Manhattan Beach School Board Votes to Lay Off Teachers, Other Staff

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —The Manhattan Beach Unified School District's Board of Directors has voted to lay off about 30 workers and reduce a number of departments and programs due to ongoing budget difficulties.

In all, the board approved six resolutions during its Feb. 25 meeting that cut temporary probationary and tenured teachers, as well as classified (non-teaching) staff and certificated management. About 30 workers are expected to be laid off or have their work schedules altered.

Additional reductions are also being made by closing vacant positions and transferring and reorganizing job duties among remaining employees.

Superintendent John Bowes said during the meeting that Manhattan Beach Unified is strained by the fact that it's one of the state’s lowest-funded school districts.

“The structural imbalance between ongoing revenues and required costs now requires decisive action,” he said, adding that the reductions are "required to address a structural deficit and align the district with projected revenues.”

“We recognize that these cuts carry real and personal impacts for our district staff and families, and they’re not made lightly," he added. "These steps are essential to stabilize our budget and protect the long-term health of our district.”

Before the resolution was passed, about two dozen teachers, parents and other stakeholders addressed the board, asking it to either not approve the cuts or modify them so that they were not as drastic.

“I’m deeply concerned about the plan to reduce the Humanities department from seven teachers to just three by eliminating four Humanities teacher positions,” Linda Daley, who said she has taught in the school district for 30 years, 24 of them as a Humanities teacher, said. “If this plan proceeds as proposed, Humanities teachers would have classes of 61 students each. Of course, this is ridiculous.

John Jenkins, a varsity soccer coach within the school district said he was concerned about a planned reduction in the district's athletic director's hours and pay.

“It’s a financial decision that will cost the district more than it saves,” he said, then named some of the various responsibilities the position is in charge of. “The work doesn’t shrink, you’re just ensuring that it gets done poorly, or not at all.”

Staff members to be laid off will be notified by March 15, the school district has said.