Teachers’ pink slips painful but familiar
By Bruce Lieberman/San Diego Union-Tribune
Teacher Linda Herschmiller, who got a layoff notice this month, led her kindergartners through Friday’s reading lesson at Johnson Elementary in El Cajon. In her four years as a teacher, Linda Herschmiller has come to rely on the predictability of her profession. October means literacy assessments. December is marked by winter vacation. And March is synonymous with layoff notices. Herschmiller, a kindergarten teacher at Johnson Elementary School in El Cajon, is among hundreds of teachers in the county — and nearly 22,000 teachers in California — to receive pink slips this month as school districts struggle with budget deficits brought on by the state’s fiscal mess. (more...)