employee's Service Computation Date. Employees are granted additional years of service for DC residency (5 years) veteran's preference (4 years), and performance evaluations of "outstanding" for the last school year (4 years).

Attachment B: RIF Criteria for Non-Instructional Staff

To rate employees in a competitive level for a non-instructional position (including clerks, registrars, custodians, and non-instructional aides) principals will use the following factors and criteria.

Overview

All staff in the same competitive level at each school will be rated using the following four factors. Principals are encouraged to attach supplementary documentation related to the first three factors when available. Principals will provide rating information for:

1. Office or school needs (including curriculum-specialized education, degrees, licenses, or areas of expertise) accounts for 75% of the total score;
2. Significant relevant contributions, accomplishments or performance accounts for 10% of total score; and
3. Relevant supplemental professional experience as demonstrated on the job accounts for 10% of total score.

The Office of Human Resources will calculate the rating for:

4. Length of service (including credit for District residency, veteran's preference, and prior outstanding performance ratings) accounts for 5% of the total score.

Factors That Cannot Be Considered

Under no circumstances should any of the following factors be considered, either positively or negatively, in rating employees.

Factors To Be Rated By The Principal

Office or School Needs (accounts for 75% of total score)

Office or schools needs (including curriculum-specialized education, degrees, licenses, or areas of expertise) accounts for any factor that may have an impact on the success of the school or the achievement of the students at the school. All staff in the competitive level will be rated from a low score of 0 to a high score of 10. The score you assign to each person in the competitive level should reflect your best judgment of the extent to which the person meets the particular needs of your school. Below are examples of factors that could lead to a high or low score for an individual. Please note that the list below is not exhaustive.

Significant relevant contributions, accomplishments or performance (accounts for 10% of total score)

To earn any points in this category, the staff member must have made clear, significant contributions above what would normally be expected of an employee in his or her competitive level. Employees will be rated from 0-10.

Examples of activities or performance that would earn points in this category include:

1. An employee with a performance evaluation from a prior year that shows exceptional performance.
2. An employee who has taken the initiative to create a program or activity, organize its implementation, and see it through to completion.
3. An employee who has established her own after-school tutoring program, developed supplementary lessons for the program, and effectively enrolled students and provided quality instruction.
4. An employee who, through his own initiative, starts a new voluntary school clean-up program, trains students on recycling and maintaining clean facilities, and works with students outside of school time to make upkeep of the school facility an educational activity.
5. An employee who establishes a new community outreach program to provide adult education to students' parents.
6. An employee who gathers community support for school-based beautification, independently coordinates the building improvement, and sees the project through to completion.
7. An employee who establishes a plan to work with the community to make extraordinary gains in on-time student enrollment.
8. Relevant supplemental professional experience as demonstrated on the job (accounts for 10% of total score)

To earn points in this category, the staff member must have completed additional training or had professional experiences outside standard training required by the District or required to maintain licensure and applied that training or experience at the school in a way that positively impacted student or school performance. Employees will be rated from 0-10.

Examples of activities or performance that would earn points in this category include:

1. An employee who enrolled in and attended a summer training program abroad; communicated with students during her travels through blogs, mail, and email; and then brought back information to conduct meaningful lessons related to the experience.
2. An employee who completed a summer training program in custodial skills to allow the schoolbased custodial staff to provide exceptional improvements in the school
3. An employee who attended a management training course and presented management strategies at school-wide meetings to help improve school efficiency and performance.

Factors To Be Calculated By Human Resources

Length of service (including credit for District residency, veteran's preference, and prior outstanding performance ratings) (5% of total score)

Seniority is graded on a scale of 0-10 based on years of experience. Employees receive one year of credit for every year of service subsequent to the employee's Service Computation Date. Employees are granted additional years of service for DC residency (5 years) veteran's preference (4 years), and performance evaluations of "outstanding" for the last school year (4 years).

Competitive Level Documentation Form

Name   Jane Doe   Competitive Level   Elementary Teacher
Position   Elementary Teacher      Competitive Area    Gibbs Elementary School 
Pay Plan   ET
Grade   15
Needs of the School (rate from 0-10)   0

Doe has consistently underperformed for the five years she has worked at Gibbs Elementary and does not address the needs of our school. While I expected to have a fresh start with her this school year, she immediately began the school year with a very negative attitude. Ms. Doe arrived late for three of the first five days of the teacher training week.

Ms. Doe frequently uses homogenous groupings in her classroom -- grouping students by ability level. It is immediately clear from observing the interactions of students in this setting that students in the high performing groups challenge each other and improve understanding while those in the lower-performing groups restrict their work to simply answering the prescribed questions. Ms. Doe does not make any effort to ensure that all students are held to the same high standard of performance, to the detriment of student achievement at our school.

Ms. Doe has sent students to the office on several occasions in the past month. In each of these cases, while the students may have posed a modest disruption, a more attentive teacher would have been able to solve the problem in the classroom. Her approach consumes administrative time that could be more productively directed to other school needs.

Although she teaches third grade this year, on two occasions, I have observed Ms. Doe teaching lessons identical to the lessons that she taught to her 1st grade students last year. When I asked her about this approach she articulated that kids "couldn't learn third grade material" and that "this lesson will do for now."

Ms. Doe recently faced a challenge related to the bathroom schedule with another teacher. Ms. Doe felt strongly that her students should have time reserved to use the restroom at noon. However, another teacher had previously requested that time. Ms. Doe was unable to show any flexibility in dealing with the problem or creativity in solving the problem.

Relevant significant contributions, accomplishments or performance (rate from 0-10)   0

Ms. Doe does not work to make significant contributions to the school. She has stated that her responsibility to work begins and ends at her classroom doors and that she should not work with the school as a whole.

Relevant supplemental professional experience as demonstrated on the job (rate from 0-10)   0

Ms. Doe participates reluctantly in district-mandated professional development, but does not use this training to impact her teaching. In the past five years at Gibbs elementary, Ms. Doe has never sought out additional training.

Principal's Signature ________________________________     Date _________________

Principal's Name __________________________________

HR Representative Signature _________________________

HR Representative Name ____________________________    Date __________________

Competitive Level Documentation Form

Name   Jasmine Doe   Competitive Level Elementary Teacher Position   Elementary Teacher
Pay Plan   ET
Grade   15
Competitive Area    Gibbs Elementary School
Needs of the School (rate from 0-10) 10

Mr. Doe does an excellent job of meetings our school's need for well-planned, well-executed, and efficient instruction. Beginning with the first day he reported to Gibbs Elementary, he showed a dedication to student learning and to high quality teaching. Prior to the first day for students to report, Mr. Doe established an organized and print rich classroom. Before students reported he had a posted behavior management system. On the first day of school he had posted objectives for that day's lesson and walked students through an engaging lesson using multiple learning styles to ensure that all students understood classroom policies and procedures.

Mr. Doe also was a welcome addition to our school during the week before students reported. He was actively engaged in the training teachers received on the teaching and learning framework and has since volunteered to provide some of the follow-up training and to participate in a collaborative group with other teachers to help in implementing the framework with fidelity at our school.

Mr. Doe not only uses all instructional time effectively, he also finds instructional opportunities where other teachers would not. Mr. Doe has students answer math questions while waiting in line to use the restroom and while walking in line down the halls.

Mr. Doe has proven to be a very positive influence on the other staff at the school. His respectful approach to working with children and his model professionalism when working with other staff has positively impacted how other staff members interact and improve the culture of our school to the benefit of our students.

Mr. Doe regularly assesses his students' ability level and establishes ambitious goals for students for the school year. These goals are thoughtfully created to ensure that they stretch the student's abilities, to be attainable, and to improve student achievement at our school.

Relevant significant contributions, accomplishments or performance (rate from 0-10) 0

Mr. Doe has begun work on establishing a monthly parent meeting for the parents of Gibbs Elementary. While this work shows promise, it does not yet rate as a significant contribution.

Relevant supplemental professional experience as demonstrated on the job (rate from 0-10)   10

Mr. Doe recently completed training which he took part in on his own time on conflict resolution. He has effectively used his training to resolve conflicts between students at Gibbs. On three occasions during the first weeks of school, Mr. Doe worked with pairs of children who had begun fighting. In every case he both resolved the conflict and improved the behavior of the students, using the training he has received.

Principal's Signature ________________________________     Date _________________

Principal's Name __________________________________

HR Representative Signature _________________________

HR Representative Name ____________________________    Date __________________