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The Pleasanton school board will be voting on a number of resolutions that will reduce several certificated and classified positions in the district during Thursday’s regular meeting.
These teachers, staff and management position reductions, and subsequent layoffs, are related to the budget discussion from the Jan. 25 school board meeting where staff talked about the several cuts that the Pleasanton Unified School District needs to carry out in order to balance out its budget reserves.
According to Thursday’s staff report, staff will be recommending that the board approve a resolution to authorize the reduction of 17 certificated positions, “due to a reduction in particular kinds of services for the 2024-2025 school year.”
“The Board of Education, through adoption of a resolution, may reduce particular kinds of services performed by certificated employees for the upcoming school year,” according to the staff report. “This reduction of particular kinds of services may require the termination of certificated employees at the end of this school year.”
The positions in question include two high school operations coordinator positions; one human resources coordinator position; three induction coach positions (one of which is a vacant position); one integration specialist position; four multiple subject teacher positions; and one program supervisor position (which is vacant).
Other positions include a physical education, social science and world language teacher role; one social worker position that is vacant; and one secondary vice principal position.
According to the staff report, while the district’s actual fiscal savings will be determined at a later time, reducing these certificated positions is expected to generate approximately $2.8 million in savings.
The staff report also states that the resolution stipulates that the district must send “appropriate notices to all certificated employees whose employment may be terminated by virtue of reduction of the particular kinds of services identified.”
Another similar resolution will be brought to the board, but instead it will be for a significant number of classified positions.
“The district is authorized to reduce classified services for an upcoming school year due to lack of work or lack of funds,” according to the staff report. “In evaluating program needs, existing and projected funding, and adjustments in pupil enrollment, staff has determined that the classified services identified… must be reduced at the end of the 2023-2024 school year due to lack of work or lack of funds.”
The staff report states that it is necessary for the board to approve this other resolution in order to “initiate the reduction of the specified classified services and to notify impacted employees of the reduction or elimination of their positions at the end of the school year.”
The positions included in this resolution range from two management positions — one technology and one fiscal services coordinator — to 14 paraprofessionals, who are people that work with children individually or in small groups by providing them basic instruction on different subjects.
Other classified positions include a district parent liaison; two executive secretary positions; two health services assistant positions; one human resources technician; four library media assistant positions; and a purchasing specialist position.
According to the staff report, by reducing these services the district is expected to generate about $1.7 million in savings.
The board’s open-session meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 22). Read the full agenda here.
In other business:
* Following the board’s vote on reducing certificated employee positions, the board will also have to approve two resolutions that establish criteria to determine the order of which certificated employees are laid off.
According to the staff report, the first resolution would allow the district to not lay off an employee simply because of how long they have been with the district. If they can demonstrate that they are needed to teach specific courses that others with more seniority do not have, then they would be skipped in the lay off process.
The second resolution to establish criteria for layoffs has to do with figuring out how to break ties in who gets laid off based on seniority by looking at how long they have been with the district.
This resolution will look at when they received their first paycheck, which could also include the time they were under a probationary period with PUSD.
“The district may adopt seniority date tie-breaking criteria to determine the order of lay off among certificated employees with the same date of first paid service to the District in a probationary position,” the staff report states. “The law requires that the Board determine the order of lay off based on the needs of the District and its students.”
* Apart from certified and classified employees, the board will also be looking at a resolution that would let go of about 50 temporary teachers.
The district hires “temporary contracted employees” every year in order to fill in for certificated employees who are on leave, on special assignment, or are in a uniquely funded position.
“Hiring temporary employees allows the district to have flexibility in staffing and serves as a preventive measure to overstaffing,” the staff report states.
A number of temporary social workers, counselors, nurses and a psychologist and mental health clinician will also not be returning next year.
In a separate resolution, the board will also be looking to notify one certificated employee on probation that they will be let go.
* District staff will be asking the board to approve a contract with CA+SA Studio, an architectural design firm, to continue working on the bridging documents for the Educational Options Center. The documents for the center, which is a project listed under the $395 million Measure I general obligation bond, are the preliminary documents needed as part of the design process before ground can be broken at Village High School.
* With the construction of the Educational Options Center on the horizon — which will be built on top of Village High School — the district will also be looking for approval from the board to enter into a contract with Finney Architects to work on the Village High School Interim Housing Project.
In order to construct the new center, Village High needs to be vacated and the students and staff will need to move into a temporary home, which is what Finney Architects aims to build.
The board will be looking at awarding the architect firm with $169,700 to build temporary portables, remodel sections of the old district office next to Village High and complete various other upgrades at the site on Bernal Avenue.
* The board will be reviewing and accepting the Student Enrollment Forecast for the 2024-25 to 2030-31 school years, which shows enrollment continuing to decline and flatten.
* As part of its consent calendar, which are items routine in nature and are typically approved by a single vote, the board will be looking at approving its personnel document, which shows dozens of teachers who are on leave of absence.
This does not mean that they are leaving the district, PUSD Director of Communications Patrick Gannon told the Weekly. It simply means that they are on leave, which can be for a number of reasons.
“The partial leave of absence requests are due to a teacher requesting to work less than full time,” Gannon said. “The full time leave of absence requests are a result of teachers requesting to take the full year off for personal reasons.”
According to the document, 20 teachers ranging from first to fifth grade; two kindergarten teachers; four transitional kindergarten teachers; one music specialist; and one English Language Arts and social science teacher are all listed under leaves of absence.
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Very interesting how teaching and classified positions are being eliminated, while only a small fraction of management positions are being cut. This after, 24 administrator positions have been added since 2019, a 70% increase in DO management. Doesn’t sound like much of an effort to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.