Sac City Unified's Board Creates Division and Dissension Among Teachers
Last Friday night at an emergency school board meeting that wasn't televised, the SCUSD school board resolved to set aside an administrative law judge's ruling on skipping teacher seniority on layoffs. In voting for the resolution, the board decided to protect newer teacher's jobs at the superintendent's Priority Schools, rather than accepting the judge's decision that the teachers at the priority schools didn't meet the criteria for skipping layoffs laid out in the Education Code.
The district's Priority Schools have undergone "transformation" by having new administrators and replacing at least half their staff in the last two years. They have also had an infusion of cash at the expense of other high poverty district schools through the Superintendent's decision to raise the criteria for Title 1 funds. Schools now have to have a higher percentage of students who qualify for Free and Reduced Price Lunches to receive the federal funds meant for students in poverty. Another unacknowledged piece of the turnaround plan is alternative placement for some students. Hiram Johnson High School, one of seven priority schools, has hundreds fewer students now than it did one year ago.Budget projections are so dire that every district school has had layoffs, even teachers with as much as ten years experience have received layoff notices. Every school has at-risk students living in poverty. The effects are especially noticeable at the comprehensive high schools which are now at 35-1 teacher to student