Petitioners were notified that their positions had been abolished and that their employment was terminated, effective September 1, 1994. After abolishing the physical education positions, respondent board required its elementary classroom teachers to provide physical education instruction to their students under the direction and supervision of a certified physical education teacher and the director of physical education. Adaptive physical education is provided by four teaching assistants, who are certified physical education teachers. Those teaching assistants work under the general supervision of a certified physical education teacher. Petitioners contend respondent board abolished their positions and created new positions with similar duties to which petitioners are entitled to be appointed.
Respondent board contends that it has complied with the law in all respects.
Based upon the record before me, I find that respondent board legally abolished petitioners' positions. The record in this case reflects that petitioners' positions were abolished simultaneously with numerous other positions. The record further supports that the positions were abolished for fiscal reasons. Additionally, the record shows that no new positions were created. Instead, petitioners' duties were redistributed to classroom teachers and no classroom teacher is performing more than fifty percent of the former duties of any petitioner.