About 30 parents, children and citizens gathered early Tuesday
morning outside the Morgan Hill Unified School District office to
protest their unhappiness with the system.
About 30 parents, children and citizens gathered early Tuesday morning outside the Morgan Hill Unified School District office to protest their unhappiness with the system.
In a designated section marked with caution tape and roadblocks, parents armed with signs that read “Enough is enough,” “Our kids come first” or “Last year my son had 5 teachers in 6 months” marched in a circle in protest over the release of five temporary teachers. On Sept. 14, Paradise Valley Elementary fourth grade teacher Katie Hendricks was one of the five informed she was let go. The next day in class, in tears, she told her students the news that she would no longer be their teacher.
When students came home crying, parents turned to action. Through email, phone calls and meetings last weekend, they organized Tuesday’s protest. Some parents pulled their kids out of school for the day with some of their children marching alongside them. The exact numbers were unavailable.
“I had no opportunity to prepare my child for the impending changes,” said Paige Rivera, who has a daughter in the fourth grade class at Paradise Valley.
Although she and her husband chose not to remove their daughter from school Tuesday like many other parent protesters, they both took off of work for the demonstration.
“For an adult leader, to be in a classroom, crying hysterically because she’s discharged with the duty of informing those children is completely unacceptable to me,” she said.
Her daughter came home upset and crying last on the afternoon of Sept. 15, so she filed a written complaint with the district and attempted to speak with Principal Phil Duncan.
Although no chants were heard, demonstrators and their colorful signs marched for several hours in the Morgan Hill heat in the blocked off parking lot of the district office. A man stood guard next to a police officer to only let in select vehicles of employees. The group later returned at 4:30 p.m. that day to continue their demonstrations and were more vocal to gather attention, said parent Robert Bruno. The district marked off the designated section for protesters out of concern for the lack of sidewalks in Concord Circle. School Resource officer Saran Alanis said there were no problems or issues with the demonstrators.
Wes Smith, superintendent of schools said it was unfortunate that the plan was not followed to formally tell parents of Hendricks’ release Friday Sept. 16.
“There wasn’t supposed to be any communication between the classroom and the students or families until Friday,” he said. “There are anxieties that some kids have. Whereas if they’re at home with their parents … then the parents are the best equipped to help support their young people.”
“Parents are very upset,” said Rivera. “All the parents that were in the office (at Paradise Valley) on Friday were pissed. We wanted to talk to Mr. Duncan and were blown off.”
Another parent, LaRay Ourricariet who has a child in the fourth grade at Paradise Valley said parents did not receive a letter until Monday, Sept. 19 after school.
“There’s a disconnect. At this point, the district is getting worse and worse,” she said. “We need to do whatever we can to make a point. We can’t continue to use this excuse that students will bounce back. Frankly, we’re tired of it.”
Ourricariet also filed a written complaint with the district Sept. 16.
Josette Hatcher, who took her daughter out of Paradise Valley on Tuesday said she is protesting for more stability from the district.
“Just try to make a point to them, to show them that this is not OK. And that we as parents have our duty to stand up for our children,” said Hatcher.
Smith said moving teachers or students around can be disruptive, but there is no evidence to suggest that it is harmful to children.
“Sometimes people go out on maternity leave for heaven’s sake, and they lose a teacher. People get ill, get sick, we put in long-term sub. And there isn’t anything that says those kids have been harmed because of that. For people that say, of course it does, I don’t believe that’s true.”
Brenda Cayme, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board last year, came to support the protest, even though her children were not directly affected by the five dismissed teachers.
“I would like better leadership in this school district and to make sure our kids are put first,” said Cayme. “With all these changes, they’re not realizing that it affects the kids. I understand that some of that was not under their control. But as leaders in this school district, they should have had some contingency.”
Smith said in a released statement Monday that the decline in enrollment of 228 students amounted to a loss of more than $1.4 million in funding. With student to teacher ratio at 29:1, it affects the budget to keep more teachers than necessary, he said.
“When we’re looking to cut millions of dollars from the school budget, its irresponsible to fiscally of us to do that. We just don’t have that as an option,” he said.
Variables that can affect enrollment he said are families leaving the county, or sometimes the state all together.
“The economic situation in California is the variable that no one can account for,” he said. “So when we look at our students moving out, we have a lot more students moving out of the county, than we do choosing charter schools, for example.”
Other variables that affect enrollment include the federal mandate that parents have 14 days after state testing results come in to make a decision if they want to remove their child from a school.
After enrollment is looked at, the district analyzes to see if they are overstaffed. If, for example, one school is overstaffed by one teacher, the district then tells the principal of that school to make a recommendation of which teacher to remove.
Taken under consideration is how the teacher fits into the team, the campus environment, as well as how much the district has invested with professional development dollars in the teacher, such as special training. Although ultimately the decision is left to the superintendent, the recommendation comes from the principal.
