“Rightsizing” is supposed to sound better than “layoffs”, but either way, people are losing their jobs. Anger and hurt were tangible at last night’s Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting. Students, staff, and community members flooded the building and were eager to be heard by the district.

At the start of the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Damon J. Wright acknowledged their outstanding staff but warned the crowd of the district’s troubled financial state.

“This rightsizing process has been mentally, emotionally challenging all across our organization…” said Dr. Wright. “At the same time, our continued deficit spending and rapidly shrinking reserves make it necessary to address these challenges now. While this work is painful, it is essential to ensure long-term fiscal stability within our district.”

“I do want to take a moment to respond to some misinformation that is suggesting that we’re in this deficit spending situation due to mismanagement of funds. It’s simply not the case,” said Dr. Wright. “I want to remind the public that deficit spending isn’t always a bad thing when you do it for a limited period of time. And as a district, we have done that for the last couple of years. Our reserves have decreased significantly. As a district, we have maintained more resources and staff as our student enrollment declined indicated to provide maximum support to students during the pandemic. Deficit spending was necessary and a strategic action during that time, but now it’s time to responsibly adjust our spending.”

The community got to have their say, but because it was during public comment on unagendized items, the Board was not allowed to engage. However, this topic is set to be on the agenda for the next two Board meetings, and if this night was any indication, those discussions will also be heated.

A big sore spot was reducing the number of school counselors and psychologists. They’re worried this will reduce accessibility to academic counseling and to mental health support. Angel Soto, a Wilcox High School student, was especially concerned about losing Spanish-speaking counselors.

“We’re facing a mental health crisis among our teenagers, and this board is choosing to remove the very people trained to help them navigate it…” said Erika, whose son goes to MacDonald High School. “To cut counselors in a crisis is not strategic budget realignment. It is abandonment.”

One of the biggest concerns was cutting educators and creating combo classes in elementary schools. Becky Marinshaw, a teacher at Scott Lane Elementary School, said in a combo class, a teacher basically has two full-time jobs.

The MacDonald community had a huge turnout. Founding members of the school felt like they built up the school themselves over the past few years without support from the district. They have lost trust in the district and say promises were broken. Reductions could mean losing their school culture, co-teachers, science department, and more. MacDonald — and all the new schools at the old Agnews site — have a high number of new teachers with low seniority who are especially at risk.

“Don’t dismantle the culture we started to build,” said Jiya Patel, MacDonald Senior Class President and founding member. “You left us alone for four years. Leave us alone now. Give us a chance.”

Students from Mission Early College High School (MECHs), Wilcox, and more gave passionate speeches advocating for their beloved teachers, TOSAs, and support staff. Staff members also came to advocate for their beloved programs, like the literacy intervention program. They showed special concern for the neediest students because these cuts would be especially painful for Title 1 schools and special education support.

Many speakers begged the district to slow down this process. Many have heard that the district plans on “rightsizing” many jobs in one year. Some suggested phasing out the process across multiple years instead.

The meeting went past midnight to give everyone a chance to speak and carry on with the rest of the Board agenda. There will be more chances to be involved in this process. According to Dr. Wright, on Thursday, Feb. 12, staff will share additional details with the community, and on Thursday, Feb. 26, they will bring recommendations, including resolutions for approval. Meetings are live-streamed on the District’s YouTube page, and agendas are posted on their website.

There is more information on the “rightsizing” process on the District’s website: https://www.santaclarausd.org/about-us/departments/fiscal-services/district-financial-reports/what-is-rightsizing