Classified employees facing layoffs

• By BROOKE SELF
  STAFF WRITER

  
  Posted Mar. 25, 2015 at 8:38 AM
  Updated Mar 25, 2015 at 11:21 AM 
  
  

  ADELANTO — Fourteen Adelanto Elementary School District classified employees including janitors, office clerks, groundskeepers and an energy specialist are facing layoff notices, while 20 more could receive a reduction in hours, according to a Board of Trustees announcement made Tuesday.

  The Board ultimately voted 4-0 to postpone taking action on the item by scheduling a separate special meeting for Friday evening. However, the notice came on the same day the district's governing body approved by a unanimous vote a nearly $2.3 million agreement with with the Adelanto Teachers Association to increase teacher pay by a total of 13 percent and to increase a cap on health and welfare benefits from $8,150 to $10,200.

  About 60 people, mostly classified employees, packed the board room, even though the meeting took place during the school day at 9 a.m. Some said they took the day off to attend. Trustee Jayson Hughes was absent from the meeting and did not vote on any of the items on the agenda.

  "I find it kind of ironic that on the same day you're to approve an agreement with teachers to increase salary and benefits, you have before you a resolution to lay off and reduce hours of classified workers," Steven Gavazza, CSEA Chapter 451 President, said to the Board. "That's not to say that I disagree with the increase because I think the teachers are quite deserving. ... But we're still understaffed from previous years and yet we're asked to give more. Classified employees make the least amount of money in the district and yet we are asked to give the most."

  Gavazza said the cuts would directly impact "student achievement" and said he believed they were being made to help meet the district's state-mandated 3-percent reserve based on their second interim budget report.

  "They say they're not going to make their reserve amount of $1.79 million, but they're going to be just fine in the two subsequent years, and any of these layoffs aren't going to occur until next year anyway," Gavazza said.

  Asked about the state of the district's budget and the necessity of the looming layoffs, Superintendent Edwin Gomez declined to comment after the meeting. He asked Interim Chief Business Officer Ajay Mohindra to comment later in the day via email.

  Mohindra said in statement that the district's budget is currently in a "qualified status" and they're undertaking measures to strengthen the district's fiscal position in order to meet the 3-percent state-required reserve level.

  Board documents didn't include dollar amounts related to the fiscal impact of the classified employee reductions. An email sent to the superintendent questioning those amounts was not immediately returned.

  Gomez told the Board during the meeting that "immediate action" was needed to address the issue.

  Trustee Elaine Gonzales was first to propose that the district postpone voting on the item until a new special meeting was scheduled to allow for more "stakeholders" to attend.

  "We're doing it at a time when everyone is at work," she said. "We have a decent amount here but I'm sure this parking lot and this room would look much like it did (in past meetings if we did it later)."

  Mesa Linda Middle School Librarian Julie Kowalski passed around pictures of students in the library in the morning and told the Board how a cut in her hours would "deny students" the time to use the building before school and during sixth period.

  "It's a safe haven for them," Kowalski said. "They read, they do homework, it's a place for them to come together in the community. And by the cutbacks, that will be gone and they will have nowhere to go in the morning."

  Teachers' union president Hector Anderson said he wanted "to stand shoulder to shoulder" with his "classified brothers and sisters in their struggle." He called the announcement "premature" and said he wasn't sure if much effort went into researching other options.

  "I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth," Anderson said, referring to the teachers' recent contract approval. "But I don't think they should balance the budget on the backs of classified employees. I think the timing could have been better. Although I don't think there's ever a good time to tell people they're going to be laid off."

  Anderson said the state's new Local Control Funding Formula would bring a wave of new cash to AESD's coffers and that the district is likely to receive the second- or third-highest amount per pupil in the state.

  Brooke Self may be reached at 760-951-6232 or BSelf@VVDailyPress.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @BrookeSelf or @DPEduNews.