GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids school district is experiencing declining enrollment that has led to the closing of 10 schools and logical layoff of 221 employees, including 106 teachers.

And, for the first time, the school board has based teacher layoffs on evaluations and competency, instead of the union-preferred method of cutting by seniority.

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That means the best teachers were kept on board while lesser instructors were let go. That’s a blessing for the students and the community.

But the local teachers union doesn’t see it that way.

Paul Helder, president of the Grand Rapids Education Association, accused the district of implementing a teacher evaluation process that lacks “transparency, consistency and objectivity,” according to a news report from MLive.com.

Helder also whined about the number of layoffs, claiming the union was not properly informed in advance and overcrowded classrooms could be the result.

“They didn’t bother to talk to the (union), find out exactly how this process was going to work, and they didn’t think it through from start to finish,” Helder was quoted as saying. “Had they done that, I believe a lot of this could have been avoided.”

That’s doubtful, because the facts speak for themselves.

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The Grand Rapids district has lost nearly 3,800 students in the past decade and expects enrollment to drop another 700 this year, the news report said. That led to the closing of 10 school buildings in recent years and other efforts to consolidate the financially-challenged district.

Helder is obviously upset because his union is losing 106 dues-paying members. But that’s the union’s problem, not the district’s.

Superintendent Teresa Weatherall said some mistakes may have been made during the teacher evaluation process, but added that none were intentional, according to the news report. She said the district will continue to use evaluations to identify the more effective teachers, and will use that criteria if layoffs become necessary again.

“At the end of the day the president of the (union) will not have a voice in what someone gets on their evaluation,” Weatherall said. “You’re going to have people who are not pleased, but I expect to, even next year, lay people off according to their evaluation.

“We are taking the best of the best forward. I said that a year- and-a-half ago and I still mean that today.”

Good for Weatherall.

It’s unfortunate if some errors were made in the new teacher evaluation process. We trust that the district will work out the bugs over the next year or two.

But the public should definitely side with school administrators in this instance. Their motivation is simply having the best possible teachers in front of students.

Residents should be wary of any statements from a union that only cares about serving the interests of its members (regardless of their skill level) and maximizing the amount of dues money coming in.