Petaluma board approves multiple staff reductions, declines amendment to retain district nurse

The Petaluma City Schools Board of Education on Wednesday approved a package of resolutions that will reduce and discontinue multiple certificated and classified positions as part of a budget plan to achieve roughly $2 million in savings for the 2025–26 school year.

Board members voted to adopt the resolutions after extensive public comment from parents, counselors and budget-advisory committee members who urged the board to preserve student-facing staff, especially a district nurse the board discussed keeping if alternative funding could be identified.

Board President Matt Cloud opened the meeting's action items and staff presented the resolutions as reductions and discontinuations of particular kinds of service (PKS) and classified eliminations. Staff told the board they must notify affected certificated employees by March 15 that their positions are subject to possible elimination and have until May 14 to finalize any reassignments or rescissions if alternate funding is found.

Public commenters and members of the budget advisory committee repeatedly urged the board not to cut frontline roles. Shana Friedman, a Casa Grande school counselor, said the absence of student-facing staff is “immediately felt by the entire campus community,” and described a recent case in which a school nurse administered Narcan during…