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Parents and staff decry handling of school social workers and RTI staffing changes
Summary
At the May 13 Tehachapi Unified School District board meeting, parents and staff raised concerns about how the district is restructuring two social worker positions and the reassignment of a learning director while retaining RTI intervention roles; speakers warned those personnel moves undermine student support and dignity.
Parents, staff and advocates pressed the Tehachapi Unified School District Board of Trustees on May 13 over recent personnel moves that affect school-based mental-health and intervention services, saying the changes risk harming students and the employees who serve them.
The concerns centered on two social worker positions and changes to how Response to Intervention (RTI) and learning-director roles were funded and assigned. "This practical and professional solution was dismissed," said Jessica Smith, a resident, describing a proposal to reclassify two positions as "mental health clinicians" to retain their campus roles. Smith said one social worker was told she "must return next year only as an independent contractor due to credentialing technicalities," a change Smith said would strip retirement and benefits.
Smith also urged the board to reconsider how RTI positions are funded after the district preserved intervention teachers by using Title I funds. Smith said the district offered the Golden Hills learning-director job to a candidate without appropriate secondary credentials and that alternative proposals — including sharing leadership between two elementary sites — were dismissed.
The meeting included extended public comment from Brianna Schultz, who identified herself representing the Golden Hills Parent Teacher Organization and said families were "frustrated and concerned" about special-education leadership and treatment of families during IEP processes. Schultz alleged patterns of bullying and retaliation by a district special-education manager and said families have filed due-process and civil-rights complaints.
Superintendent Francis Lynch and other staff did not make personnel decisions at the dais during the meeting; multiple public commenters asked the board to direct the district to find permanent, credential-appropriate classifications that preserve employee benefits while maintaining on-campus mental-health services. Board members listened and did not take a formal vote on staffing, but board discussion acknowledged the complexity of funding and credential rules.
The debate continued beyond public comment: parents and educators said the district's solution had been piecemeal and that further collaboration was needed. Speakers asked the board to publicly explain why one title change (to "school counselor" using a 1996 job description) was acceptable while another ("mental health clinician") was not, and urged the district to use options allowed by CalPERS to preserve accrued sick time if employees remain in district roles.
The public record of the May 13 meeting shows no board motion to change these positions; the district has approved other, unrelated personnel actions and contracts during the session but did not adopt a resolution on the social-worker or RTI classifications. Several parents asked the board to reopen discussion at a future meeting and for staff to provide written details about funding sources and credentialing constraints that shape job assignments.
Board members and district staff said they will take comments under advisement and investigate options that would maintain services on campuses while complying with state credential and payroll rules. Several commenters asked the board to ensure future decisions are more collaborative and transparent so that employees and families are not left with short-term fixes.
The board did not adopt any policy or binding change on these items at the May 13 meeting; speakers asked for follow-up and clearer public explanations of the district's actions going forward.
