SCHOOL BOARD: Finalizes Layoffs, Increases Kindergarten Class Size

School Board president John Moseley took an unexpected minute out of last night’s meeting of the (CUSD) Governing Board to present a large wrapped present to student representative and senior Ethan Hofmayer. As last night was Hofmayer’s final meeting representing the students of Cabrillo, the board presented him with a new sweatshirt reading “Vassar,” where Hofmayer will be a student next fall.

The jovial moment of recognition for Hofmayer’s year of service with the board was a brief break from a short open session that saw the board discuss a number of successes within schools in the district, as well as upcoming events.

Hofmayer touted this evening’s annual Half Moon Bay High Art Show Reception at , as well as next Friday’s Battle of the Bands, while Half Moon Bay High counselor Amanda Robertson spoke to the board about her department’s recent completion of a peer-reviewed Support Personnel Accountability Report Card (SPARC), which serves as a means for staff to evaluate and improve upon their work.

“It was really a great exploratory process,” Roberson told the board last night.

While a variety of topics made up the night’s agenda, however, the bulk of discussion centered on the finalization of issued in March, as well as brainstorming about possible solutions to alleviate the district’s budget crisis.

As the board discussed a resolution regarding non-reemployment of certified employees and the impact of such changes on affected schools, board vice president Charles Gardner stated simply that the layoffs hurt, but “the reality is that we’re still faced with a million and a half dollar structural deficit.”

The $1.5 million shortfall Gardner referred to comes as a result of California’s overall budget crisis, and has been the impetus for CUSD to start making cuts to both employees and programs. The board ultimately voted to approve non-reemployment of 11.67 in full-time employees, with cuts including lay-offs of teachers and one principal as well as the elimination of one period of high school biology and part of a secondary music program.

With many of the cuts affecting elementary school teachers, the board also approved a raise in class size for kindergarten through third grade from 20 students per teacher to 24 – a move that had some parents concerned.

One parent of a kindergarten student at stood up in front of the board to express her satisfaction with the current program in place at the school and her worries about how the shift in class size will affect her child.

“I’m in awe and amazed at what my son has learned,” she said. “I think the chance these kids have of succeeding is with the smaller class sizes.”

Board member Freya McCamant, herself a parent to two Farallone View Elementary students, agreed that the increase in class size is concerning, but said that the district has found itself with few options in the wake of an overall lack of funding to California schools.

“[Out of all the states] California is 50th in per pupil funding,” she said during the meeting. “I think that’s the main part of our problem right now.”

Superintendent Robert Gaskill added that a huge factor in the district’s current predicament comes down from the state level. “Right now, schools across the state are getting about 8o cents on the dollar, and that’s just not okay,” he said.

Hope in Uncertain Times

While the budget crisis dominated much of last night’s meeting, not all talk was pessimistic. Gaskill, along with others at the meeting, wore stickers emblazoned with an image of California inside an asterisk, declaring the state to be in a “State of Emergency,” and urged all in attendance to go to a regional rally of educators and parents in San Francisco this afternoon, which Moseley said will aim to show that education is taking a “disproportionate hit” in the state’s financial crisis. Click here for more information on today’s 4 p.m. rally at Civic Center Plaza.

Others at the meeting also expressed finding hope in the form of creative fundraising. Moseley urged members to revisit an idea which would provide incentives for private citizens to donate money to schools by allowing for renaming of certain buildings in honor of large donors.

“We can’t just cut,” Moseley addressed the crowd. “We have to look at other options for inflow. We need to talk about how we can make it easier for people who want to contribute.”

Board member Rob Pappalardo praised the work of the non-profit Cabrillo Education Foundation, which utilizes volunteer labor for community outreach and fundraising to provide a stable endowment fund for all schools within the district. Pappalardo said that the group is still collecting contributions, even in difficult economic times, and continues to support Cabrillo schools.

“I implore the community to get to know and get involved with that group,” he said during the meeting.

Gardner said that, despite the current situation being bleak, he holds out hope that the district’s situation may turn around.

“Eventually California will come back,” he said. “I have the cautiously optimistic view that, once we get through this rough patch, things will get better.”