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The Redwood City School District plans to lay off dozens of its workforce, including teachers, counselors, mental health liaisons, assistant principals and other administrative staff, citing a state law that authorizes the board of trustees to do so before March 15.
The school district’s board will decide on Wednesday, March 6, whether to eliminate various specialized teaching positions and roles as part of its staffing adjustments for the 2024-2025 school year, according to a resolution the district posted on its agenda.
These cutbacks will affect a range of educational roles across multiple schools, including Adelante, Clifford, the District Office, Garfield, Henry Ford, Hoover, McKinley, North Star, Orion, and Roosevelt, among others.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) teachers, Reading Intervention teachers, counselors, multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) teachers on Special Assignment (TOSA), math Intervention teachers, music teachers, physical education (P.E.) teachers, English Language Development (ELD) teachers, Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) teachers, a library media assistant and dozens more are all on the chopping block on Wednesday.
Jorge Quintana, the communications director for the district, said that the district has been providing additional services with the support of state grants. Still, with those grants coming to an end, the district is now making financial adjustments, “which are undoubtedly difficult and include phasing out positions that were created to provide services under the grant funding.”
Quintana said that although certain roles might be discontinued as grant funding concludes, there remains a pathway for the affected staff to move into different positions within the district. This shift is expected to occur smoothly through natural attrition, such as retirements and regular job openings. The Human Resources Department has already initiated discussions with employee groups to aid those moving into new roles and plans to maintain this support throughout the transition period.
According to Jorge Quintana, the district evaluated all schools by administrators and site councils to strategize on providing services with the limited resources available.
It’s unclear how particular roles and programs were chosen for reduction or how these layoffs will affect the district’s quality of education and student support services. Nor is it known how this will impact the district’s financial outlook.
According to the State of California Education Code 44955, a school district can permanently reduce its teaching staff and those on probation if certain situations arise. These situations include if fewer students are coming to school during the first half of the year compared to the same time in the last two years if an agreement with another district that allows students to attend schools outside their home district ends, if there’s a need to cut back or stop certain school services before the next school year starts, or if changes in state laws require updates to what’s being taught.
Essentially, this rule allows schools to adjust their number of teachers based on how many students attend, financial agreements with other districts, the types of classes and services they can offer, and changes in education laws.
A district employee is eligible for reemployment after 39 months, according to Education Code 45298.
At the same meeting, the board will consider a feasibility study for a parcel tax measure for the November ballot. Quintana said it’s one way the district is exploring to supplement its budget.
In 2022, increasingly dire staffing shortages forced administrators within the Redwood City School District to make the decision to close the school’s entire sixth grade.
A combination of widespread teacher shortages and rising attrition rates throughout the pandemic pushed the district to a breaking point, Superintendent John Baker told the Pulse in 2022.
Thank you for reporting on RCSD’s budget cuts. In addition to the schools mentioned in the article, there are at least four positions at Roy Cloud School and five at Taft that could be impacted by this vote.