WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees voted again to lay off dozens of teachers and other staff during a special meeting held Dec. 22.
The vote was just 11 days after passing the same cuts at a contentious board meeting that ended with the public being cleared from the room. The Dec. 22 meeting went smoother, though the cuts were no less unpopular.
Fifteen counselor positions, 40 elementary and middle school teachers, and 13 other positions that included a theater arts teacher, film teacher, choir instructor and music teacher were cut from the budget, equivalent to 81 full-time positions.
“Our district was already facing a budget crisis in 2018. When COVID hit, temporary funds stabilized our finances and likely prevented state intervention,” Trustee Olivia Flores explained to the audience attending the meeting. “Unfortunately, the district did not use those additional funds to correct long-standing budget issues. Instead, we added positions funded by one-time monies. … We are now dealing with the consequences of those decisions, alongside declining enrollment. If we continue spending more than we bring in, we will only deepen the financial hole.”
The meeting was not livestreamed or recorded. Some in the audience decried that it was a violation of the Brown Act to do so, as previous meetings had always been streamed and recorded, which they argued made it a policy that cannot be changed without proper notice. If the intent was to keep the meeting off the internet, it failed, as numerous people then made their own recordings and posted them online.
Most of the board members wanted to explain their votes to make the cuts, which they admitted were difficult to do. Trustee Jessica Carrasco said it was a terrible decision to have to make, but was necessary.
“I honor our youth, and I need you to believe me that I am not here to deceive the very community that raised me,” Carrasco said.
She said she grew up playing soccer, and not everyone on the team had to like each other, but they needed to work toward the same goal.
“That’s what I’m asking here,” she said. “The students are watching, and they deserve this example.”
Trustee Gabriel Medina followed Carrasco by lecturing his fellow trustees.
“I don’t think many of you understand how important the arts are,” Medina said. “You probably see it as a hobby. Most of us see it as a living. We see it as a way to express ourselves, a way to understand ourselves as a people.”
He then specifically attacked Carrasco.
“When you tell somebody you’re going to do one thing and your vote does another, that says something about you,” Medina said.
Medina seemed to bring his fellow trustee to tears later in the meeting when he appeared to accuse her of “cosplaying” her Latino heritage.
Medina finished with a dark tone.
“Removing resources is a form of violence,” he said. “And you have no remorse for your decision.”
Public comment ensued and was almost unanimously against the cuts.
“I think this decision is a little hasty,” said a parent of an Aptos High student. “The approach could be counterproductive. If the services go down, you’ll have lower enrollment.”
After he spoke, Medina interrupted public comment to ask Superintendent Heather Contreras if the state budget had been released. Medina has often decried that the cuts are being made before the budget has been released and before it is even known if they will be needed.
Contreras replied that although the budget had not been released, a preliminary budget had been sent to school districts in November so they would know what to expect.
“And was that budget released in any of the board documents?” Medina asked.
“Yes. You did receive that,” she replied.
“OK. Cool,” Medina said.
Medina made several motions during the course of the meeting to adjourn it before any decision was made.
When he discovered that the district’s interpreter would not be at the meeting, he questioned whether it could move forward under the Brown Act, but was told that Alejandro Chavez, the district’s public information officer, was in attendance and could interpret. It appeared to anger him.
After public comment ended, Flores made a motion to approve the cuts. Before it could get a second, Medina interrupted and made what he called an amendment to the motion to include Chavez in the budget cuts as well. He then began ridiculing Trustee Misty Navarro after she questioned his violation of Robert’s Rules of Order and the Brown Act.
“What is a substitute motion?” Medina asked.
The attorney for PVUSD explained it to him from the audience, as well as why eliminating a position that had not even been considered and was not on the agenda was improper.
“Can you tell me what that code section is?” Medina asked.
The attorney’s explanation could not be fully heard by this reporter, but Government Code Section 54954.2(a)(2) of the Ralph M. Brown Act is the provision that prohibits action or discussion on nonagendized items, such as voting on the termination of an employee whose position was not listed on the agenda. The statute states that “no action or discussion shall be undertaken on any item not appearing on the posted agenda.” The motion also defied Robert’s Rules of Order, as Flores’ motion, which she made first, had not yet been considered.
“I’m a little confused,” Medina responded to the attorney. “We’re not required to follow Robert’s Rules of Order?”
“No,” the attorney responded, adding that it was largely at the discretion of Trustee Turley, the board’s chair, whether a substitute motion could be considered before an original motion was voted on.
Unable to get the revenge he sought against the public information officer, Medina then changed his motion to delay the vote on cuts until January. It failed to get a second.
Medina then declared that revenge would come through the next election, in which the board members who voted for the cuts, along with the superintendent, would all be replaced. He then spoke to the audience in Spanish, telling them that the other trustees lived in nice homes, drove fancy cars, had plenty of money and did not care about students.
Before the final vote, Turley made an impassioned speech.
“Districts throughout the state are dealing with what we’re doing. Oakland is on the precipice of going into receivership again because it decided to budget on the hope that enrollment will rise,” she said. “We should all, those who care about students, be locking arms and going to the state demanding they support public education.”
She then pointed out that the state expects school districts to feed students, provide health and mental health services, and address housing needs for teachers and homeless students, and is now even expecting school districts to help house fire and police personnel.
“They want to keep putting all this on the backs of public education without providing the appropriate funding to do that. We should all be calling our state representatives. We’re all in the same fight,” she said.
The vote was in favor, 4-2-1, with Daniel Dodge Jr. and Medina voting against the job cuts, and Trustee Joy Flynn absent.
TOP PHOTO: Pajaro Valley Unified School District teachers and other employees protested in front of the Watsonville Public Library over planned cuts to staff.