Anxiety Apparent at Schools That May Close : Education: Teachers worry about the future as financially strapped Palos Verdes Peninsula district prepares to shut two high schools and create a 3,000-student Rolling Hills campus.

Although a full semester remains before the current school year ends, Rolling Hills High School teacher Sandra Beatty’s thoughts are already focused on next fall and the fate that could befall her.

A science instructor for the last 11 years, Beatty expects to become a casualty of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District’s plan to close two high schools and create a single, large one by next fall.

“I’ll either go to a junior high school, or I’ll be out of a job,” said Beatty, who fears her seniority will not be enough to protect her job.

As the financially strapped district moves to close Miraleste and Palos Verdes high schools and create a 3,000-student campus at Rolling Hills, Beatty and other instructors are wondering where--if anywhere--they will fit in.

An estimated 15 instructors will lose their jobs. Many will find themselves teaching new subjects to larger classes. Others will have to relinquish their status as department heads. Veteran coaches could find themselves watching team sports from the bleachers.

Additionally, if the district approves a faculty association plan that places a premium on seniority, some of the high schools’ bright young teachers are likely to find themselves with less desirable assignments. The same proposal could also send some high school teachers to a junior high, and junior high instructors could be sent to a high school, which some consider a better assignment.

“I think there is going to be a lot of conflict between teachers and administrators, and teachers and teachers, trying to get the position they want,” said Miraleste math and physical education teacher Richard Henkel, a 29-year veteran of the district.

“At best it is a terrible situation,” said Lauren Sanders, executive director of South Bay United Teachers, the Palos Verdes Faculty Assn.’s bargaining unit.

“When you get into this kind of detail, it is horrendous. We have people who are fit to be tied.”

The expected upheaval in the teachers’ ranks is predicated on the 8,900-student district prevailing in its legal battle to close the two high schools.

Last week, school board members approved an environmental impact report on school closures districtwide. The report, ordered by a judge after a group of east-side parents sued the district over plans to close Miraleste, still must be approved by a court before the campus consolidation plan can be carried out.

At the same time, a number of parents living on the west side of the peninsula have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks in their opposition to the school closure plan. Some have joined with east-side parents in calling for a parcel tax to raise money to keep the three high schools open.

Still, district officials are proceeding as if the schools will be closed and the teachers reassigned. Portable classrooms have been ordered to accommodate the influx of students at the Rolling Hills school, and the school’s top administrators have already been selected.

Teachers say the uncertainty over their job status for the next school year comes at a time when they already feel frustrated by the long, bitter fight between the district and parents over school closures.

The situation has been made worse as the school board, increasingly strapped for funds because of declining enrollment, has ordered some program cuts. The district receives state funds based on a per-pupil formula.

Instructors, who are in the midst of contract negotiations with the district, also are angry because their salaries have failed to keep pace with other local districts, and because local voters in the past have failed to support a parcel tax that could have made more money available for them.

“I don’t think there is any question morale is low,” said Rolling Hills math instructor Neil Ward, who also serves as a union representative. “They have been having an internecine battle up here for the past seven years, and the teachers have been shunted aside.”

Referring to the voters’ unwillingness to support a parcel tax, Ward added: “This is a very selfish community.”

District officials concede that morale is poor and that teacher pay has not kept pace with other districts. “If you look at overall comparisons, our teachers are way below average,” Supt. Michael Caston said of the pay scale.

But Caston and school board members contend that consolidating the three high schools is the first step toward improving the district’s--and the teachers’--financial status. And Caston said he believes the consolidation can be carried out without major disruptions within the teaching ranks.

Last year, 32 teachers took advantage of an early retirement incentive offered by school officials, but Caston said the district cannot afford to repeat the offer.

Under state law, the few firings that will occur will be based on seniority, he said. As for the other teachers, they will soon be sent a “druthers sheet” requesting that they state what they want to do at the new high school, he said.

After the questionnaires are returned, the new school’s principal and the district’s personnel office will meet with the teachers. Later, individual assignments will be made, Caston said. The task is expected to be completed by April 1.

The faculty association, however, has come up with its own plan for assigning teachers. Under its proposal, the district’s 400 or so high school and intermediate instructors would be placed in one pool. Teachers would be awarded points based on such criteria as how long they have taught, their experience in a particular subject, what degrees they hold and what their major and minor were in college. Teaching assignments would then be determined based on the total number of points a teacher scores.

Association members said that although the current contract between the district and the faculty association mandates that many of the same criteria be used in filling teaching vacancies, there is no point system. Hence, the district is allowed greater latitude in assigning jobs.

“We’re trying to avoid where a lot of private deals are cut and a lot of promises are made other people don’t know about,” said Perry Lynn, a Palos Verdes High School history teacher and president of the faculty association. “Hopefully, we would like to see some objectivity in terms of assignments.”

Under the association’s proposal, the most points are given for seniority. A teacher would receive 40 points for each year he or she has taught in the district. The second-highest number of points, up to 30 for each year, is given for experience in a particular subject or grade.

Therefore, it is conceivable that an intermediate teacher who racks up more points than a high school teacher and who has the proper teaching credential, could become a high school teacher next year. At the same time, a high school teacher could be reassigned to an intermediate school.

“Seniority is, in our plan, very important,” Sanders said. “I am sure the district wouldn’t place that much importance to it.”

Caston said the district does not favor the plan, but he declined to elaborate until after the district has the chance to respond directly to the association. The two sides are scheduled to meet Wednesday.

“We really are anxious to have a cooperative relation with our teachers,” Caston said. “We want to work with them.”

Some teachers said the association’s proposal may be the fairest way to determine assignments, although they contend no system would be totally fair.

“There is just no way to factor in everything,” said John Vredenburgh, a Rolling Hills High School teacher and 20-year veteran of the district.

But other teachers said the point system discriminates against younger teachers in a district already characterized by a high number of older instructors. Because the district has hired few teachers in recent years, the average age of teachers is now in the mid-40s, according to Caston. That, he said, is high compared to many districts.

“It favors someone like me,” said one teacher who has taught in the district for 24 years and did not want her name used. “I have seniority. I have a master’s. I think the younger teachers should be rewarded. We need new blood.”

One of the district’s younger teachers agreed.

“Seniority can perpetuate incompetence,” said the teacher, who also did not want her name used. She said the point system is tantamount to giving older teachers “bumping rights” over younger ones.

“I think it would be nice if they were handing out that golden handshake,” she said.