Quick Take
Aptos High School teachers say layoffs coming to Pajaro Valley Unified School District will reduce the number of teachers and courses they can offer and won’t be enough to maintain their seven-period schedule. District Superintendent Heather Contreras said PVUSD isn't switching the school to a six-period schedule, but teachers say they’re “not getting clear answers.”
Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials and teachers are continuing months of tense exchanges as the district presses ahead with layoffs in order to address declining enrollment, cuts that teachers say will negatively impact employees and students.
On Thursday morning, the dispute made its way to Aptos High School, where about 20 teachers and students rallied outside of the school to demand that the district maintain a seven-period day schedule next academic year for the high school.
Students and teachers say the seven-period schedule has given students more opportunities to explore elective courses and career technical education for potential careers and interests, encouraging them to be more engaged in school. Watsonville and Pajaro Valley high schools have six-period schedules and have been advocating for a seven-period schedule.
Video production teacher Joel Domhoff said with seven periods, the classes are shorter, but the students have many more options for different subjects. He said if the school switches back to six periods, first-year students won’t have the option to take electives as they are required to take six classes that first year. He said many students come to school only because they love the courses Aptos offers and that teachers have dedicated their time to create.
“We’ve all poured our heart and soul into our programs and our curriculums and building them and getting kids involved,” he said.
Aptos High junior class president Natalia Vowles was one of several students and Aptos High community members to speak out against a possible switch to six periods during a meeting last week of the district’s governing board.
“Cutting down our staff to this extent makes it impossible for us to staff the seven-period day,” she said last week. “High school is an opportunity to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life, and forcing our day down to six periods limits the opportunities that are available for students to complete their education while pursuing their passions.”
Concern over a possible change to the high school’s schedule began to mount after PVUSD’s governing board last week approved plans to lay off about 60 full-time-equivalent positions across the district, of which 46.3 full-time-equivalent positions are for teachers and certificated staff. The district employs 2,379 employees: 1,116 are classified staff and 1,263 have teaching credentials.
Aptos High English language specialist Andrew Ghiglia said teachers were told by school administrators that the high school could lose nine full-time-equivalent teachers. The school has 51 full-time-equivalent teacher positions; the layoffs would bring the total to 42.
If those layoffs go ahead, that would make it “mathematically impossible to have a seven-period day,” Ghiglia said, because there would not be enough teachers for all of the classes.
Domhoff said the district has also told the school that it can’t have smaller class sizes, in the range of 25 students or so, but instead needs to be near the maximum of about 35 in order to keep staffing levels lower. He said that also makes it impossible to have a seven-period schedule.
Teachers union president Nelly Vaquera-Boggs said Aptos High administrators told staff last month – before the layoffs were approved – that the district was going to change the high school’s schedule to six periods in anticipation of the cuts. The school has operated on a seven-period day since 2017, she said.
Vaquera-Boggs said she wrote to district officials, warning that the district can’t unilaterally alter the schedule because the teachers’ contract requires negotiating such changes with the union.
“The district knows that we have contract language that prevents them from making a unilateral change – that would be an unfair labor practice,” she said.
She said PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras responded to her by email, saying the district was still exploring its options when it comes to the school’s schedule. “At this time, we are in the early stages of gathering information and may enlist external analysts to evaluate our current scheduling structures and provide recommendations,” the response from Contreras reads, according to Vaquera-Boggs. “Any future considerations regarding schedule changes will be conducted in full collaboration with our stakeholders.”
Contreras told Lookout that AHS has not yet switched to a six-period schedule. She didn’t respond to questions about how many teachers would be laid off from Aptos High School and if those reductions would make it impossible for the school to keep its seven-period schedule.
In a statement Thursday, she said the district is still figuring out how the layoffs will affect specific people and sites, while complying with collective bargaining agreements with the district’s unions.
She added that in the coming weeks, the district will organize community discussions to talk about Aptos High’s seven-period schedule and plans to hold similar discussions with Watsonville and Pajaro Valley high schools in the coming year about their six-period schedules.
“In preparation for these conversations, the district is in the process of studying the issue and analyzing new data that will be centered in those conversations,” Contreras said.
Aptos High School Principal Alison Hanks-Sloan declined to comment.
Teachers were set to rally again outside of the school Friday morning.
Kevin Painchaud contributed reporting to this story.
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