Sac Schools Cut ‘Hope Closet’ Coordinator, Threatening Aid To Disadvantaged Students Amid Push To Lower Administrative Costs
Amaya Weiss started gathering donations of clothes, shoes, coats and books for students at Freeport Elementary in Meadowview 12 years ago, when she worked on site as a resource specialist. When she moved to nearby John Still K-8 she expanded that effort, dubbing it the “Hope Closet.”
The Hope Closet was a way to invite high-need families into the student support center on campus, build trust and then help them tap into social services and support for housing and health.
Two years ago, the Sacramento City Unified School District hired Weiss as Executive Community Director. She ran a hub Hope Closet from the campus of New Joseph Bonnheim Community Charter School.
Weiss previously told CapRadio her goal was to build up Hope Closets at each of the more than 70 Title-I schools in the district. Those efforts were underway at several schools, including Ethel Baker Elementary School and Edward Kemble Elementary School.
But the district recently eliminated Weiss' position in the midst of wide-spread cuts in an attempt to address a $26 million budget deficit. Weiss will continue to be employed as a student support center specialist at Rosa Parks K-8 in Meadowview, according to the district.
When CapRadio reached out to Weiss for an interview, SCUSD spokesperson Alex Barrios said he would handle interviews on the cuts. He says the district is responding to demands from its “labor partners and community stakeholders” who say the district must “do the same with less” and “cut from the top.”
"The perception that an administrator is just somebody sitting at their desk, doing paperwork that's irrelevant, is not correct,” he said.
Administrators play important roles across the district, Barrios argued.
“That's just the reality of the situation. We're being forced to cut from our administration," Barrios said. "This is one of those administrative cuts. This is what it looks like."
An estimated 20,000 thousand students were served by SCUSD student support centers over CONTINUE READING: Sac Schools Cut ‘Hope Closet’ Coordinator, Threatening Aid To Disadvantaged Students Amid Push To Lower Administrative Costs - capradio.org
