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Students and unions urge Stockton Unified to restore work‑experience teachers amid work‑permit confusion
Summary
Students, union representatives and classified staff said the district eliminated centralized work‑experience teachers and left work‑permit processing unclear, raising confidentiality and labor‑code concerns; trustees were asked to investigate and negotiate solutions with CTE and HR.
Students and union representatives told the Stockton Unified board that the district’s elimination of centralized work‑experience teachers has created confusion and put student privacy and safety at risk.
Malik Thomas, a senior and student‑body president at Edison High School, said reintroducing work experience is “essential” to prepare students for the workforce and to provide internships and job skills. Other student speakers said work experience provides paid opportunities, school credit and support for college and scholarship applications.
Union and classified staff speakers, including Bernadette Armenta, said the district’s CTE office eliminated the work‑experience teacher role without clear direction for site‑level implementation. They reported that classified staff were asked to process work permits, share login credentials to permit software and contact employers — tasks they said belong to certificated staff under Education Code. Armenta described data‑security and confidentiality risks and said CSEA issued a demand to bargain.
“I was surprised because CSEA never received a notice from the district about this,” Armenta said, describing inconsistent training, shared passwords and unclear site instructions. Another commenter said classified staff had been asked to pull up confidential student data on terminals without privacy protections.
District staff did not announce an immediate fix at the meeting. Trustees and staff were asked to follow up with CTE and HR to clarify who will process work permits, what protections will be put in place for student data and whether work‑experience positions will be restored.
No formal action was recorded at the meeting on this item; public commenters requested that the board direct staff to negotiate with unions and provide clearer, uniform procedures across sites.
