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AVID coaches and teachers urge board to retain district AVID positions, warn of system collapse
Summary
Current AVID coaches, site coordinators and parents told the board that proposed cuts to the district AVID team would undermine program fidelity, student supports and college-readiness work. Coaches argued CPL staff cannot simply absorb specialized AVID duties without additional training and staffing.
Elk Grove — Dozens of teachers, AVID site coordinators and two district AVID coaches warned the Elk Grove Unified School District board that proposed staffing changes risked undermining districtwide AVID implementation and its gains for students.
"This proposal, while well-intentioned, is based on a critical misunderstanding of our specialized role," AVID instructional coach Alyssa Organovich said, urging the board to retain dedicated AVID coaching positions rather than absorb the work into other coaching roles. "The specialized coaching drives your district's most critical outcomes."
Jamie King, an AVID CPL coach, told the board that the district’s recent plan moves AVID responsibilities to general CPL coaches who are not trained to deliver AVID’s system-level professional learning: "To propose other coaches are prepared to do our job as AVID coaches is unrealistic," King said. She and Organovich described heavy workloads, lost institutional memory from staffing reductions and the trust they had built with site coordinators.
District staff acknowledged the value of AVID and said the district intends to place AVID coordination within the Curriculum & Professional Learning (CPL) department, adding a coordinator who would have AVID responsibilities among other duties. Staff said two former AVID coaches have transitioned to CPL roles and that some CPL staff are AVID trained.
Board members asked for specifics about who would carry AVID responsibilities, how many CPL staff would absorb the work and whether training or capacity-building steps would be funded; staff said they will identify a CPL coordinator and continue discussions to ensure fidelity and stability.
Public commenters emphasized AVID’s role in college readiness, equity and AP/IB preparedness for thousands of students and urged the board to preserve the core AVID positions as budget planning continues.
