Parents, students urge board to keep Vietnamese family liaison at Yerba Buena and restore campus supports

Dozens of parents, students and site staff used the June 5 public‑comment period to urge the East Side Union High School District Board of Trustees to retain a Vietnamese parent and community involvement specialist at Yerba Buena High School and to restore other site staff at several campuses.

Speakers described the specialist as a trusted translator, connector and community liaison who helps non‑English‑speaking parents navigate school communications, complete paperwork, and attend events. Multiple speakers tied the role to student success and family engagement.

Angela Jeong, identified in the record as a parent, told the board, “This isn't due to a lack of commitment. It's a lack of accessible support,” and asked that the Vietnamese family coordinator remain at Yerba Buena. Student leaders and alumni echoed that plea: Valerie Vu said removal “will result in great consequences and negatively impact Vietnamese students,” and Amy Vu, a recent graduate and Vietnamese Student Association co‑president, described the coordinator’s role in arranging culturally specific events and outreach.

Several speakers emphasized numbers and site context. Parent Minhwen Tran said Yerba Buena’s graduating class included roughly 40 percent of students with Vietnamese surnames, and Independence High staff reported daily foot traffic of roughly 40 Vietnamese‑speaking family contacts who rely on a Vietnamese‑speaking attendance clerk to process attendance and inquiries.

Independence site staff and teachers also asked the board to restore campus monitors and attendance clerks. Independence site president Virginia Ingelfinger and attendance clerk Diana Castillo described the school’s large, open campus and said that translating via a language line takes several minutes per call and would not meet family needs. Castillo said the attendance office must remain staffed to handle mail, fire alarm communications and walk‑ins safely.

Union leaders and other commenters framed the issue in budgetary context: Julio Pardo of CSEA thanked the district for recent staffing restorations but urged the board to remember classified staff contributions during prior savings. East Side Teachers Association President Jack Hamner called multilingual family‑liaison positions “super, super important” and said the positions are modest relative to district budget size.

The board did not take action under the public‑comment item; trustees acknowledged the concerns and said staff would be asked to follow up. Several trustees said they intended to raise site‑level staffing questions in subsequent discussions.