Teachers, mental health clinicians and parents packed Watsonville’s City Council chambers Wednesday night to plead with Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials to scrap a plan to cut 160 full-time positions next month.
Pajaro Valley Unified School District
Posted inEducation
Pajaro Valley Unified school board to discuss plan to cut more than 160 positions at Wednesday meeting
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District board will discuss a proposal Wednesday to eliminate more than 160 positions — including counselors, teachers, mental health clinicians and special education staff — in an effort to address a $15.3 million budget shortfall tied to declining enrollment and the loss of pandemic-era funding.
Posted inEducation
PVUSD approves $2.12 million settlement to former student who was sexually abused by teacher in 1990s
Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s board recently approved a $2.12 million settlement with a student who was sexually abused by a teacher at Rio Del Mar Elementary in the 1990s.
Posted inLatest News
Head Start child care program for low-income families closes temporarily due to government shutdown
A federally funded Head Start child care program run by Encompass Community Services has temporarily closed due to the ongoing government shutdown, leaving 250 children without care and 91 staff members out of work. Encompass partnered with Pajaro Valley Unified School District to offer limited temporary placements while awaiting the program’s reopening.
Posted inEducation
Watsonville High student was suspended previously for fighting, aggressive behavior before Oct. 23 attacks
A Watsonville High School student arrested in last week’s assault had previously been suspended for fighting and was already facing possible expulsion for aggressive behavior, according to district and union officials.
Posted inEducation
After violence, Watsonville High students, staff sad and searching for answers
A day after two violent attacks on the Watsonville High School campus left three people injured, students and staff returned to a somber and sparsely attended campus, grappling with fear, sadness, and unanswered questions.
Posted inLatest News
Three injured in two Watsonville High attacks Thursday morning
Three people — two students and a staff member — were injured in two related attacks, including a stabbing, at Watsonville High School on Thursday morning, authorities said. Four students, ages 14 to 16, were arrested and face multiple felony charges, while police continue investigating possible motives and any links to a recent on-campus gun arrest.
Posted inEducation
Pajaro Valley Unified School District delays controversial issues policy update after teachers, parents protest
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District board voted Wednesday to continue revising its controversial issues policy and to form a committee of teachers and students to help rewrite it.
Posted inEducation
In PVUSD, an update to a policy on controversial issues in the classroom faces accusations of censorship
Teachers in Pajaro Valley Unified School District are protesting proposed policy changes they say could suppress classroom discussions on controversial topics by requiring prior approval from administrators.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
PVUSD’s ‘controversial issues’ policy isn’t about neutrality – it’s about silence, fear and control
Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s proposed “controversial issues” policy pretends to protect balance, but instead threatens to silence teachers and sanitize truth, writes the Pajaro Valley Teachers Federation. By demanding teacher neutrality and forcing teachers to ask permission before they can discuss tough topics, the district is engaged in censorship, they write. California law already guards against bias, and they believe the proposed policy changes are overreach. They demand the district’s board of trustees reject them in a vote set for Wednesday.
