This story was originally published by Fresnoland.
Another round of potential pink slips to employees was approved by the Fresno Unified Board of Education, putting more positions on the line for reductions.
On Wednesday, the board approved two resolutions initiating the process to reduce the equivalent of 49 full-time classified staff positions and two certificated positions.
David Chavez, the district’s chief of human resources and labor relations, said Wednesday’s votes are similar to the board approved resolutions in the Feb. 25 meeting.
“In this case, the board’s action tonight is not one that is a final decision, but instead it’s just a preliminary notice,” Chavez said during Wednesday’s meeting.
Like the positions that were identified before for reductions, the new cuts approved Wednesday will be subject to the “bumping” process. Employees with seniority are bumped down to positions with less pay while retaining their benefits and employment.
Chavez reiterated that even if an employee isn’t able to bump down, the district is looking to offer alternative positions so staff are able to keep their benefits.
Chavez said eliminating the 49 positions wouldn’t actually force anyone out of the district’s workforce, saying “there aren’t any individuals who are being impacted.”
According to Chavez, the district has a deadline of March 15 — Sunday — to notify employees who have been identified for reductions. Staff will be able to have hearings through April if they feel they should not be part of the reductions.
After these hearings, administrative law judges will make recommendations on reductions to the board by May 7. Chavez said once the board adopts the recommendations, a final notification would be sent to staff on May 14 for layoffs or bumping.
The district’s chief financial officer, Patrick Jensen, said that the reductions would impact around 500 positions in total.
“I would say at this point, approximately 300 of those positions are vacancies and early retirements, and then approximately 200 of those positions are positions that have staff in them currently,” Jensen said in an interview on Wednesday.
The reductions will be made effective on June 30 and seek to address a projected deficit of $55 million for the coming 2026-27 school year.
Before the votes on Wednesday evening, community members urged the board against the reductions.
“We are the backbone of our district. I respectfully ask each and every one to please come and see the work that we do right to be in our shoes for one day,” said Eufemia Sanchez, president of the California School Employees Association Fresno Chapter.
At the second portion of the meeting, students and alumni from Roosevelt High’s CTE Fashion Design course spoke during public comment and asked the board to keep the program alive.
Fresnoland spoke to students and alumni of the fashion program, who referenced a video posted to social media by teacher Tamara Norris. Samuel Alviar, a senior in the fashion program, said he attended Wednesday’s meeting to show support for the program he’s involved in.
“I heard this from myriads of students and the teacher herself that they were ending the program prematurely,” Alviar said.
On top of technical and creative skills, students said that the program helps them learn entrepreneurial and networking skills that stem from their collaboration with other departments. Students repair clothing for the theatre department, create their own clothes and sell them, host events and give students interested in fashion a space for community.
Another Roosevelt senior and fashion program student, Branden Vue, says the course’s shuttering is education being ripped from underneath him and his peers.
“I also spoke to Roosevelt’s admin and they had expressed to me that, although it wasn’t like a set date of when she would leave or when the program would be sunsetted, but more than likely it would be towards the end of the year where everything would be like, completely shut off, cut down, which would give Miss Tamara Norris about the whole summer to move out the classroom, and then they would use that classroom for an another course here,” Vue said.
District officials could not confirm an exact timeline for when the Roosevelt High program will be ended, nor the specific reasons for its end. Jensen noted that low enrollment was one of the reasons, but said that the program wasn’t being reduced in connection with current budget talks.