More than 100 Anaheim teachers to be laid off
Anaheim Union High School District appears ready to lay off dozens of teachers.
A report in The Gladiator Times, the student publication of Gilbert High School, indicates that 195 teachers are being notified about their possible termination, though only 110 will actually be laid off. At Gilbert High, eight teachers are affected, the report adds.
According to the AUHSD Board of Trustees resolution, however, the equivalent of 131 full-time positions will be eliminated. The proposed cuts are broken down by subject matter:
Subject | Full-time | Part-time | Total |
English | 31 | 2 | 33 |
Math | 27 | 2 | 29 |
Physical Education | 15 | 0 | 15 |
Science | 24 | 5 | 29 |
Social Science | 22 | 3 | 25 |
Total | 119 | 12 | 131 |
The Board’s agenda says the layoffs will save the district about $18.4 million.
In a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, Superintendent Michael Matsuda seemed to confirm the layoffs, though he said “there is misinformation circulating about the district’s stance on valuing our teachers.”
After an agreement with the teachers union in 2017-18, the district “temporarily” increased the teaching staff, a move that was supposed to remain in place for three years, Matsuda said.
Though that agreement was set to expire after the 2020-21 school year, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a one-time grant of federal and state funds to the district, meaning those additional teachers — “well over 100” of them, Matsuda said — could remain employed.
However, the district now has the same number of teachers as it did in 2017-18 while educating 3,500 fewer students.
“Put another way, the district has lost the equivalent of a high school and a junior high school worth of students during this time frame,” Matsuda explained.
With the grants set to expire later this year, the AUHSD is forced to trim its teaching staff, though “in the spirit of solidarity and shared sacrifice,” Matsuda said he will not accept a salary increase.
“While this gesture may seem small in the grand scheme of our district’s operations, I hope it sends a meaningful message of solidarity and shared responsibility …. Together, we can weather the storms ahead,” he said.
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