Several newer teachers may not be coming back to Tam Union Schools next year, after the Tamalpais Union High School District board gave over-notices to layoff 23.6 Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) this spring. This sum reflects the district’s efforts to “rightsize” declining enrollment.

Every year, before March 15th, the TUHSD Board of Directors is required to give notice to all staff whose services will not be required for the ensuing year. Wes Cedros, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, is in charge of presenting these layoff notices to the board.  

Cedros explained that the main reason for this extensive layoff list is declining enrollment at the school, and the need to ‘rightsize’ because of it.

“Our district had its peak enrollment in 2021,” Cedros said. “And since then, we have gone down significantly, and so fewer teachers are needed because there’s fewer students in the district. That’s rightsizing.”
However, staff such as teachers union co-presidents Melissa Boles and Erik Berkowitz feel that the district may have finished ‘rightsizing,’ as they see class sizes start to increase. 

“Classes are really full. People are working hard,” Berkowitz said. “Let’s go bring our class sizes down, let’s offer more electives again.”

Cedros explains that increases in class size are due to negotiations with teachers.

“It’s about bringing class sizes up to contractual levels,” Cedros said. “In the past, the district has not staffed classes as high as it could contractually, so bringing staffing up to what it could or should be per a contract over that course of a period of time.”

According to Cedros, in most departments a teacher with 5 classes averages 150 students, 30 per class, equivalent to one FTE. 

Cedros doesn’t believe that these bigger class sizes result in a diminished education for the individual student.

“We’re still well below many of our comparable districts in class size,” Cedros said.

Cedros presented these layoff notices for board approval at the Feb. 24 board meeting. The notices constituted two lists, one for ‘Classified layoffs,’ totaling 12.8 Full-Time Equivalents, and the other for ‘a reduction of employees due to a reduction in particular kinds of services,’ totaling 10.8 FTE.

While the sum of 23.6 FTE seems huge, it’s important to note that these are over-notices, and don’t reflect the actual number of layoffs, which will only be confirmed once the school receives attendance information for the 2026-27 school year. 

Additionally, Cedros explained uncertainty around what this will look like for future years. 

“We can only project out right now to the ‘33-34 school year,” Cedros said. “And we’re still declining in enrollment.”