Public commenter urges restoration of seniority points for internal promotions at Barstow Unified

Gilbert Saez Junior told the Barstow Unified Personnel Commission that the district’s seniority points are currently being applied only to the merge list and open competitive lists and not to promotional internal or promotional internal/open competitive lists. "The seniority points, they're only being given for, merge list and open competitive," he said, asking the commission to "get it back to being in the promotional internal and promotional internal and open competitive" so that "people who have been here a while can get their points."

Commissioners responded by agreeing to place a clarification of the seniority-points policy on a future agenda and to solicit historical context from CSEA or long-serving members, with one commissioner saying the commission should "reexamine it, see what we can do" and asking staff to gather background materials. The chair noted that commissioners will seek input and possibly collaborate with CSEA on documenting how points were previously applied.

Why it matters: seniority points affect eligibility and ranking for internal promotions and can materially influence job opportunities for long-tenured classified employees. Commissioners framed the next step as a factual review rather than an immediate policy change.

What’s next: The commission agreed to agendize a clarification of the seniority-points practice at a future meeting and asked staff and CSEA to provide any historical materials or recommendations.