Teachers and union reps urge Wiseburn board to prioritize special-ed staffing, substitutes and classroom supports

Levi Barria Wells, labor relations representative for CSEA Chapter 486, and multiple classroom teachers addressed the Wiseburn Unified School District board on Nov. 20 to urge immediate action on special-education staffing, substitute pay and classroom supports.

CSEA’s Levi Barria Wells told trustees the district uses a single instructional-aide job description for all settings and urged separate classifications for general-education aides, special-education aides and intensive 1:1 supports so the district can recruit and retain appropriately trained staff. “This step will make it possible to meet teachers’ call for more staffing with qualified long term employees who are invested in our student success,” Barria Wells said.

Second-grade teacher Kathleen Espana described frequent unfilled absences and the knock-on effect on instruction. She said one intervention teacher covered for colleagues 11 times in one month and that those reassignments have cost her site roughly 20 lost service days so far this year — “about 11% of the school year” of lost services — and urged revisiting substitute pay and creating permanent part-time roving substitute positions.

Kindergarten teacher Bonnie Oleguin told trustees instructional and SPED aides are often reassigned mid-day without notice, that training and predictable schedules are inconsistent, and that parent-volunteer supports that once existed have declined. “Our classrooms urgently need more staffing support, especially in areas of instructional and SPED aids,” she said.

Holly Glen kindergarten teacher Maria Rodriguez reported running out of construction paper, paint and copy allotments early in the year and said her TK–2 sites include seven TK classes, six kindergarten and other early-grade sections totaling roughly 563 students who rely on those supplies for hands-on learning. She asked the board to review ordering and budget processes that left teachers asking families to donate basic materials.

TK teacher Deborah Davis criticized what she described as a widening compensation gap between classroom staff and district administrators, saying administrative raises — including a reported 11.8% raise for the deputy superintendent this year — have outpaced raises for teachers who have taken on increased duties. “If we want to maintain the excellence that we are known for, we must invest equitably in the people who make that excellence possible,” Didi Zirbold, another Holly Glen teacher, added.

Board chair and district staff thanked speakers and said, under the Brown Act, trustees could not engage in back-and-forth during public comment but would take the concerns under advisement. The comments included specific operational requests (specialized aide job descriptions, higher substitute pay, roving substitutes, predictable aide schedules), quantitative examples (11 coverage shifts for one intervention teacher, ~563 TK–2 students affected by supply shortages) and direct comparisons of pay competitiveness with neighboring districts.

What’s next: trustees and staff acknowledged they will review the requests and the district’s budgeting/ordering processes; no formal board action was taken during public comment.