VUSD staff, students and parents attended the Mar. 11 board meeting to stop the reductions and layoffs of staff

The district board held a regular meeting Mar. 11 at the VUSD Education Services Center, located at 255 West Stanley Avenue. For all regular meetings, the public is free to attend and a sign was put near the building 30 minutes before. By law, the board had to release the agenda at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. For the first two hours, the board had their closed session but then opened up the meeting to the public at 6 p.m. that was also live streamed on YouTube which had over 800 live viewers.

At the previous meeting on Feb. 25, over 500 people attended to stop the budget cuts that would layoff or reduce pay for counselors and librarians. The board had decided that high school and middle school librarians and counselors as well as elementary school counselors would be safe from the layoffs but still about 221 people will be impacted by the budget cuts. Before the Mar. 11 meeting, Ventura Unified Education Association and Ventura Education Support Professionals Association posted on Instagram, encouraging others to attend the meeting out of concern for the other district staff who will face reductions or layoffs. 

VHS librarian Dinh Thai is one of the people that will be affected by the cuts. In the 2025-26 school year, she will be moved to Anacapa Middle School in the office instead of the library. Her working hours are also being cut in half.

VUEA and VESPA members were present at the meeting, including VESPA president Carol Peek.

Peek said, “I started my career at VUSD in 2005. I was a part time Campus Supervisor, and single mother of three…As a VUSD employee, I saw first hand how hard it was to make ends meet on very few hours and little pay. I saw and experienced how most ESPs (education support professionals aka classified) had to work two and three additional jobs to just take care of their families. I wanted to make a difference in our work conditions, as well as fight for higher wages and benefits. That’s why I joined the union…It’s heartbreaking to see so many long-term employees losing their positions and getting their hours cut. In some cases, this is causing members to lose their health benefits.”

Pizza was provided near the entrance of the board room. Sandro Wulff ‘26 was also there passing out QR codes that were linked to a survey he created to help find alternative ways to reduce the district’s budget deficit. 

Wulff said, “I’m not naive enough to think that [my survey] will eliminate a multi-million dollar budget shortfall but if it saves even one job it will be worthwhile.”

The public meeting began with the pledge of allegiance then roll call. All board members were present. Then, the board summarized the actions that were made during the closed session. Five certified administrators were released and resigned to a teaching or counselor position based on their credentials and would come in effect at the end of the 2024-25 school year. Afterwards, ASB representatives from BHS, PHS and VHS shared their school reports. 

Although the budget cut was not on the agenda, the public is free to speak on issues outside of the agenda during the time for public comments. Speakers must submit a slip before the action item, public comments, was called. Students were prioritized to speak first, then Spanish speakers and lastly others such as parents and staff. Approximately 40 people submitted a slip, all with concerns for the budget cut and were allowed two minutes to speak. Spanish speakers were allowed four minutes for time to translate. 

According to VESPA, “The Classified Resolution called for 86.37 FTEs (full-time equivalent) to be reduced or eliminated. Since most ESPs do not work full-time it is much more than 86 people. The initial impact affected 204 employees, who all work closely with students, parents and the community. Once “bumping” started, a right the members have that’s explained in our contract, the number went up to 225. We have approximately 850 classified employees. The district needs to reduce its budget this year by 8.7 million. So, they are cutting classified and certificated staff.”

The first speaker, Maise Hatler ‘25 said, “I’m asking you [why] are we cutting from the bottom up? And more importantly, what kind of message does this send? Because to me, it says that people who work the hardest, most thankless jobs don’t matter.”

Wulff ‘25 said, “During the past several weeks, I have spoken to all of my teachers and every single one of them has [ideas] that could help address the budget shortfall and prevent the

gutting of essential staff. I’ve also heard from classified staff about expensive paper towels, unwanted desks and overpriced furniture. I’m sure that some of these inefficiencies are unavoidable but before we cut a single person we should look closely at every opportunity to decrease unnecessary expenditures.”

 After the public comments, the board received time for their own comments as well.

Board member James Forsythe said “It is evident that we didn’t give the same breath [to our classified employees as we did with certified staff.]…It wasn’t right and [I] take ownership that we should’ve asked more questions.”

Board member Sabrene Rodriguez also requested that Wulff share his survey responses with the board.

Wulff said, “There were are a few [responses] that involved limiting professional development and external professional development and…also just purely relying on district buses instead of contracting out…[This has been] going around but if the district is gonna make cuts, they need to start at the top and then cut down because the [people] they are cutting are critical to the operations of schools.”

Wulff’s goal is to have at least 100 responses before sending them to the board. His survey closes after Mar. 22.

Peek said, “I believe if the district cut or reduced positions from the top, like District Office [management,] that would make a huge impact on our budget. Their salaries are significantly higher than the boots on the ground employees. I also hope that the district learns from this and does not use one-time funds to pay employee salaries.”

Then at 7:50 p.m., the meeting was paused by a break and continued 8 p.m. with the action items on the agenda.

Wulff said, “[The meeting] really shows how many people are affected by the cuts and it also shows that the district has a [lack] of knowledge or research on what these people exactly do and why they’re so important.”

A special board meeting was held Mar. 18 to decide on the layoffs and reductions for classified staff which will not be livestreamed.