During its meeting on Tuesday, February 25, the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) Board of Education approved resolutions to reduce the number of certificated and classified employees due to a lack of work or funds and heard a summary of teacher collaboration efforts across the District.
Reduction in certificated and classified staff
Timothy Erwin, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, introduced two resolutions to authorize the issuance of preliminary notices to certain certificated and classified employees whose positions may be reduced or eliminated for the 2025-2026 school year, in accordance with the timelines set forth by the California Education Code.
A total of 1.60 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of certificated services and 3.70 FTE of classified services will be affected. This translates into an elimination or reduction of hours for a teacher on Special Assignment (TSA), orientation and mobility, and a teacher for the visually impaired, as well as for a school office manager, parent liaison, digital communications specialist, coordinator of maintenance, operations, and facilities (MOF) compliance, data systems manager, and health office assistant.
These positions were recommended as potential reductions “after thorough review and careful consideration,” Erwin explained. Over the next weeks, AUSD Human Resources will work with department managers and site administrators to determine whether final action needs to be taken, and Erwin will return in May with subsequent resolutions.
“Staffing reductions, regardless of how big or how small they are, are never easy,” Erwin said.
Neither resolution received Board or public comment ahead of unanimous approvals. However, during her Board Member report at the beginning of the meeting, Clerk Heather Little read a list of the significant monetary deficits and personnel cuts that several other school districts in the Bay Area are facing.
“I understand that we are not in the exact same position as that, but we are currently looking at $850,000. That is paltry considering what is happening to districts around us,” said Little, and credited District leadership along with Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Shariq Khan and his team for their efforts in keeping AUSD out of that position for next year.
Centering on collaboration
Earlier in the meeting, staff provided a status update on student learning outcomes and professional training associated with the District’s mathematics curricula.
Jenn Balaian, Elementary Math Coach, described how elementary schools are in the third year of implementing the “Eureka Squared” curriculum, which is supplemented by additional resources for targeted intervention. To familiarize other teachers with the curriculum at each school site, math coaches and lead teachers provide ongoing support through lesson planning, model lessons, and after-school collaborations and trainings.
Similarly, prior to the start of the school year, four lead teachers spent the summer attending trainings and creating scope ahead of the launch of the new CPM Integrated Math curriculum in high schools. The efforts have led to 22 math teachers participating in over 700 hours of training, and are supported by a robust structure of monthly collaboration and shared resources.
“For the first time ever in this District, teachers at Encinal can say, ‘hey, teacher at Alameda High, here’s this, here’s that,’ and they’re getting together,” explained Lise Nunn Needham, Secondary Math Coach. “We’re talking about building teachers’ collective efficacy.”
Needham also touched on curriculum and instruction development for middle school math. Notably, only 48% of sixth grade students entering Encinal Jr. & Sr. High School and Wood Middle School met standards on their fifth grade math exams, and only 42% of all middle school students at these two sites met grade-level standards. Therefore, a key action item for the District, according to Director of Secondary Education Vernon Walton, is to extend the teacher leader model to middle schools in an effort to improve student performance.
Afterward, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Kirsten Zazo took a wider look at collaboration time as a “safe space where teachers can work together” to productively challenge practice and focus on students and instruction, with a shared vision that all students are able to meet high expectations. This school year, as part of the District’s Strategic Plan, collaboration priorities include centering focal students—and, in particular, African American and Black students—building awareness of “equity traps” that perpetuate deficit thinking or pass along the blame, and improving classroom instruction. Staff from Edison Elementary School and Encinal Jr. & Sr. High School discussed progress at both school sites.
Other notable items
- AUSD “sunshined” its initial proposals for Successor Collective Bargaining Agreement with California School Employees Association (CSEA) Chapters 860 and 27.
- The Board voted unanimously for all three candidates running for the three vacancies on the California School Boards Association (CSBA) Delegate Assembly.
Ken Der is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Ken-Der.
