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The Pleasanton school board approved the first of many resolutions on the board’s agenda last week that identifies a handful of employee positions that the district is looking to possibly cut later this year.
However, after hearing from parents, teachers and various community members both before the meeting and during public comment, the board amended the resolution for certificated employee positions to remove two high school operations coordinator positions that were originally on the list.
The amendment was made by Trustee Steve Maher who said that based on his administrative and coaching experience, and after talking to both of the high school principals, he thought it was important to keep someone to oversee facility operations at that high level.
“Especially with the new performing arts buildings coming in, our new athletic facilities coming in, someone needs to really take charge,” Maher said during the Feb. 22 board meeting. “Not that our other assistant principals couldn’t, but they have other responsibilities … it needs to have some of that oversees it.”
The Board of Trustees were faced with a few resolutions that are, according to acting assistant superintendent of human resources Nimarta Grewal, unfortunate for the Pleasanton Unified School District as a whole.
These resolutions are a product of the budget constraints that the district talked about in the Jan. 25 school board meeting where staff talked about the several cuts that the district needs to carry out in order to balance out its budget reserves.
The positions that were discussed on last week are not finalized and are not being cut at this point, but the district had to vote on these resolutions as part of a mandated state process in order to notify employees by March 15 that their positions are being looked at before the board comes back for a final vote on which positions to cut in May.
“We are continuing to address actions that may be necessary to ensure fiscal solvency of the district during the economic downturn that is having a significant impact on state revenues,” Superintendent David Haglund said in his report to the board at the beginning of the meeting ahead of the discussions regarding the resolutions.
“These are not conversations that we want to have,” Haglund added. “I am hopeful that some of the identified positions can be removed from the list as we consider final action, which will come to the board in May. To that end, I hope we can work together to find opportunities to enhance revenue as alternatives to reductions.”
The first resolution the board approved with a 3-1 vote — Trustee Kelly Mokashi dissented and Trustee Laurie Walker was not present at the meeting — had to do with originally authorizing the reduction of 17 certificated positions.
The positions included 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 included physical education, social science and world language teacher roles (one each); one social worker position that is vacant; and one secondary vice principal position.
“The secondary teaching positions were identified in consultation with site principals who determined anticipated areas of reduction by subject area by credential, based on current enrollment projections and student course requests which were still being collected when this data was compiled,” Grewal said.
She added that the data is constantly shifting and that as enrollment data and attrition rates due to retirements and resignations become known, efforts will continue to be made to take back any initial notices wherever possible and as quickly as they can so that employees are not as impacted.
As the discussion continued, Maher made the point of removing the two high school operations coordinator positions from the resolution as he, and other board members, believed they were important to keep and not parcel out to other people.
“One of the things that I’ve learned coming to the board is that everyone’s path for education is not the same,” Trustee Justin Brown said. “Some are going to take a more academic path, some are going to take a more athletic path.”
He said that apart from the $395 million Measure I bond that partially aims on building new athletic facilities, the two athletic operations positions directly work with parents and students on a regular basis.
“I’m meeting with our director of operations … pretty much on a daily basis,” Mark Mayorana, the football program manager at Amador Valley High School, told the board during public comments.
He told the story of how when the Amador junior varsity and varsity football teams’ buses were canceled in the last two games of the season and how the operations person stepped up and rallied everybody to do an emergency fundraising to get those football players to experience those once-in-a-lifetime bus rides.
“Football bus rides are special,” Mayorana said. “That man held our feet to the fire so it can happen for the kids.”
Other parents and teachers also spoke about how those two positions were important because of the magnitude of things they do for all the programs at the high schools, not just for sports.
“For some kids, they’re charged and motivated by the academic challenges that we offer here … for some kids, it’s the sports, the arts, the clubs and the music,” said Tina Wagner, a mom and community member. “Coordinating all of these things to the magnitude that they’re offered in our amazing town and our district … it’s no easy feat and simply parsing out the duties to various employees greatly dilutes the impact of these positions.”
While the general consensus from the board was that nobody wanted to have these conversations with the other positions that were not removed from the resolution like the two coordinating positions were, Mokashi also said that she not only wants to make sure that the reductions happen as far away from the classrooms as possible, she wants to save as many positions as possible.
“I advocate for every single one of those positions that was on the reduction list for potential saving,” Mokashi said. “I would feel more comfortable when this comes back for a final vote, that we have the hardcore data so that I can be comfortable making the decision for the specific positions that will be reduced.”
She further explained why she voted no on the resolution by saying that she wants to see the full data that justify why certain positions are being recommended to be cut.
“I know certain positions are vacant right now but that also on the flip side, if some of those positions are really hard to fill, and just because they’re vacant, doesn’t mean that they’re not necessarily valid to have,” Mokashi said.
However, Board President Mary Jo Carreon pointed out that a lot of the positions on the potential cutting board for many reasons and that while none of the cuts are something the board likes to discuss, it is something they have to do.
“A lot of these positions have been thought out and I do appreciate that in the spring, we will be having a committee that will be getting together to talk about what do we value as a community? … How do we solve this problem together?” Carreon said. “We’re having less enrollment, we’re having less money and so again, I do believe that we can work together to solve this problem but this will take a community effort in the spring.”
Haglund also stated in his opening remarks that the district will continue to advocate on a state level for adequate levels of school funding.
“California continues to rank near the bottom of their funding despite all the efforts to advocate legislators to do the right thing,” Haglund said. “We invite members of the community … to join us in Sacramento and let’s talk to some legislators and get this done permanently not just for students here, but for students across the state in California.”
In other business:
* The board approved a resolution to also notify classified staff positions that might be reduced due to lack of work or lack of funds by March 15.
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.
Grewal also similarly said that like the previous resolution, the district will make efforts to rescind as many initial notices as more enrollment data, retirements and resignations become known.
“All of the positions listed are due to lack of work with the exception of … the two health services assistants and then the four library media assistant 2 positions, which is actually a partial reduction due to (Pleasanton Partnerships In Education Foundation) funding shifting,” Grewal said. “All the other positions on this list are due to lack of work.”
While a lot of paraprofessionals who typically work with students in special education who have individualized education programs, otherwise known as IEPs, are being notified for possible reduction, staff said that the district will hire more of those positions if needed.
Mokashi similarly dissented on this resolution of the same reason as the last one — she wants to see more collaboration with the classified staff union and see more hard data on the justifications of why these positions are being reduced.
* The board approved a resolution that establishes criteria to determine the order of which certificated employees are laid off.
The resolution allows 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 board was supposed to vote on a second resolution to establish criteria for layoffs that 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, but Haglund pulled that item to be brought back to the board at a later board meeting so that the district could further discuss it with the Association of Pleasanton Teachers union.
* The board also approved a resolution to notify about 50 temporary teachers that the district does not plan on hiring them for the next school year.
“Each year the district hires temporary certificated employees to cover positions for employees who are on leave on special assignment or funded by unique funding sources,” Grewal said. “Ed Code authorizes this annual and routine process of providing notice to temporary certificated employees which must occur before March 15.”
Both Carreon and Maher said that in their experience, this is a normal thing and that while they are difficult notices to receive as a teacher, they are hopeful to hire them back as the district looks at enrollment and resignations in the future.
I think PUSD can do with far fewer counselors, I dint see any benefits for my kids and I think they tend to mislead students and parents during the sessions and they guide you to what is beneficial to the school and not what is the best interest for the individual student.