Erica Popoca, a ninth-grade teacher in Hartford, Connecticut, was laid off because her salary was covered by the COVID-19 relief fund, which has dried up. Her students were livid in the spring because she informed them she would not be returning to the classroom this fall.
Fortunately for Popoca, her students wrote letters to the school board members pleading that they should change their minds.
Erica, the founding adviser of a multilingual student club, was nervous she would lose the bonds she shared with the Latino students she taught for two years. Popoca was also one of the few teachers who spoke Spanish in the school.
The students devised a plan and raised other funding to reverse her layoff, which was a win for both the teacher and her students.
Popoca is one of the thousands of new teachers and school staff who lost their jobs across the nation because the COVID-19 relief fund dried up.
According to the Department of Education, schools across the nation use most of their relief fund money to pay teachers and support staff. School districts are hiring new teachers, teaching assistants, counsellors, and other key staff members and finding alternatives to retain them.
The post-pandemic layoff is a serious issue all over the nation, and it has been widespread. School districts in Texas laid off 275 staff members, including teachers, teaching assistants, and counsellors. Montana Helena Public School scrapped 36 positions, including 21 teachers.
Newer teachers are first in line for layoffs because the school districts operate a “last-in-first-out” policy that protects tenured teachers.
Schools with low-income students will be hit hardest by the change in funding because the campuses receive more relief funding.
According to a 2023 survey by Educators for Excellence, a non-profit organization based in New York, at least 11 states, including New York, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Alaska, and Rhode Island, had policies that strictly required states to consider seniority.
According to Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Economics Lab, there might be instances where schools school lose a significant portion of their staff because junior teachers tend to begin their careers in schools with higher levels of poverty.
While it is not necessary, several districts, like Connecticut, where Popoca lives, permit districts to consider seniority when making layoff decisions. Certain states ban districts from doing so.
Roza stated, “It’s really disruptive for students.” “And it’s not great for teachers.”
Popoca informed her class, which is predominantly Latino and Black eighth graders that last spring, she would be laid off, and they were devastated. She is among the few new teachers of color returning to the district this year. She also stated that some of her co-workers were laid off, but unfortunately, they will not return when school resumes.
