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Parent and special‑education teacher urge Murrieta board to reverse transfer denials and halt proposed aide cuts
Summary
A parent whose child with autism was denied an interdistrict transfer and an RSP teacher who warned of a proposed 20% reduction in aide support pressed the Murrieta Valley Unified board to restore access and stop staffing cuts they say would threaten student safety and legal compliance.
During public comment at the Murrieta Valley Unified School District board meeting, parent Margaret Spalding described the emotional and logistical impact of an interdistrict transfer denial for her daughter with autism and asked the board to reconsider both her family's request and the district's policies governing transfers.
Spalding said her daughter has built peer relationships and receives RSP services that allowed rapid academic progress. She said the transfer denial cited an "impacted special education program" without offering a meaningful path for reconsideration and that the timing prevented her child from applying to extracurricular programs for sixth grade.
"My daughter is not a number on an impacted program spreadsheet. She is a student. She is a member of this community," Spalding said, asking the board to align policies with the district mission statement and consider individual circumstances.
RSP teacher Erica Santa Cruz later told trustees that a proposed 20% reduction in aide support would not be a mere budget adjustment but a direct threat to student safety and the district's legal obligations under each student's IEP. She said aides are essential for de‑escalation, safety monitoring and delivering minutes of service required by law.
"When you cut aid support from 100% to 80%, you aren't just losing hours. You're losing the ability to monitor students in crisis while teaching a small group," Santa Cruz said. She urged the board to halt the proposed reduction.
In response, Superintendent Dr. Andrus acknowledged staff take staffing decisions seriously, noted the district's enrollment decline and said staff would review individual situations; he said his office had already begun looking into the transfer policy question raised by the parent. Several trustees said they appreciate the human impacts raised in public comment and asked staff to follow up.
No immediate reversal of the transfer denial or formal change to aide staffing was made at the meeting; trustees asked staff to return with additional information and committed to further discussion.
Ending: Staff will review the specific transfer case and the proposed 20% aide reduction, then report back to the board with options and clarifications of process.
