Frisian school group Odyssee has to cut back
The Frisian school group Odyssee is scrapping the workforce in order to balance the budget. By 1 August 2020, a total of 22 full-time jobs must have disappeared. “There will be no forced redundancies,” says Chairman of the Board Roel Krijnen.
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The school group for public education with fourteen schools in Friesland spent too much money on staff. This means that twelve full-time jobs will disappear among teachers and ten jobs in support functions this school year. The school group, according to the chairman of the board, will succeed in this without forced redundancies. “We are not renewing temporary contracts and people are retiring who we are not replacing. We have been working on this since the beginning of this school year and are already well on the way. ”
Miscalculation
The fact that the school has to tighten its belt is partly due to the transition to a new financial system in which an incorrect estimate has been made of the expenditure on staff. “We have hired a lot of staff because this benefits the quality of education,” says Krijnen. “We certainly don't leave any money on the shelf like many other schools do. Only we cannot continue like this next school year, because then the financial overrun will be too great. ” Student shrinkage and unforeseen costs for long-term sickness also weigh on the budget.
We cannot continue like this next school year, because then the financial overrun will be too great
Odyssey has informed the unions of the situation. AObdistrict manager Marieke Homan is in talks with the school group. Homan: “I received questions from concerned members. At that time there was a real wave through the organization and that was reason for me to inquire with the board to come up with the budget. ” The district manager also sees that something must be done. “Too much staff has been deployed from the reserve. It must remain appropriate. ” Homan hopes to have clear with the school as soon as possible whether the number of FTEs will be achieved.
Committed
According to Krijnen, the joint participation councils are involved and they come up with creative solutions at schools themselves. “For example, a class extension. We had classes of 20 students here, so that's going to be classes of 22. Or less ambulatory time, we are going to solve this together. ”
Now that it is clear that jobs are disappearing, the President of the Executive Board notices that people wonder: 'what do I want? "We have already had colleagues who moved to another school, wanted to retire earlier or support staff in an administrative position, for example, who are going to work elsewhere."
AObdistrict manager Homan says that one of the options could be a generational pact in which older employees say goodbye and young people take their place. In time, Odyssee also wants to merge with Gearhing, another school board in the area. If vacancies become available there, Odyssee colleagues will be given priority.
