Parents ask board to rethink staff cuts

Trustees mull delaying decision, which would consist of eliminating 200 positions

Pasadena Unified School District parents and employees descended on the district's headquarters Thursday to advocate for the Board of Education to reconsider two resolutions that would eliminate and lay off about 200 certified and classified staff across the district.

As of the time of publication, no decision had been made with nearly all public commenters advocating for the district to look elsewhere as it aims to make budget cuts in light of a nearly $40 billion state budget shortfall, declining enrollment and the loss of one-time COVID-19-funding.

By 8:20 p.m., trustees were weighing whether to table the cuts.

“We may want to delay this a week to evaluate,” said trustee Tina Fredericks, reflecting a theme on the dais. “Please explain how this is not going to impact our most vulnerable populations.”

Board President Kimberly Kenne said trustees needed to see more on the impacts to the positions.

But board Vice President Jennifer Hall Lee was skeptical on whether anything would change between this week and next, if the cuts were postponed — especially up against a midMarch deadline.

“If this is tabled, what's your process?” she said.

The resolutions propose cutting 109.4 full timeequivalent certified positions, after an earlier version listed only 70. Similarly, a resolution cutting 65 classified employees was revised to include more than 90 positions.

Full time-equivalent positions are calculated based on the total number of regular hours worked by all applicable employees divided by the number of compensable hours in a fiscal year, which is why the amounts listed for some positions are not whole numbers.

The largest cuts will come from 32.6 positions for teacher special assignments, 16.8 positions for elementary education across multiple subjects; 11.5 middle school education positions, nine psychologist positions, eight coordinators, including two for special education and seven special education teachers.

At the meeting, several commenters pointed out that the proposed cuts are disproportionately coming from special education, career and technical education and social emotional learning services — all areas they say the district should be investing in the most.

Others pointed out that these same areas are actually adding to the district's enrollment, which would ultimately hurt their bottom line in the long run.