Teachers and parents urge board to restore four cut positions, warn of harm to literacy gains
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Summary
Multiple teachers and long-serving educators told the Hueneme Elementary School District board that proposed staff cuts will jeopardize recent literacy gains, increase class sizes and strain services for students with high needs, urging the board to consider alternatives to layoffs.
Several teachers and community members urged the Hueneme Elementary School District governing board to reverse recent staffing cuts, saying reductions would harm student learning and classroom supports.
Daisy Tom Salvez, a language-arts teacher, told the board the district should "explore alternative methods for budget solvency rather than reducing teacher positions," and asked the board to restore the four positions it voted to eliminate. She cited Panorama and AIMSweb data showing concentrated needs in the current sixth- and seventh-grade cohorts and said increases in student-to-teacher ratios would jeopardize academic momentum and mandated accommodations for students with high needs.
"These cuts create two significant risks. First, we jeopardize academic momentum," Salvez said. "Second, we compromise our learning environment. It is nearly impossible to provide mandated accommodations for students with high needs in overcrowded classrooms."
Erica Hutter, a full-time English teacher who said the board voted to cut her position, warned those reductions will reduce enrichment and intervention time and leave some departments without teachers next year. "How can we do that when cuts are being made at the classroom level?" she asked, pressing the board for details on steps the district will take to address chronic absenteeism and the budget shortfall beyond staff layoffs.
Karen Arthur, a teacher with three decades of experience, asked the board to prioritize instructional positions and pursue non-instructional cuts where possible. Arthur warned that larger class sizes would make it harder to sustain recent gains in language-arts competency and would limit time for the one-on-one instruction some students need.
Board members acknowledged the comments during trustee reports and thanked speakers for coming; no formal reversal of the layoffs was recorded on the agenda. The board is proceeding with closed-session discussions on labor negotiations and litigation, and several personnel items before the board were approved during the meeting.
