Community and unions urge Pajaro Valley Unified board to rescind planned layoffs

Dozens of students, parents, teachers and union leaders used the district's public comment period to implore the Pajaro Valley Unified School District board to rescind proposed layoffs that would eliminate counselors, instructional aides, reading intervention teachers and mental health clinicians.

Students from Pajaro Valley High and other campuses said cuts would worsen access to college counseling, increase counselor caseloads and remove essential social-emotional supports. "Cutting IAs and mental health counselors at the elementary school level is robbing the most vulnerable students of resources that they need," a student speaker said during public comment.

CSEA Chapter 132 President Ashley Yoro Flowers told the board classified professionals are the foundation of daily student services and asked trustees to pause layoffs while the district reviews administrative growth and outside contracts. "When we lay off employees who serve students daily, we continue to contract outside services that cost significantly," Flowers said, urging the board to realign spending toward school-based staff.

PVFT speakers and other parents echoed those concerns. Union representatives said cuts appear to target classroom-facing roles while administrative positions and outside consulting contracts continue to expand. "This district has refused to fill positions all year long, particularly when it comes to our counseling positions," a PVFT representative said, calling for a measured approach and for the board to demand the district rescind the reductions.

Trustees acknowledged the community's concerns. Trustee Medina asked the superintendent and staff to return in open session with clear timelines and accountability around student-safety staffing and service-provider contracts. Board members repeatedly emphasized their interest in transparency about the budget tradeoffs that led to the reductions.

The public comment session included personal accounts from school staff and parents of recent incidents on campus — including a student anaphylaxis event that, parents said, highlighted gaps that could be widened by the proposed staffing reductions. Speakers asked for a transparent budget analysis and urged that any savings come from the top rather than from positions that directly affect students' daily support and safety.

The board did not take action on the layoffs during the meeting; the public comment period concluded with a petition presented earlier in the evening asking the board to reverse the cuts. Trustees said they would continue labor-management sessions and follow-up discussions; no final rescission was announced. The board moved on to other agenda items after the public comment period concluded.