Ten of the 11 Modesto Junior College faculty members laid off as part of $8 million in budget cuts which eliminated entire programs from the college will not return, after Yosemite Community College District Trustees upheld the layoffs on Wednesday.
But one will resume teaching at MJC, as trustees accepted Administrative Law Judge Jonathan Lew's finding that he is qualified to teach in another field.
Alan Layne, a former instructor of printing, will move to the graphic design department. He will teach computer art there, in classes similar to those he taught in printing.
Layne, like the other laid off professors, argued before Lew on April 12 and 13 that the district did not take seniority and qualifications into account in handing out pink slips. All of the laid off employees had seniority, and should have legally "bumped" into positions in similar disciplines for which they were qualified, displacing junior faculty members, union counsel argued.
Lew found that Layne was the only laid off professor to meet minimum qualifications for another position, however. He disagreed with union counsel's argument that professors should only have to meet minimum qualifications for alternate positions at the time of their hiring, rather than more stringent, updated qualifications.