On Feb. 25, members of the San Ramon Valley Education Association (SRVEA) held a rally outside the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) offices, protesting the layoffs outlined in the district’s $26 million budget reduction plan ahead of a crucial board vote. The demonstration was part of a sustained campaign by SRVEA to garner community support in recent months, including teachers wearing red in solidarity and staging multiple rallies.

In the face of community concerns raised before the meeting, objections voiced during the process and public expressions of disapproval, the SRVUSD Board of Education unanimously approved the budget cuts with a 4-0 vote (Area 4 Trustee Susanna Ordway was absent from the meeting). The reductions will result in the elimination of more than 129 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions for certificated staff and over 60 FTE positions for classified employees.

Arriving at 4:30 p.m., SRVEA members gathered at Sycamore Valley Park in Danville before marching to the district office, where the meeting was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Dressed in red and carrying signs, the protesters focused their message on the anticipated negative impact of the cuts on students. More than 100 people assembled on the lawn outside the office, listening to speakers from SRVEA and the Mount Diablo Education Association (MDEA). 

Laura Finco, SRVEA President, opened the remarks by urging attendees to remain respectful at the meeting, while demanding accountability from the board.

“We will show them professionalism, but they’re going to have to look at each and every one of us when they give their ‘aye’ votes to adopt the resolution to eliminate 125 teachers, counselors, social workers, teacher-librarians and our Rainbow-Room [elementary] school psychologist,” Finco stated.

Subsequent statements highlighted what SRVEA sees as detrimental effects of the budget cuts on student learning and well-being, particularly the reduction in counselors and librarians during a time when mental health support has become crucial. The cuts to mental health services – including 20.7 counselor positions, five social workers, and one psychologist – as well as two teacher librarian positions were major points of concern.

“Why don’t we support our students with counselors and social workers and high school teacher librarians?” speaker DeeDee Judice, a kindergarten teacher at Golden View Elementary School, asked the crowd. “Our students should not be shouldering the burden of their financial deficit. If management would stand up and pay their fair share, they would show that they are protecting our students.”

John D. Hanavan, a Ceramics and eighth-grade Core teacher at Gale Ranch Middle School at the rally, stressed the importance of public awareness on the issues.

“That’s the intention here, to make sure that people see us and that people have a sense of what’s going on,” Hanavan said. “All of them have as much impact on this board as we do. In fact, probably in some ways, they’re more powerful than we are, because they [the board] have to answer to them.”

Speakers also emphasized solidarity in addressing these challenges, even across district lines. Linda Ortega, MDEA President, spoke from experience about difficulties negotiating with Mount Diablo Unified School District and stood in support of SRVEA.

“I am on the other side of the hill, and my members are with you in solidarity,” Ortega said. “An injury to one is an injury to all. So we stand with you, because your students deserve the best.”

The theme of solidarity echoed throughout all the speakers’ remarks, highlighting the impressive turnout as people driving by honked their horns in support.

“I’m looking out here at the sea of red, and I see strength and grit and toughness,” Judice continued. “I see teachers and educators standing together in solidarity to protect our students.”

Some students also voiced concerns about the loss of safe spaces and support systems within schools due to the budget cuts. DV senior Scheherazade Ali expressed her concern about the potential loss of librarians at the school. 

“I’m aware that if these budget cuts go through, there is a very high chance that Ms. [Allison] Hussenet will lose her position as a librarian, and possibly other library teachers will as well. To me, that’s completely unacceptable, because the librarians are what make the campus so special, and the DVHS library is probably the most welcoming and safe place on campus,” Ali said. “They protect us, they care for us, and we should do the same for them.”

Superintendent CJ Cammack, in recent releases to the SRVUSD community, maintains the stance that while the reductions aren’t ideal, they are necessary.

“As we navigate necessary budget reductions, our focus remains on preserving the high-quality education our students deserve,” Cammack wrote. “We recognize that these decisions are difficult, but taking action now is essential to securing SRVUSD’s long-term fiscal health.”

Yet, teachers were apprehensive about the long-term effects of the budget reductions. Even those not directly impacted by the nearly 200 layoffs expected by the end of the school year warned that increased class sizes in the next academic year would place additional strain on remaining staff.

Amy Dieckhans, a kindergarten teacher at Live Oak Elementary School, echoed these concerns, especially pertaining to the need for mental health support and smaller class sizes for young children.

“Kindergarteners don’t have a voice, but a lot of them have mental health struggles, and I think it’s really important that we advocate for them,” Dieckhans said. “After COVID, they have even more needs for what they’ve been through. And when you put more kids in a class, that makes that very, very difficult.”

Opposition to the proposed budget cuts began soon after the district released its now-adopted budget proposal in January, one that Michelle Baker, an Algebra 1 teacher and DV union representative, saw as problematic.

“The budget that was presented was not a SRVEA or union budget,” Baker said.

SRVEA has proposed an alternative to the budget cuts. According to a document circulated by SRVEA leaders and protest organizers ahead of the board meeting, the union’s “SRVEA Solutions” consisted of a proposed plan to increase revenue, doubling the cuts to management costs, a proposed early retirement plan to save money, the use of discretionary block grants to fund student support jobs and monthly encumbered expenditure reports to avoid “further accounting errors.”

“We heard that there was a $9 million discretionary block grant that may be coming our way through the budget,” Finco said at the rally. “We shared with management that if they used that block grant, they could save the mental health services for our students and still have money left over to possibly not have to make us have furlough days. Only after we put pressure on them, after our professional development rally, did they even make any movement toward even entertaining use of that discretionary grant for mental health services.”

Overall, the package was estimated by SRVEA to create at least $20 million in savings. However, all of the proposed solutions were rejected by management during labor negotiations – leading the union’s council to vote in favor of filing an unfair practice charge against district management for bad-faith bargaining.

Johann Sommerville, a DVHS US History & AP Research teacher on the SRVEA negotiations board, felt that educator voices were not being heard.

“Every solution we’ve proposed—like securing $9 million in state funds—has been dismissed by the district while their focus has been protecting their own office,” Sommerville stated. “Yet the cuts will force people in schools, like in Math and English departments, to lose their relationships.”

Negotiations are still underway between SRVEA and the district over future block grant funding, increasing management cuts, preserving student services, class sizes and furlough days. As of the session on Tuesday, March 4, no agreements were reached on the memorandums of understanding (MOUs) presented. 

“Like many districts across California, we must issue preliminary layoff notices to align staffing with declining enrollment and budget constraints,” Cammack wrote. “While these notices are required by state law, they are not final, and we continue to explore solutions that mitigate their impact. We are also engaged in negotiations with our labor partners to find a path forward that supports both our educators and students.”

Although their aims weren’t realized on rally day, teachers were proud of the stand they made at the protest, especially while going into future negotiations to protect educational quality.

“There are teachers here who may lose their jobs standing alongside those who won’t,” DVHS AP Literature and Science Fiction/Fantasy Literature teacher Justin Worley remarked after the rally. “We’re not obstructing traffic; we’re demonstrating our presence and unity. Solidarity is key.”