Union leaders, staff and parents pressed the Yakima School District Board of Directors on June 2 about recent layoffs, reassignments and assistant-principal moves, arguing the changes disrupt services for students while district officials defended the personnel actions as required by contract and driven by retirements and recalls.

The dispute centered on a wave of position eliminations announced earlier in the 2023–24 school year and subsequent reassignments. “At the end of the 2324 school year in March, we had announced 61.5 positions, represented by YEA, which were eliminated,” said Anthony Murrieta, assistant superintendent of operations and human resources, explaining how seniority and recall rules were applied. He said roughly 40 additional positions were subject to reduction-in-force (RIF) procedures and that 80 retirements or resignations occurred during the same period.

Why it matters: Community speakers said the staffing moves — including plans to move a popular Washington Middle School staff member, and to reduce an assistant principal position at Discovery Early Learning to part time — will harm students and make it harder to meet special-education timelines.

Murrieta told the board the district used seniority and recall provisions to place higher‑seniority staff into available positions and then recalled people from the RIF list as openings occurred. “When you add the hundred and, again, this is an approximate 40 with the 80, that that makes 220 available positions,” Murrieta said. He added that, after reassignments and recalls, “there has been a total of over $20,000,000 saved by reductions.”

Union and community speakers said the process has left classrooms and special programs less stable. Francis Guerrero, president of the YEA bargaining unit, told the board those affected want broader, transparent communication. “Meeting with people individually simply allows you to engage in gaslighting or intimidation versus meeting with the whole staff,” Guerrero said during public comment, arguing the district should address staff collectively rather than responding to individual emails.

Several Discovery Early Learning staff urged the board to keep John Solar full time at Discovery so the program retains an administrator with special-education experience. Kim Wahlberg, who identified herself as staff at Discovery Early Learning, said Solar “oversees pre to pre transitions, pre to kinder transitions, plts, program development for developmental preschool, special education evaluations, initial IEPs, and so much more,” and that reducing the building’s administrative coverage will make it harder to meet IEP timelines.

Superintendent Doctor Green acknowledged the district has received many identical “click-and-send” messages from the public but said he responds to those concerns and offered to meet individually and with union leaders. “I will always respond unless, unless, directed not to,” Doctor Green said, adding that he has scheduled one‑on‑one meetings with union leaders and with staff who asked for them.

Board action and next steps: There was no vote on staffing changes at the meeting. Murrieta offered to provide more detailed position-by-position information in a meeting rather than in public to protect employee privacy. Multiple speakers urged the board to reconsider specific reassignments and to involve school staff in planning. The district said it will continue one‑on‑one meetings and offered to provide more detailed, non‑public position movement data upon request.

Ending: The staffing discussion carried through public comment and staff reports; no formal reversal or board directive was recorded at the June 2 meeting. The superintendent and assistant superintendent invited further meetings with staff and union representatives to clarify timelines and placement details.