In February the Grossmont Union High School District Governing Board voted 4-1 to approve the elimination of all nine teacher librarians’ positions districtwide along with other critical roles to help close a projected $2.4 million budget deficit.
So far, more than 60 staff members have received layoff notices, including librarians, counselors, support staff and other employees.
Since the decision, students, educators and community members have spoken out at meetings, written letters and organized to urge the district to reverse the cuts, calling them unnecessary and damaging to the quality of education.
Only one trustee, Chris Fite, voiced support for canceling the layoffs. While board members Jim Kelly, Scott Eckert, Robert Shield and Gary Woods voted yes.
Kairo Jones, a sophomore student at Granite Hills High School, said she felt ignored, scared and poorly represented by the board when the cuts were first announced. A student enrolled in all honors classes with dreams of attending Penn State University and studying biology, Jones said she relies on school resources and fears they will be weakened by the loss of staff.
“I just keep on finding myself questioning by the time I’m a senior, ‘Are there even going to be enough teachers and staff members to run the programs needed to get me there?’” she said. “Not only that, but there are also programs like theater, dance and performing arts that students rely upon for our mental health and have been proven to improve students’ sense of community and make them feel safer, more secure. And these layoffs really do threaten that.”
Jones also shared how deeply upset she felt when her favorite teacher received a layoff notice. She said she cried for hours, knowing how much he cares about his students and values the opportunity to guide and support them. To her, the thought of losing staff members like him felt like the district was taking away a vital part of students’ educational and emotional support system.
The elimination of teacher librarians and other essential staff will impact students, teachers, staff and community members at the district’s nine public high schools: Grossmont, El Cajon Valley, Santana, Valhalla, Granite Hills, Mount Miguel, West Hills, Monte Vista and El Capitan.
In the weeks since the layoffs were announced, the Grossmont Education Association and community members have organized multiple protests and rallies calling on the district to reverse the cuts. Their efforts aimed to preserve the 61 jobs currently on the line, urging the board to prioritize student-facing roles and programs.
The district has justified the cuts as a measure to address budget shortfalls. However, community members are questioning this rationale, and many believe the proposed cuts are disproportionate to the actual financial need.
Maggie Kelly, a senior at Grossmont High School, said she feels hurt by the board’s decision and believes the district is causing real damage to students’ education and high school experience. When asked about how the board’s financial priorities align with what’s best for students, Kelly expressed a loss of trust in the system.
“These cuts just do not align with their goals,” she said. “To add more positions in the district that do not speak to students, that do not have jobs that the students can understand, and to take away teachers and educators that do spend time with us on a day-to-day basis, I don’t understand how that could be in our best interest.”
Despite the claimed deficit, they created a new senior management position, Chief of Staff, and hired someone for the job without a single interview.
The Chief of Staff position comes with a minimum salary of $156,508.
Despite the claimed deficit, the board created a new senior management position called the chief of staff. Community members voiced strong opposition to the board’s decision to create this new high-salaried six-figure position, and sparked backlash from attendees who felt the money could have been better spent preserving direct student services.
“It is not really as necessary as counselors, teachers, librarians and all other things that they are making big cuts for in order to put the chief of staff into place,” said Jones.
Kelly emphasized that while students understand that the programs will technically still exist, they are still at risk of falling apart due to the potential replacement with less-established individuals. She explained that the current staff are instrumental to the success of these programs as they deeply care about their roles.
