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Trustee urges saving South Almani EL counselor, proposes swapping half SRO cost to cover salary
Summary
During debate on the district LCAP, Trustee Ricardo Padilla pushed to fund an English-learner (EL) counselor at South Almani High School by asking the city to pay half a school-resource-officer (SRO) contract and reallocating the district share to counselor pay; his subsequent motion failed for lack of a second and the LCAP passed 3–1.
Trustee Ricardo Padilla urged the board to find funds to restore an English-learner counselor at South Almani High School and proposed a specific funding swap tied to SRO costs. “I think it was pretty chicken **** of the City of El Monte to…decline” a community workshop, Padilla said, then outlined a plan asking the city to pay 50% of the South Almani SRO cost, freeing $123,921 the district could reassign toward counselor pay.
Padilla presented salary figures and math to justify the request: he said a full SRO costs $247,842 and half of that would free $123,921; an EL counselor position at Mountain View he cited as costing $179,842 (leaving a $55,922 gap), while an EL counselor at El Monte High was listed at $142,023 (leaving $18,102). Padilla asked the board to direct the chief business officer to explore the reallocation. The board did not second his subsequent motion to approve the LCAP with that condition; Trustee Padilla’s motion therefore failed and the original LCAP was approved without the amendment.
The plea to save the position echoed public comments made earlier. Angelica Garcia, child welfare and attendance coordinator at South Almani High School, told trustees that South is scheduled to serve 217 EL students in 2025–26 and urged the board to “provide South Almani High School with an EL counselor so we can give every student the chance to succeed.” Juan Gutierrez, a South Ammani counselor, warned losing a fourth counselor would push counselor-to-student ratios to about 366 to 1 for his campus and would reduce supports for nearly 1,100 students.
Trustees debated whether the district’s LCAP funding formulas and prior-year data supported adding an EL position tonight. One trustee noted the dashboard data used for the decision were from the prior year; Padilla replied that progress for ELs does not occur overnight and argued for immediate targeted support. The LCAP item ultimately passed 3–1, with Trustee Padilla recorded as the sole vote against the plan.
