Board to bring resolutions to protect Apple Valley Unified employees after teachers raise budget and layoff concerns

The Apple Valley Unified Board of Trustees voted in closed session Feb. 25 to approve the superintendent’s recommendation to bring forward resolutions at the March 6 meeting aimed at protecting the employment of all current Apple Valley Unified employees.

Karen Sabers, president of the Apple Valley Unified Teachers Association, addressed the board during public comment before the closed session and urged trustees to “keep cuts away from the classroom” and to protect staff jobs. Sabers cited figures from the district’s unaudited actuals and the first interim report and asked why large amounts remain budgeted in certain categories. “You cannot build a strong educational system on the backs of underpaid and undervalued educators and employees,” Sabers said.

Sabers identified two specific areas of concern as presented: she said the district’s 2023–24 unaudited actuals showed $14,010,813 in the books-and-supplies category and that as of Dec. 12, 2024 the district had used $3,000,782.16; she also said the district ended the previous year with $27,104,020.86 in services-and-other operating expenditures, had used $10,292,801.82 as of Dec. 12, 2024, and that a portion of that category—$13,342,868—was listed under professional consulting services, of which she said $5,400,000 had been used. Sabers asked the board to review those allocations and raised the county audit of the first interim dated Jan. 9 as an additional point of concern. (Numbers and characterizations are reported as stated by the speaker during public comment.)

After recessing to closed session on three labor-negotiation items, the board reported out that, on a motion by Trustee Renee Longshore and seconded by Maria Opara, it approved the superintendent’s recommendation to bring resolutions protecting employment to the March 6 board meeting. The board’s announcement said the resolutions could include discontinuing particular kinds of service and that staff would work with bargaining units to ensure any assignments, reassignments or transfers comply with collective bargaining agreements and would occur without loss of employment. The board reported the vote in closed session as 4–0.

The closed-session notice read before the recess identified three labor items with named negotiators Jeremiah Harrison, Kristen Dupree and Trinea Nelson and referenced employee organizations; the board’s public report cited the superintendent’s recommendation and the 4–0 approval to advance the resolutions. The board set its next regular meeting for March 6, 2025, at 5 p.m. in the Educational Support Center Conference Room A, where the resolutions will be considered.

Trustees offered no substantive comments during the open session that followed the report. The superintendent encouraged trustees to sign up for an advocacy opportunity offered by the California School Boards Association.

What happens next: The resolutions will be placed on the March 6 agenda for consideration by the full board; the board’s public report said staff will coordinate with bargaining units and rely on the collective bargaining process to address reassignments and transfers, with the stated aim of avoiding job loss.