RPS emails show which positions will be eliminated in budget cuts

Shortly before presenting a budget that calls for dozens of layoffs, Richmond Public Schools administrators notified impacted employees that their job was about to be reduced, according to documents The Richmonder obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. 

The 84 emails, which included 74 employee layoffs, had the names of the employees redacted but not their positions, which had not yet been publicly revealed.

“This recommendation is a result of documented budgetary constraints and the necessity for a redistribution of personnel within the Division, and is not a reflection of your individual job performance,” wrote newly hired Chief Talent Officer Elizabeth Veliz in the notices.  

Administrators proposed eliminating 61 positions and reducing 13 positions, ranging from student support specialists and a behavioral specialist to office associates and a radio dispatcher.

Due to expected financial constraints, Superintendent Jason Kamras proposed eliminating 46 central office positions. Seven of the 46 central office positions were already vacant, RPS spokesperson Alyssa Schwenk told The Richmonder. 

At the time of his budget proposal, Kamras declined to share which positions would be impacted, a choice that drew criticism from school employees and some members of the public. 

Richmond School Board Chair Shavonda Fernandez (9th District) said she heard those concerns at the Board’s budget work session last week, where Board members called for the release of the positions.

“We can say to [the public], ‘Just trust us that these are not impacting the inside of the classroom.’ But by us not allowing for that layer of transparency, it is not clear to the public which roles are being eliminated,” she said. 

The layoffs would hit hardest at the Richmond Virtual Academy, where 23 teachers, whose positions were identified as “Teacher 200 Days” in the notices, were told their role would be eliminated. A total of 29 positions were suggested to be cut as a result of the school’s potential closure, including college and career navigators for high school students, principals and coaches. 

“As we've shared multiple times, any licensed teacher from Richmond Virtual Academy is encouraged to apply for a vacant teaching position of their choosing,” Schwenk said. 

The notices also included a recommended “reclassification” of six senior employees, four of whom were offered new but lesser positions containing salaries ranging from nearly $90,000 to a little over $140,000. The employees were requested to notify administrators of their acceptance late last month. 

When asked about whether remaining employees are being offered positions elsewhere, Schwenk said the division is providing “ongoing career support, should they want it.”

“This includes the priority application status as well as career-counseling resources,” she said. “Those supports are ongoing and many employees have availed themselves of them.” 

Six other employees whose positions were eliminated had requested to be “bumped” – worker rights that allow more senior employees to displace another worker in a role that is in the next lower salary grade within their department if they are part of a reduction in force. Those six were ineligible, though, because they lacked seniority or did not have a "next lowest pay grade position" in their department.

Some Board members have been vocal with their concerns about the cuts, worried that it may impact student outcomes, like the newly appointed Anne Holton (6th District). 

“That’s a lot of FTEs to be cutting out of central office if we’re already lean,” Holton said at the work session, using the acronym for full-time equivalents. “Are they ones we can afford to make? Are we cutting into fat or are we cutting into bone?”

“Bone,” Kamras responded.  

Schwenk said that the superintendent does not want to make the cuts in a school district that has been “an operationally lean division” for a while.

“At the same time, we have a legal obligation to balance our books, and the Administration remains committed to developing a budget that has minimal disruption on the student experience and student outcomes,” she said. 

Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org