Sequoia Union High School District Approves Job Cuts

The Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved $5.03 million worth of budget reductions last night, and eliminated 33 full time jobs.

Though not all of positions were filled, Assistant Superintendent Susan Vickrey said at the school board meeting in Redwood City that 32 district employees would be laid off as a result of the cuts.

The district's classified employees, those who are not teachers or administration, took the brunt of the cuts as 24 classified positions were erased from the budget. Those cuts shaved $1.91 million from the district's deficit.

Another $2.29 million came off the district's budget by cutting 9.6 full time certificated jobs. In all, $4.2 million of the $5.03 million in budget balancing actions approved last night were jobs being slashed.

Many district employees spoke out against the proposed cuts, including comments made to the board by teachers as a sign of solidarity with their co-workers.

Janet Elliot, a math teacher at Menlo-Atherton High School, pled passionately for jobs to be spared from the chopping block because she said she felt the district's board and administration excluded its employees from the decision to cut jobs.

"I feel you haven't been inclusive on this. I'm very dissapointed. This is affecting your staff, and you haven't included them in the process," said Elliot.  "You have excluded your community here."

Eliot, who struggled to maintain composure during her speech to the board, was received by a round of applause from the crowd present at the meeting that was comprised mostly of fellow district employees.

Carlmont High School English Teacher Kelly Redmon spoke to the necessity of the district's office secretaries, some of which were at risk to be eliminated. She said the district will not be able to function efficiently without the workers' knowledge of how to handle a wide variety of tasks.

"I'm not sure what other options you have, but I believe you should strongly reconsider these cuts due to the devastation they will bring," said Redmon.

Nadia Bledsoe, classified union worker's representative, said the cuts would make the workload for the remaining district employees insurmountable.

"Our members can't work any harder under these conditions, they are at their breaking point already," said Bledsoe.

The job cuts come as the district's enrollment is projected to increase significantly over the course of the several coming years, according to a district report.

She also said that the cuts would prevent the district from offering the same quality and level of service it has in the past. Her sentiments were echoed by teacher's union representative Greg Gruszynski.

"This level of cuts is really gonna hurt," said Gruszynksi, a teacher at Woodside High School.

He continued that there will be staff protests at district schools next Friday in opposition of the state legislature's inability to pass a budget, which has a profound impact on public school funding.

Gruszynski said both the classified and certificated employee unions will be holding hour-loung rallies, beginning at 7:30 in the morning, at each comprehensive high school on May 13. The rallies will mark the culmination of the week of activities planned to apply pressure on the state legislature to pass a budget.

But the pleas, plans and pressures coming from the district employees did not sway the Board of Trustees from approving the cuts.

Trustee Don Gibson said the $5 million in cuts made last night was a "best case scenario." And continued that the board would still need to make more cuts, because even with the budget action taken last night, the district is still facing a structural deficit which could drain its $16 million reserve fund by the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

"There is no magic thing that will happen in Sacramento," said Gibson. "You can go and protest as much as you want, but we haven't seen much rationale up there."

The district also has an additional $4 million stockpiled in a special reserve fund, which the administration and board are not planning to spend on budget balancing actions.

Trustee Olivia Martinez also pointed to the state legislature as the source of the district's financial woes.

Conservative lawmakers have been unwilling to support Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal, which attempts to balance the state's deficit by splitting the $15 billion gap equally between budget cuts and tax extensions.

Nearly $12 billion in service reductions were approved, but a blockade of the tax extensions has caused Gov. Brown to draft a new budget, which some expect will be comprised of all cuts.

Gov. Brown's revised budget is expected to be released May 16, according to Asst. Supe. Enrique Navas.

"Sacramento is the problem," said Martinez.

But no matter who is to blame, the harsh reality people losing their job is the same.

"This is the most rotten thing that can happen," said Vickrey.