At 10:55 a.m. on Tuesday, a chime rang over the loudspeaker at Logan Memorial Educational Campus.
“Attention students,” a young voice said, crackling with distortion, “we have a walkout at 11:00 a.m.”
Minutes later, students flooded into the quad. Their numbers grew into the hundreds before they walked through the campus’ bright yellow gates and onto the sidewalk encircling the school.
San Diego Unified School District pitched Logan Memorial as an innovative “cradle to career,” experience that would serve families even before children were born and students from kindergarten to 12th grade. District leaders also stacked up on promises – like Montessori curriculum in early grades and project-based learning in later ones.
The community the school serves, Logan Heights, had long dealt with struggling, under resourced schools. Logan Memorial was supposed to change all of that. It was the most expensive building project San Diego Unified had ever embarked on – carrying a nearly $200 million price tag.
But parents have felt shortchanged, complaining that the district and school hadn’t delivered much of what was promised. At a recent meeting, one parent asked, “What’s the use of having a beautiful, expensive building if there are no resources for what’s going on inside?”
The concerns of the students protesting were more personal. They were angry that multiple teachers they viewed as key to building a sense of belonging on campus were being laid off or moved to younger grades within the campus. This was especially distressing for them given their feeling that the school was already short-staffed. They were also frustrated with what they viewed as a lack of communication and transparency surrounding the layoffs.
The layoffs come as the district grapples with a budget deficit the district projected to be as large as $94 million. To combat the deficit, officials voted to lay off hundreds of staff members across the district.
As they marched around the school, faculty escorted them and district police blocked off streets. Some chanted, using miniature bullhorns, and others giggled excitedly. They carried colorful signs that said things like “We need our teachers,” and “Let our teachers have a say.”
Caroline Cruz, a student and one of the organizers, said she knows that seniority plays a significant role in layoffs, but if Logan Memorial did get rid of the teachers slated to be let go, students would feel the loss.
“They do a lot for this school … If (these teachers) leave, most of the students here at LMEC would lose a trustworthy person. We trust these teachers a lot, they’re the ones who advocate the most for us,” Cruz said.
Autumn Dye, another Logan Memorial student, said the teachers the district is laying off are the ones who “talk to us like we’re people … that’s something not all the teachers do.”
Danny Salgado, another organizer, echoed Cruz’s concerns about the layoffs, but added that he thinks Logan Memorial needs a “better administration team.”
“What we need is for the district and for the superintendent, Mr. Lamont Jackson, to … make the changes in our school that we need and for him to actually hear our voices this time,” Salgado said.
In an email, San Diego Unified Board President Shana Hazan wrote that the district is attempting to balance its budget hole while limiting impacts on students and schools.
“Over the last year, our team has worked to thoughtfully and strategically build a budget that considers the needs of our children first and foremost,” Hazan wrote. “We are maximizing attrition and available reserves to minimize layoffs, and we are hopeful we can continue to reduce the actual number of employees affected before May 15 when reductions are to be finalized.”
Thank you for covering this action. Fourth paragraph addresses the bait and switch, “San Diego Unified School District pitched Logan Memorial as an innovative “cradle to career,” experience……”
The Sweetwater Union District had proposed staff reductions at Chula Vista an Southwest High Schools. Both schools have mostly BIPOC / Title 1 student populations. The proposed staff reductions were taken off the table after student and parent activism at the School Board.
Reduced funding from the State is a reality. However, why are the most recent programs which address the needs of historically underserved communities not safeguarded? LAUSD – UTLA Current Bargaining Agreement has provision to protect lower seniority teachers who serve targeted student populations when staff reductions are made. The San Diego School Board and the Teachers Union should negotiate something similar to the correct the historical neglect of BIPOC students.
The San Diego Unified Board voted in favor of teacher layoffs when they voted for raises without money in the budget to pay for them. There was no thought or strategy involved – unless they thought teacher layoffs were a good strategy. They also negotiated away their right to decide which staff would be let go. They should renegotiate the contract with the unions and truly put students first.
Didn’t you just report recently how none of these kids go to school anyway? They don’t care about layoffs, these skels don’t want to be in school.