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Teachers and families protest junior‑high teacher non‑reelection, press board on counselors, prep time and librarian days
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Summary
During public comment at the March 10 Santa Barbara Unified board meeting dozens of educators, parents and students urged the board to reverse the assistant superintendent’s non‑reelection recommendation for Arthur Gladwell and called for full funding of counselors, more paid prep time for elementary teachers and four additional contract days for high‑school librarians; the board approved the consent agenda with no reversal on the record.
Public comment on March 10 brought sustained testimony from teachers, counselors, librarians, students and family members pressing the board on multiple staffing and policy concerns.
Several elementary and middle school teachers urged the board to guarantee more paid prep time and to preserve PLC time for collaborative instructional planning, arguing that implementing new curriculum without built‑in planning time shifts the workload to evenings and weekends. First‑grade teacher Kelsey Larson said a single day’s required prep materials can take up to 70 minutes to prepare and that modifications for students with special needs add roughly an extra hour each day, which many teachers complete unpaid on weekends.
A former school counselor, Alicia Gerbach, told the board the district is not fully funding counseling positions at the high‑school level and said sites are being forced to choose between using site funds or foundation donations to preserve counselors; she asked the board to reconsider cuts that increase caseloads and reduce student supports.
Teacher librarian Sherry Bridal urged the board to grant four additional contractual summer days for the district’s three high‑school teacher librarians (current contract: 190 days), estimating the annual cost for the three positions at under $10,000 and saying summer work is now performed unpaid or requires site funds.
Several public commenters addressed the non‑reelection of Arthur Gladwell, a second‑year math teacher at Santa Barbara Junior High who was recommended for reelection by his principal but listed for non‑reelection by district administration. Testimony in favor of Mr. Gladwell included multiple educators, a student who described the teacher’s impact on an autistic student’s success, a partner and family members and the Santa Barbara PTA president, who framed the override as a management issue and warned of harmful precedent for teacher retention and recruitment.
Speakers who urged the board to overturn the non‑reelection included PJ Carmian (TIP mentor), Sophie Myers (education researcher and friend of Mr. Gladwell), Emily Fox (UCSB educator), Sebastian Munday (student and stepson), Alyssa Block (math teacher at Dos Pueblos), Liz Monday (partner of the teacher) and York Shingle (SPTA president). Arthur Gladwell also spoke and requested the board reverse the decision so he could continue teaching.
Despite the public comments and requests for greater transparency about the override process, the consent agenda — which included personnel items — was moved and approved by the board. No reversal of the assistant superintendent’s non‑reelection recommendation was recorded on the meeting minutes or in the public record at the March 10 session.
Speakers repeatedly asked the board for clearer criteria and transparency when district management overrides a principal’s recommendation and for routine communication on staffing decisions that directly affect students and school sites.
