Parents at Paradise Valley Elementary School have had enough.
They learned of the dismissal of fourth grade teacher Katie
Hendricks last Thursday from their children, without a letter or
phone call from the school itself. So they organized themselves
this past weekend to send out the message that they are ‘fed
up.’
Parents at Paradise Valley Elementary School have had enough.
They learned of the dismissal of fourth grade teacher Katie Hendricks last Thursday from their children, without a letter or phone call from the school itself. So they organized themselves this past weekend to send out the message that they are ‘fed up.’
“The district is getting so blatant in their continual disregard for the parents and students it’s charged to represent,” reads an email sent by a Paradise Valley parent acquired by the Times.
Several parents from Paradise Valley, as well as Jackson Elementary, Martin Murphy Middle School and San Martin Elementary will protest at the MHUSD office on Concord Circle starting at 8:30 a.m. today. Some have also pledged to remove their children from school that day.
Theresa Sage president of the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers said five full time, yet temporary status teachers were let go. She said the district has 150 fewer students than they were anticipating this year.
“It’s heartbreaking for the teachers because they did not anticipate being down as many kids; (the district) over-hired,” she said. “Because of the financial crisis, where they cut $4 million, they couldn’t afford to keep the temporary teachers. With classes shuffled around, it’s hard on every one.”
Sage said with this recent dismissal of teachers, the district is down 26 teachers from last year. She said the problem lies in lack of funding by the state of California.
“We are funded by the state. If we don’t fund education, then we can’t afford teachers,” she said. “Until we start funding education, the district will suffer like this.”
Robert Bruno, who has two daughters at Paradise Valley one of whom was in Hendricks’ class, is one of the parents that filed a written complaint last Friday and will remove his daughters from school today.
“We’re really just fed up with the way things have been handled,” he said. “Something is wrong fundamentally with changes this late in the school year. Why did you have the teacher prepare for the entire school year?”
Bruno said parents are not concerned with getting teachers that were let go back, they respect that decision, he said.
“We don’t feel that the person coming in is acceptable to teach our class,” he said.
A teacher from Martin Murphy Middle School, Judy Kenney, will replace Hendricks starting today.
“How can this teacher be prepared to teach a 4th grade multidisciplinary class within 2 days?” reads the complaint filed by Bruno.
The transition from one teacher to the next said Bruno, will not be easy for students to handle, and the shuffle is affecting students in a negative way. In the email sent from upset parents titled “Paradise Valley parents FED UP!” it reads that last minute changes are not acceptable.
“Now after last years teacher and student shuffles the district sent it’s talking heads to pat us on the head and calm us down, letting us know that in the future they would make sure this didn’t happen again,” reads the email. “Well it’s one year later and it’s happening again and once again without any consideration for what is best for the children!”
The email states that “many of our kids (came) home in tears” when Hendricks informed her class Thursday that she would no longer be with them. The email continues to urge parents who can to remove their children from school today.
“The district thinks they have carte blanche to do whatever they please and we have no choice but to take it and so far they have been right about that because we haven’t stood up and said ENOUGH!”
But Superintendent Wes Smith said it is imperative that school districts live within their means, especially during challenging economic times.
“Times like these do not allow us to take budgetary risks,” said Smith in a statement released Monday.
Smith said the district suffered a decline of 228 total students, amounting to more than $1.4 million in funding reductions.
“We understand that teacher movement is disruptive to the learning environment so we lessen the disruption to students by moving teachers across schools instead of sending students away from their home schools and by doing so early in the school year,” said Smith.
Smith said denying students another day of instruction is not the answer.
“Students, however, have an obligation to be in school and parents have an obligation to ensure their children attend school,” he said. “Our students already have one fewer instructional day this year with the possibility of yet another if the State budget does not improve.”
According to the district’s fiscal services director Kirsten Perez, the average daily attendance cost per student is $29 per day, or $5,223 per year. For example, if parents remove 30 students on Tuesday, that would be a loss of $870 in funding from the state for that day.
Hendricks’ website shares a post with families on the night of Sept. 14, after she was informed of her lay off.
“I am heartbroken that I will no longer be able to teach your children and have very much enjoyed our time together this past month. I wish you all the best and appreciate the support you have shown for your child, myself, and Room 6,” reads the post from Hendricks’ website, sites.google.com/site/mshendricksparadisevalley/home.
Outlined in all teacher contracts, under the California Education Code, temporary status teachers may be released by the school district at any time prior to serving 75 percent of the school year or at the end of the school year.
