Stress heightened for Shelby County School’s teachers and administrators on Friday September 4, 2015. This was caused by the reaching of the first 20 days of the school year. To students this means very little, but to administration and teachers this means keeping or losing jobs.

Each year the Shelby County School Board projects how many students a school is expected to have enrolled for the upcoming school year. The school is staffed according to that projection and after a 20 day wait, actual student enrollment is evaluated.

If a school exceeds the enrollment projection, the board will add teachers to their staff. If the school fails to meet the projection, the board will require that school to fire teachers.

Such is the case for White Station. The teacher to student ratio here is  higher than it should be. The board requires there to be 25-28 students per teacher. Therefore, because White Station has more teachers than they think the school needs, the board is requiring that three of the teachers be let go. These teachers will either be transferred to schools that exceed their enrollment projection, or they will have to find other employment.

“Generally, teachers who are let go move to other schools where there is a need, but this is up to the board,” Vice Principal Carrye Holland said. 

Though the board’s policy does not sit well with White Station administration, the policy must be followed. The problem is, all of White Station’s teachers are wanted and needed, but the school board continues to make it’s decision based solely on the desired ratio.

“[The policy] doesn’t consider anything but numbers. That’s the flaw in the system,” Colonel Michael Bailey said.

However, certain teachers’ jobs are safe. They include any Vocational, special education, ROTC and marketing teachers. In addition, all AP teachers are exempt. Instead, cuts have come to the English and music departments.   

Determining which three teachers had to go rested predominately on David Mansfield’s shoulders.

English teacher, Jessamyn Bradley, resigned, while band and general music teacher, Maurice Medley, got a pink slip. He is now working at a different Shelby County school.

“[Bradley] resigned, but we were able to count that as one of our positions,” Holland said.

This left only one more teacher to be let go. White Station administration solved this problem by buying a teacher position back from the school board using Title One funding.

The staffing change has caused some students and teachers to have schedule changes. English and music teachers have absorbed Bradley’s and Medley’s students into some of their classes. Some teachers have even gained entirely new sections and classes. Patience from all sides of the issue at hand is key to making this a smooth transition.

“This may be stressful to the kids, but its even more stressful to us, those who are having to make these decisions,” Colonel Bailey said.

While this may be a difficult time for students, remember how much harder it is for White Station’s staff. The administrators just had to decide which of their colleagues and friends had to go. The affected teachers are left to take care of even more students and in some cases write lesson plans for entirely new sets of classes.