School district layoffs not OK'D

Officials proposed eliminating the equivalent of about 80 jobs, citing ‘undue financial hardship’

A proposal to lay off the equivalent of about 80 full-time jobs in Moreno Valley schools failed to win school board approval Tuesday night.

Board members opposed two suggested lists of layoffs. School officials said the recommendations resulted in part from the “undue financial hardship” that the Moreno Valley Unified School District faces.

One recommendation called for eliminating the equivalent of 47 full-time posts, including:

■ Six elementary assistant principals

■ 16 assistant administrators of instructional improvement and academic coaching

■ 10 professional development specialists

■ 15 school counselors

The other, with 32.5 full-time-equivalent positions, included:

■ One administrative assistant

■ 15 paraprofessionals

■ 7.5 custodians

■ Six clerks

■ Three bus drivers

State education code requires that school employees be given notice by March 15 if they might be laid off the following school year.

District employees, parents and students spoke to the school board Tuesday, with many asking that the reductions be reconsidered.

“Cutting these vital positions is not merely a budgetary decision, it’s a compromise on the quality of education that we provide,” said Jocelyne Jerez, a counselor at Armada Elementary School in Moreno Valley.

“The reason I was hired was because the need was so high,” Jerez said, adding that she and the campus’ other counselor are still stretched thin. “We are always working directly with students.”

Chris Farias, president of the Moreno Valley Educators Association, said the union is “frustrated with the lack of transparency and collaboration throughout the district’s decision-making processes.”

“Our association was not invited to participate in formal discussions to try and resolve this issue,” Farias said.

He spoke about the need for some of the po

sitions that administrators suggested be cut.

“We need our district to preserve these positions because our students deserve the best.”

Louise Palomarez showed up “in support of the teachers,” and called attention to the amount of money she said the district has spent on lawsuits and other items.

“We spent $147,000 on balloons last year,” she said, referencing a document and holding a cluster of balloons to make her point. “I only paid $5 for these balloons.”

Interim Superintendent Robert Verdi said that, “in years past, we have collaborated very, very well and very, very quickly with our labor groups when there have been state fiscal crises.”

But this situation differs, Verdi said, referring to an emergency school board resolution from a Jan. 9 special session in which the district declared an “undue financial hardship.”

The resolution references legal fees, settlements that must be paid, and states that the district’s 2023-24 budget projects a general fund deficit of $2,021,015.

Verdi clarified that the layoffs would be preliminary, but “timelines are short because of March deadlines and legal deadlines that we have to account for.”

Board member Susan Smith questioned administrators’ choices about which positions would be cut.

“I was a little upset that there were not a few district office positions on this list. That personally upset me,” she said, citing the first of the recommendations.

Her comment received a round of applause.

“We talked about cutting across the board,” she said. “But then when I look at the list, I don’t see anybody at a district level position on the list at all.”

During discussion of the second recommendation, board member Ruth Selfwilliams asked district officials to consider a plan in which the cuts stay “as far away from the classroom as we can.”

“Let’s look at every department at the district office,” she said, asking who directly impacts students’ success.

Both proposals officially died when the board did not approve them. School officials agreed that parts of the recommendations could be reworked.

Self-williams emphasized the need to target wasteful spending.

“I don’t want to see another balloon,” she said.