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ABC Unified board declines to approve staff consolidation plan after hours of public comment
Summary
After more than four hours of public comment—much of it by parents and teachers from predominantly Latino communities—ABC Unified trustees failed to approve a staff plan to consolidate and reconfigure elementary and middle schools. Board members pressed staff for more recent enrollment, grant and savings details and asked that any transition include impacted parents, teachers and clear transportation and program safeguards.
The ABC Unified School District Board of Education spent the bulk of its June 17 meeting debating a staff proposal to consolidate and reconfigure several schools to address long-term enrollment declines, but did not approve the recommendation after extensive public opposition and multiple failed motions.
Hundreds of residents tuned the meeting’s public-comment period into a marathon of testimony. Teachers and parents warned the board that closures would disproportionately affect low-income and immigrant communities, disrupt established bilingual and International Baccalaureate programs and deepen existing fears following recent immigration enforcement actions. “We ask that our students be the last to be impacted by budgeting decisions,” Hector Ruiz, a third-grade teacher at Sters Elementary, told trustees.
Parents at several affected campuses urged delays to allow staff to collect up-to-date data and to develop transition plans…
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