‘Moral failure’: Parents, mental health workers urge PVUSD trustees to reject sweeping layoffs

After a stabbing at Watsonville High School last month, mental health clinician Jessica Zovar and three colleagues met with students in every class to talk about mental health. 

The work was only possible, Zovar told school board officials Wednesday night, because clinicians are on the school’s campus every day. So she fears what will happen if Pajaro Valley Unified School District moves forward with a plan to lay off all 13 of its mental health clinicians as part of proposed deep cuts to help solve a budget deficit.

“I am a consistent presence in their daily world on any given day,” Zovar told a meeting of the district’s governing board. From a quick “hello” or fist-bump in the hallway to a focused one-on-one session to address deeper concerns, Zovar and other mental health clinicians in the district are constantly interacting with students, she said. She added that students deserve “to be seen, to be known,” and to feel that their school cares and provides access to mental health resources. 

Zovar, along with other mental health clinicians, teachers and parents were among nearly 150 people who packed the Watsonville City Council chambers Wednesday night to share their frustrations and concerns over the district’s plan to cut about 160 positions in order to save about $15.3 million in annual expenses. 

The proposed cuts include positions that educators and unions say are essential for student well-being, such as counselors, teachers, mental health clinicians and special education workers. Trustees are expected to make a final decision on the layoffs on Dec. 11.

Many of those in attendance Wednesday night pleaded with trustees to reconsider the layoffs and find other solutions to the district’s budget issues, saying that losing those positions will stretch school staff thin and cause students’ quality of life to suffer.

Michael Christensen, whose son, Jonah, is enrolled in special education classes at Rio Del Mar Elementary School and has language difficulties, said the teachers and therapists have helped his son grow and improve his speech more than when he attended private school in the past. “They’re saints to us,” he said of the staff. “They gave a chance for our kid to have a voice.” He urged the board to explore other options to avoid affecting the most vulnerable students. 

PVUSD has been struggling with a budget deficit following years of declining enrollment. The district’s student population has declined by 18%, or 3,271 students, over the past decade, which has led to a loss of state funding. Like many school districts that received a short-term infusion of state and federal cash during the COVID pandemic, PVUSD is running out of those one-time dollars, which it used to fund critical ongoing positions. 

The current budget deliberations are the second time this year that the board has had to wrestle with approving a large number of layoffs. In February, the district proposed cutting about 100 full-time-equivalent positions to reduce its budget by $5 million. Trustees rejected the initial proposal, but later approved layoffs of 60.55 full-time-equivalent positions. About 30 teachers received layoff notices last spring. PVUSD is now planning for two years of deficit spending, including this year, totaling $25.9 million, according to board documents. 

Nearly half of the proposed layoffs are among certified staff — teachers and counselors who have teaching credentials or other certifications. The other 78 layoff notices would go to staff in classified positions, such as behavior technicians, mental health clinicians and health care assistants. 

For staff with teaching credentials, the district is proposing to cut 15 full-time-equivalent counselors, five to 10 permanent positions in areas of low enrollment, the equivalent of 11.85 full-time intervention specialists, 50 temp/intern/probationary positions and two behaviorists. 

The district is also planning to lay off all of its 13 mental health clinicians, 10 health care assistants, 15 instructional assistants in general education and 40 behavior technicians and instructional assistants in special education. The planned cuts would affect about 6% to 7% of PVUSD’s roughly 2,379 workers. About 14,620 students attend PVUSD schools. 

While the district was able to trim the number of district administrative staff during its first round of layoffs earlier this year, along with reassigning teachers to different schools to accommodate declining enrollment, it did not cut any of the positions funded by one-time pandemic-era dollars, said Kit Bragg, assistant superintendent of human resources. He added that the district was able to rescind all but one of the layoff notices from last year and instead reduce positions through attrition.

There is a chance that the same could happen again this year, he said, but the board will need to vote on a plan before a March deadline to notify staff about cuts. All school districts in California are required by the state’s Education Code to notify employees of layoffs by March 15, and make final decisions on those layoffs by May 15. 

But if the board does not approve those notices by March 15, it would make it harder for the district to bring back staff as it did last year, Bragg said. 

The district lost 450 students this academic year alone and expects to lose another 500 next year, said Bragg. The continuing decline in enrollment will cost the district $13.4 million, he said. 

Gerardo Castillo, chief business officer for the district, warned that if the board doesn’t make the needed cuts to its budget, trustees run the risk of losing their power to make decisions about the district’s finances and seeing the board taken over by the Santa Cruz County Office Of Education or the state. “We have some work to do in our reductions to maintain local control over our district,” Castillo said.  

Several trustees asked about the possibility of closing schools and how much money that could save the district. 

“What I’m trying to figure out is a solution of where I would rather shut down a physical site, and save as many people as possible, than have the reverse of that,” said Trustee Gabe Medina. On Wednesday night, he, along with Trustees Carol Turley and Joy Flynn, donated the $400 stipends they received for serving as trustees to the district as a symbolic gesture to help address this year’s budget deficit. 

But Castillo said options such as school closures or selling off property will provide only temporary solutions to the district’s ongoing budget crisis. Other potential remedies, such as reducing salaries or health benefits, would require the district to enter collective bargaining with unions, Bragg said. 

Many of the parents and teachers who spoke during public comment also criticized Superintendent Heather Contreras’ $15,000 salary increase, which is coming at the same time that district staff are proposing layoffs. The superintendent’s raise was part of an agreement made when she was hired in 2024, according to Trustee Olivia Flores. Contreras’ salary was approved by the board in June, said Trustee Misty Navarro.

“If the budget is in such dire straits that educator and support staff cuts need to be made, why are the people who are already making the most money getting raises?” asked Rachel Hitchcock, a teacher at Amnesti Elementary School. She also called Contreras’ salary raise coinciding with staff cuts disrespectful. 

“When it comes to the superintendent salary, I understand the optics and the timing don’t look good,” Navarro said. 

Special education teachers, mental health clinicians, medical assistants and parents shared personal anecdotes about the work educators and support staff do with students, and argued that cutting these positions will not benefit some of the district’s most vulnerable students. Teachers shared how they rely heavily on instructional assistants and behaviorists to support special education students in general education classes. 

Hitchcock also asked district officials to help create better classroom environments for both students and teachers. 

“Please show PVUSD educators, students, staff and families respect by not allowing more layoffs of those who work the closest to students, while at the same time giving absurd cabinet-level raises,” Hitchcock said. 

Other parents and teachers highlighted the need for mental health clinicians on campuses to help prevent events like the Watsonville High stabbing or suicides.

‘When you eliminate a clinician or behavior tech or any other adult trained to work with children, you aren’t saving money, you are increasing the likelihood that the next crisis happens without anyone there who is trained to intervene,’ said Watsonville High School teacher Bobby Pelz, pointing to what he said was the suicide of a former student and the recent stabbing on campus. ‘That is not fiscal responsibility, that is a moral failure.”

District staff will draft up a resolution with these proposed cuts for the school board to vote on Dec. 11. 

Several trustees said Wednesday night that they recognized they are tasked with making a tough decision to remedy the district’s budget issues. 

“I’m not here to make popular decisions,” said Flynn. “I’m here to make decisions that are going to maintain the future of our district without conservatorship.”

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FOR THE RECORD: This story was updated to expand on a quote by Watsonville High School teacher Bobby Pelz and to identify him as the speaker.
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