130 to get layoff notices from PVUSD By DONNA JONES Posted: 02/18/2010 01:30:39 AM PST WATSONVILLE -- Layoff notices will go out to about 130 Pajaro Valley teachers, assistant principals and counselors in March.
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District board of trustees approved the notices of potential layoffs Wednesday in a 4-2 vote.
The job cuts, which, if finalized, would be effective June 30, are the result of $8.5 million in spending reductions for next year and the loss of grants and other special funding.
The layoffs could be rescinded before the end of the school year if circumstances change, but the district is moving forward now to meet a state mandated deadline of March 15 for notifying teachers and other certificated staff of the potential job loss.
The largest group of teachers, 32, would be laid off due to the increase in class sizes in first and second grades, a cost-saving measure.
Trustee Sandra Nichols said that's why she joined Vice President Karen Osmundson in voting no.
"I had proposed a budget that did not require class-size reduction to be obliterated as much as it is," said Nichols, who wanted deeper cuts to administration. "My cuts were specifically devised to protect classroom instruction to students."
The board put the elimination of three school psychologists and a half-time nurse on hold pending further information.
Psychologists told trustees they had made the decision to cut the jobs using faulty information related to caseloads and state averages. They said the state
