Class Sizes, Student Surveys Headline School Board Meeting

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday covered a smorgasbord of topics. Here are the CliffsNotes:

Teachers want the school board to direct extra money to reducing class sizes. A parade of educators told trustees about the value of reducing classes by as little as four students. They asked for help with basic needs in their schools: more desks, repairs, janitorial services—well, that request actually came from the high school student representatives. Smaller class sizes would help them work with remedial students and reduce the long weekend hours they are putting in. Teachers came with signs and wore blue stickers supporting their cause.

Results of a student survey showed 8 percent of seventh graders, 19 percent of  ninth graders and 13 eleventh graders consider themselves gang members, according to Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance, a nonprofit dedicated to working with at-risk and troubled students. That's higher than the statewide average, which hovers between 8-9 percent for all grade levels. The Healthy Kids Survey touched on a wide variety of topics, from drug use to positive relationships with teachers.

Redistricting is slogging forward. The district has two options for new maps and picked "Scenario 1." The big difference between the two was District 1 Trustee Kim De Serpa retains a small tract of Aptos' Seacliff neighborhood in her largely rural ward. Trustees had raised concerns about how candidates could campaign is some rural districts and were scolded for thinking of elections and not their constituents.

The board is looking at the possibility of mid-year cuts at the state level because revenues already are coming in low. Official word is expected Dec. 15. The school district is holding on to some cash reserves just in case doomsday hits.

Furlough days were restored for some employees, despite objections from the teachers' union.