Here's what happened at the Sac City Unified School District Mtg on February 18th
Thanks to Mo Kashmiri for taking very detailed notes of what we summarize below.
What had happened at this meeting?
The District proposed a plan to partially reopen schools as soon as April 8th. However, there needs to be more conversations with teachers, so it is still subject to negotiation. The main disagreement seems to be that the District refuses to spend $2 million to upgrade ventilation, despite the fact that it is receiving over $100 million in one-time funding from the State and Local governments. Question: why won't the school spend the money and make it happen if it will allow some of our most vulnerable kids to get back to school sooner?
The district also moved a motion to layoff a lot of teachers and certificated staff based on declining enrollment numbers and to "improve the districts financial health". However, since the District is receiving millions in temporary funding, they should be using that money to increase student services to help make up for the negative impacts of the pandemic. Our kids need more services, not less.
Why is this important for social justice? Are there important next steps on this issue? What should SJPC readers do?
SJPC should encourage SCUSD to engage its labor partners in good faith negotiations to re-open schools as soon as it is safe to do so. Let's encourage the District to come to a compromise on the ventilation issue so that we can reopen schools safely. It would be great if SJPC readers would advocate for MORE school funding for our schools, instead of an austerity model that is failing our students. We will not be able to change the outcomes without changing this structure. The State, City, County, and Federal governments should be pushed to provide more money for schools. The District also needs to look at another long-term school bond because part of the issue is that our facilities are in dire need of upgrade since they are so old.
[Readers, if you attend these meetings and want to share what's happening in SCUSD as it relates to social justice and education equity, please be like Mo and send us a report]
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