Path forward unclear for laid-off educators

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

For the first time in 21 years, Terri Murphy didn't spend the first day of school taking inventory of textbooks and calculators, putting together study guide packets or gathering notebooks and folders for students.

Instead, she filled out financial aid paperwork for her son, a student at California University of Pennsylvania; went to the orthodontist; and made plans to organize the garage at her Unity Township home.

Murphy was laid off from Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center this spring when the school closed its math department.

She's one of about 4,000 teachers laid off statewide this year.

School districts across Pennsylvania were forced to cut costs as a result of a $900 million cut in state education funding. Districts eliminated positions through attrition or furloughed teachers and staff to balance their budgets.

"I don't think it's quite hit me yet," said Murphy, 58. "I had to stop myself from buying back-to-school supplies. When you walk into these stores or you see these ads, you say to yourself, 'Yeah, I need markers, I need folders.' And then you say, 'No, I don't.' "

Central Westmoreland furloughed five math teachers last year and the remaining two, including Murphy, this spring when the 10 participating school districts decided to keep students at their home schools for math classes.

Despite knowing for more than a year that she would be losing her job, the news wasn't easy to swallow, Murphy said.

"There had been rumors for years and last February we were officially told. It's a little bit of a gut check," Murphy said.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association, on behalf of the five teachers furloughed in 2010, filed a lawsuit against Penn-Trafford School District, contending that participating districts are required to hire the laid-off math teachers if they have job openings. Murphy isn't part of the lawsuit, but if the court rules in the teachers' favor, she would be second in line to be hired by one of the districts.

In the meantime, Murphy said, she'll substitute teach while applying for permanent teaching jobs.

She teaches two math night classes to students in the National Tooling and Machining Association's apprentice program, and down the road, she said she might consider changing careers.

"I'm not the first person ... with a 21-year career (who) has lost a job," Murphy said. "You do think of education being a more stable environment, but you never know."

Murphy, who is divorced, said that with a son in college, mortgage payments and health care premiums, she's carefully watching her spending. She has four years before she can draw on her public school pension without penalty.

"I have signed up for unemployment," Murphy said. "I've saved some money up. It's not going to last me forever."

Butch Santicola, spokesman for the western region of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said most laid-off teachers, especially the younger ones, are still job hunting in education.

Santicola said some teachers have taken temporary jobs tending bar, waiting on tables or working for retail stores, while others have applied to be substitute teachers.

Veteran teachers face an additional hurdle, Santicola said, because many school districts look for cheaper, recent college graduates.

"In any other profession, experience counts. Now in education, they're saying experience doesn't count," Santicola said.

In the Steel Valley School District, more than 40 teaching positions were cut through attrition and layoffs. Left jobless after teaching accounting, sports management, entrepreneurship and computer classes for the last five years, Ryan Dunmire said it's "killing her" that she's still at home.

Dunmire, 28, of West Homestead spent what would have been her first day of teaching scouring job websites and baby-sitting her sister's children.

She spent as many as three hours a day during the summer on www.PA-Educator.net and other employment sites.

"The opportunities in Pennsylvania -- they were hard. Now it's almost impossible to find a job," said Dunmire. "I guess when you're an educator, your mind has a time set so you know when back-to-school comes and you're ready to go back. I'm kind of in that phase now that I'm up at 6:30 a.m. I don't have anywhere, really, to go."

Dunmire pondered a move to North Carolina this summer, but decided to job hunt in Western Pennsylvania for a year instead. She said that in March, she will prepare to sell her home and head south if she hasn't landed a position by then.

"I wouldn't say it's unrealistic (to be rehired as a teacher)," said Mark Price, a labor economist with the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg. "It's going to be hard. Your job search will be longer than it might otherwise have been. You're going to face a lot more competition for every opening, and that competition is going to be more skilled and more competent than normal."

Price said there will be teaching jobs in Pennsylvania and in other states, but unemployed teachers should be prepared to send out more applications and wait longer to get hired at another public school. He said other states, hit harder by the recession than Pennsylvania, have an even thicker market because schools have been laying off teachers for the past several years.

Jill Fleming-Salopek, who was chairwoman of the English department and secondary instructional coach at Steel Valley School District, lost her job this spring, but went back to school last week. This time, she was the student.

Fleming-Salopek, 39, of Munhall is studying for her principal certification online through California University of Pennsylvania. She said she should be certified by the start of next school year.

"I was totally devastated when I lost my job," she said. "I try to tell myself that everything happens for a reason and that I'm back in school, and that will open new doors again. I never got to stay home with my children. I'll get to spend more time with (4-year-old), Kylie."

Fleming-Salopek worked for Steel Valley for about 10 years, then taught for a year in the Gateway School District in Monroeville. When she returned to Steel Valley five years ago, she did not receive seniority credit for her previous 10 years.

But Salopek said she feels fortunate that her husband, who teaches English in the West Mifflin School District, did not lose his job.

While training to be a school administrator isn't a sure-fire way to find a job in education, Salopek said she hopes it will give her more opportunities than she'd have as an English teacher.

"With the turns in education, I really don't know what to expect," she said. "When you're just an English-certified teacher ... it's almost like we've become a dime a dozen because so many kids are coming out of school, and so many (have been) furloughed."