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Classified employees and union leaders urge Santa Barbara Unified board to revisit involuntary transfers and RIF notices
Summary
Multiple employees and union representatives told the board the district issued involuntary transfers and reduction‑in‑force notices that staff say were improper or retaliatory; speakers asked the board to reverse transfers, meet with union leadership and review the process.
Several Santa Barbara Unified employees and union representatives used the public‑comment period on April 14 to appeal involuntary transfers and challenge recent reduction‑in‑force (RIF) notices, telling the board the changes will disrupt students and harm classified staff.
Mario Guerrero, a PAR educator at Harding, said he was appealing a second involuntary transfer this school year and asked the board to uphold an earlier decision that halted a prior transfer. "I am asking the board to uphold the previous decision and cancel this transfer. My students at Harding are my priority and I want to stay where I'm already making a difference," Guerrero said.
Elaine Rice, a district records technician and CSEA chapter secretary, told the board that four staff in the student and family services main office received RIF notices tied to a restructuring that would reduce four roles to three. Rice said workload logs show steady and significant records requests and argued the district did not follow required processes for classifying and approving job‑description changes. "If we could do the work as three people, it would have been consolidated long before this," she said.
Other commenters said transfers were retaliatory after employees raised workplace concerns and urged the board to meet with union leaders. One union speaker framed the pattern as "immoral behavior" and asked trustees to intervene, while a youth outreach worker described the heavy caseloads that will be affected if staff are reduced.
Board members did not take immediate action during public comment; trustees reminded speakers that Brown Act rules limit back‑and‑forth on non‑agendized items. Superintendent Hilda Maldonado and staff are expected to review public comments and follow up with the board and the speaker group after the meeting.
The board accepted written materials at the meeting and will consider formal personnel and contract actions in subsequent closed sessions or agendized items as appropriate.
