Students support teacher hit by layoff

SHORELINE

For Jake Coburn, Andy Kidd is a teacher who has made a difference in his life.

Coburn and numerous other students at Shorecrest High School are rallying around drama and English teacher Andy Kidd, who they hope will not become a casualty of budget cuts fueled by the current economic crisis.

Kidd, who is in his second year with the district, is one of 29 Shoreline teachers who received layoff notices by May 15 because districts are receiving less money from the state.

Coburn took freshman English from Kidd and the 28-year old teacher encouraged him to work on the stage crew for the musical “Grease,” this spring.

“I was raised by a single mother my entire life,” Coburn said. “I didn’t have a lot of male role models. He played a role in keeping me on track. He reads over my essays and edits my essays. He’s a great help. He’s there when I need him. He’s a great inspiration to me. He’s definitely changed my life.”

Shorecrest has an open campus during lunch but many students come to Kidd’s room to hang out and discuss what’s going on in their lives during that period.

“The kids can really relate to him and feel his passion for everything he does,” sophomore Brannen Graves said. “He really cares about every kid. He’s turned a lot of kids around who got bad grades and smoked cigarettes in South Woods. He reaches out to kids who aren’t even in his class.”

Coburn, Graves and other students at Shorecrest started a campaign to keep him from being laid off. They collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition and started a Facebook page, keepmrkiddatShorecrest, and a blog at www.keepkiddblogspot.com.

“The whole school is backing this guy because he reaches out to everybody,” Graves said.

Before the district’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, May 18, Kidd’s students presented school board members with the petition and 120 letters from students and parents asking to keep Kidd. The students said the goal was to be professional and classy and not threatening, as Kidd would want them to be.

“They were very respectful and very creative,” School Board president Debi Ehrlichman said. “I truly appreciate their enthusiasm and loyalty to Mr. Kidd. All I can really say is that there are good minds at work to find cuts in other areas so we can hire back a number of our valued staff. I will read every letter. I’ve been reading e-mails and answering them. It’s obvious that Mr. Kidd has made an impact on a number of kids and families and I appreciate that.”

Kidd did not return a call for comment, and was not involved at all in the students’ activism. His position was one of 7.4 middle school and high school full-time equivalent positions on the chopping block.

Shorecrest history teacher and girls basketball coach Ed Wissing, who is in his first year at the school also got a layoff notice.

“We care about all of them. We have 29 people (that received layoff notices),” district spokesman Craig Degginger said. “It’s sad to lose anybody. It’s a difficult situation. We haven’t had to deal with this for a long time.”

At the elementary level, 13.6 full-time equivalent positions are up for cuts.

Michelle Ramey, 30, a first-year teacher at Brookside Elementary, received a layoff notice as well.

“I knew it was possibly coming but to actually get it knocks you down to your knees a bit,” Ramey said.

The teachers who received layoff notices will be first on a recall list and are guaranteed substitute teaching slots, said Ramey, who is also on the Edmonds School District sub list.

Ramey said she campaigned for Governor Chris Gregoire but was upset that Gregoire’s budget and the Legislature’s budget included big cuts in K-12 education.

“It’s probably the thing that upsets me the most,” Ramey said. “Shoreline, their hands are tied; they can only do so much with the money that’s given to them.”

Of the 29 teachers in Shoreline who received layoff notices, 26 are first or second-year teachers who are on provisional contracts.

The district sent out layoff notices first based on certification and endorsements, then seniority. Some first-year and second-year teachers in understaffed areas did not receive layoff notices.

Some neighboring school districts such as the Northshore School District and Lake Washington School District did not send out any layoff notices to teachers, noted Elizabeth Beck, president of the Shoreline Education Association, the teacher’s union.

Two years ago Kidd replaced Linda Johnson who directed 111 plays at the school over a 35-year period. He directed “You Can’t Take It With You,” in the fall in addition to directing “Grease” this spring.

“To me it feels like we’d be putting our drama program at risk,” said parent Nancy Graves, Brannen Graves’ mother. “It’s a little more than just a teacher. He’s taught these kids about being respectful and professional and working hard.”