School Board Blues

People march outside the West Contra Costa school board meeting on March 12.

Plans to cut people and programs generated concern and a turnout of about 150 people for the West Contra Costa school board meeting on March 12. More than 40 people signed up for public comment, and they spoke to the board for more than two hours.

However, there was no sign that any cuts would be rescinded.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District must make cuts or increase revenue in order to receive a positive budget certification from the Contra Costa County Office of Education and keep local control over the budget, according to Interim Superintendent Kim Moses and other district officials. A “positive certification” means it will not spend its entire reserve within the next three years.

District officials have said they needed to cut $32.7 million in costs between 2024 and 2027. They cut $19.7 million for the current school year, and plan to cut $7 million next school year and $6 million in 2026-27, EdSource reported on Feb. 7.

The interim superintendent has said that any and all possible ways to save money must be considered -- and that situation has many teachers and parents worried.

At high schools in El Cerrito and Richmond, teachers and some parents are worried that pressure to cut costs will end the district’s policy of allowing high schools to set their own schedules under a Memorandum of Understanding that is approved each year.

El Cerrito High

Disallowing MOUs for special schedules would reduce the number of different classes that high school students can take and teachers can offer, said Mr. Decker, an English and theater teacher at ECHS.

Instead of the standard 6-hour day, El Cerrito High offers four 90-minute classes each semester. That means students can take eight classes a year. This schedule has been used since 1996.

Sky Nelson, a physics teacher and parent at the school, said a 90-minute block makes it easy to teach through activities. He uses 15 minutes to get started, 60 minutes for hands-on practice, and 15 minutes to clean up. A 50-minute block makes it harder to do activities and get deeper engagement from students, Nelson said.

Decker said if students could only take six classes each year, it reduces the opportunities for students to choose electives like AP courses and band, dance, theater, creative writing, yearbook and a World War II class.

For students learning English as a second language and taking required English Language Development (ELD) courses, it could keep them from electives and even the other classes they need to graduate from high school.

For special education students, graduating would become much more difficult, Decker said.

“El Cerrito is the most robust special ed school in the district,” he said. “We have a high student population and as a result more teachers and more to offer. The 4-by-4 schedule enables more special ed students to graduate.”

Because of uncertainty about whether MOUs allowing special schedules could be cut, the ECHS faculty took a vote last week (two months earlier than usual) and 94% of teachers approved an MOU for the same block schedule in 2025-26.

At the March 12 meeting, Eric Jepson told the school board that the 94% vote had been taken and the MOU sent over to Moses’ office with the hope that it will be signed soon, putting an end to uncertainty about that issue.

Uncertainty about layoffs is expected to be resolved on March 15, the date when state law requires that school district employees be notified if they are to be laid off; the notices can be rescinded until May 15. An exception is the school’s college and career counselor, Michelle Seymour, who announced at the school board meeting that she is being cut.

Many students and teachers turned out for the meeting.

Kennedy High

Students, parents and teachers from Kennedy High were the biggest presence at the meeting, speaking passionately and cheering on one another. They said they were there to fight for keeping teachers, their electives, and approving the MOU that allows its special schedule.

Kennedy has an 8-period schedule that allows students to complete eight classes per year. This makes it possible for at-risk students to complete enough courses for graduation, as well as providing time for students to complete required ELD classes along with othe required classes and sometimes electives, according to Mitzi Perez-Caro, computer science and journalism teacher.

Electives include art, band, theater, yearbook, journalism, leadership and Spanish. Kennedy also offers Career Technical Education (CTE) elective courses through its IT Academy and pathways programs in health, welding, and woodworking.

Kennedy student Lizzie Orellana praised the health courses for teaching her skills like drawing blood that helped her to learn about health science careers and prepare her for them. A former Kennedy student on Zoom said he’s going to become a California Highway Patrol officer thanks in part to a course he took on emergency response.

Student Mariana Calvario said committed teachers and programs like health and welding and the IT Academy are what make school worthwhile. She said only 3% of the district budget needs to be kept as a reserve, but the district is keeping much more.

Elias Avalos was one of several speakers who said that Kennedy and Richmond High have not been updated in over 50 years while other facilities have been expensively rebuilt.

“You discriminate against us and reduce our funding,” he said.

Aracelli Velasquez said, “You expect us to just keep going to school while you take away our pathways and take away our teachers.”

Eric Jepson from El Cerrito High asked the board to work with “our sibling high schools” to allow them to decide on the best schedule for their own schools.

Several speakers, including two members of the Richmond City Council, questioned the financial information provided by the district.

Councilmembers Claudia Jimenez and Doria Robinson asked the district to meet with the Richmond City Council and be more transparent with financial information.

“Let’s explore how we can work together,” Robinson said.

After Kennedy High School, Vista Virtual Academy had the most speakers. Funding for the school is being cut. Heather Harvey McNabb said the online school is a unique, irreplaceable asset that, if more widely known to families in the area, could serve many more students with chronic absences from conventional schools.

School board members and district officials could not be reached for comment on Thursday.