I have been employed with Morgan Hill Unified School District for 28 years. I feel the need to speak up as there have been many rumors swirling around about employee turnover at our district due to our Superintendent Dr. Carmen Garcia’s management practices. I have been here for a long time and have seen many people come and go for various reasons.
My role is a dispatcher and bus driver. I have always loved my job, but the environment before the recent changes to management in the Transportation Department was very toxic. We have unfortunately had really good experienced drivers leave our district due to favoritism and double standards held to employees in this department. Until recently, our department felt very neglected, and our needs were not heard, nor being met.
The group we have now feels like an entirely different place. The workplace feels inviting, we pull together and work as a team, we have lunch together and we laugh. In a short period of time since the departure of Kathleen Rael, we have upgraded our systems to technology we should have had years ago.
We have Spot My Bus, which is an app for parents and students to track the location of their bus and when it is due to arrive.
We have adopted the use of Parentsquare, the mass communication system used by our district for ease of use to communicate with families from the Transportation Department.
Our Transportation Department now feels a sense of pride. Our management has installed lights on a sensor outside the building for our safety since we often arrive in the morning when it is still dark. We now have new signs with our address outside our building and our department name.
We have had some improvements to our office to make our environment more pleasant and professional, including updated computer screens which help us do our job. We feel like we’re now a part of the greater school district, and part of the team who is here doing good work for the kids.
I appreciate you taking the time to consider this letter and my observations as a long time team member when presuming the reasons why previous employees have resigned.
Diana Aguilar
Morgan Hill
