Jonathan Winn. Eric Nielsen. Precious Jackson-Hubbard. Edward Moller. Chris Dier. Jacquilin Magat. Jeff Sabins. Leah Gray.
What do all these teachers have in common? They were all named teachers of the year at their respective schools–Crawford High School, Lincoln High School and Bell Middle School–in the last few years.
And they all just received notices that they may be laid off.
These are just eight of the more than 1,600 employees across the San Diego Unified district that either have already received pink slips, or who will shortly.
I was contacted by a number of teachers, who all pitched me the same story: San Diego Unified is laying off its best and brightest teachers.
The district’s labor rules call for it to lay people off based solely on seniority. That means the last teachers hired will be the first fired regardless of their performance or value, a rule that tends to hit poorer performing schools hardest, since they tend to have larger numbers of younger, less experienced teachers.