The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
District starts layoffs
Teacher Jeff Kazee considering leaving career, Michigan
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 25, 2007
Friday is Jeff Kazee's last day teaching social studies to seventh-graders in Room R203.
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The Saline Middle School teacher is among seven teachers and six paraeducators affected by the midyear layoffs that the district announced at the end of November as a way of saving about $300,000.
It will be difficult on Friday when at the end of each hour he says goodbye to his students for the final time.
"This is our last week together," he said. "There will be a lot of emotion going on in class on both sides."
Kazee, 37, got into teaching two years ago after completing an intense year-long master's program in education at the University of Michigan. He chose to teach as a way of "giving back" after years of working in the field of finance and as a counselor at a non-profit Christian ministry.
Kazee completed his student teaching at Saline High School with longtime Saline teacher Jim Cameron. When a position opened at the high school, Kazee was selected from a pool of some 200 candidates.
Kazee said he considered himself fortunate to get the job. At the end of his first year, however, amidst rumblings of possible layoffs, he accepted a transfer to Saline Middle School as part of a reshuffling by the district to cut some positions.
It turned out to buy him only one more semester.
In November, he learned his last day would Jan. 26. A counselor with more seniority whose position had been cut was certified to teach social studies and Kazee out of a job. Kazee called his wife, Lauren, of 13 years to tell her the bad news. He said that first night there were some tears.
"It was difficult to work through, particularly over the holidays," Kazee said. "I was not anticipating a mid-year layoff. It's frustrating and tough not to take personally."
Kazee said he would almost have preferred to have been laid off in the spring rather than in the middle of the school year because it might have been easier to find another teaching position, although he concedes nearby districts seeking teachers are few and far between right now.
He can't wait long for a teaching job to come along, in any case. The Kazees' nest egg was mostly used up when he took the year off to get his teaching certificate. He is unsure he will be able to stay in teaching at all.
"I'm apprehensive with the economy and it's not looking to turn around next year," he said. "And, in another district, I would again be low man on the totem pole."
His wife directs two school-based health programs and through some of her contacts, Kazee said he has some job leads in health care.
Relocating out of Michigan is also not out of the question, Kazee said. His family lives around Columbus, Ohio, and his wife's family is in Chicago.
"We could be part of the statistic of those leaving the state," he said.
It isn't what he wants to do, though. Despite living in Livonia, as a teacher in the district his two children attend Saline schools. His 9-year-old son, Kaden, goes to Harvest Elementary School and his 5-year-old daughter, Kyla, is in the pre-kindergarten program at Houghton. The Kazees would rather not pull their children out of Saline schools.
"My son is very emotional about possibly having to change schools," said Kazee. "He's built close relationships and doesn't want to leave his friends."
Kazee said it was tempting sometimes to regret making the move into education, but he counters his disappointment by reflecting on the relationships he has developed in the classroom and around the district.
When he told his students that he had lost his job and wouldn't be teaching them next semester, they put up posters in the hallways supporting him.
They asked Kazee, "Why can't we change this? Why are we giving up?" They had questions about the education system and how it works. Kazee encouraged them to express their views.
He, too, hopes to continue to raise his voice over the state of education, he said, whether he remains in teaching or not.
"Ultimately, I believe we need to invest more in education," he said. "If we want to attract highly qualified people to this field, we need to better compensate them."
Kazee addressed the school board at its Jan. 9 meeting, asking trustees to reconsider their decision on layoffs. In a notebook, he had scribbled talking points, at the end of which he had written and underscored a simple question to himself: "Will it make any difference?"
It didn't.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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