{"id":95302,"date":"2025-12-15T14:48:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T14:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/95302\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T14:48:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T14:48:25","slug":"fearing-layoffs-teachers-urge-lbusd-to-cut-administrative-costs-not-from-the-classroom-long-beach-post-news-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/95302\/","title":{"rendered":"Fearing layoffs, teachers urge LBUSD to cut administrative costs, not from the classroom \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scores of teachers and community members gathered outside Long Beach Unified\u2019s offices during Wednesday\u2019s board of trustees meeting for a rally against teacher layoffs, organized by the teachers union.<\/p>\n

Their message was clear from the signs they carried (\u201cPut students first, not [Superintendent] Jill Baker\u2019s bank account\u201d) to the chants they repeated (\u201cCuts from the top!\u201d). Rally attendees demanded the district examine administrators\u2019 salaries before they pull teachers from classrooms.<\/p>\n

Grace Castro, an organizing chair of the teachers union, addressed the crowd from a raised truck. \u201cWe are here because our district is facing a deficit,\u201d she said, referencing LBUSD\u2019s projection that its deficit spending would reach $70 million this school year (recently revised down from $100 million<\/a>). \u201cYet every time the district faces financial trouble, cuts are aimed squarely at the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several speakers pointed out that the district has amassed far more than that \u2014 about $308 million in ending balances for this school year<\/a> \u2014 in reserves that could offset spending, speakers said.<\/p>\n

The fact that Mayor Rex Richardson and three school board trustees, tasked with governing the district, climbed aboard the truck and joined the lineup of speakers, signaled the strength and leverage of the union, which is still in protracted negotiations to reach an overdue contract for teachers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Richardson explicitly called for \u201cno layoffs in the city of Long Beach,\u201d an important message to send in a moment when education is being dismantled at the federal level, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a board that supports you,\u201d Board of Trustees President Diana Craighead said to the crowd, to which a rally attendee called, \u201cWhat do you mean support?\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, many attendees said that despite the comments from their elected officials, teachers have every reason to be concerned about impending layoffs and pointed out that the district has already dispensed with librarians<\/a>, counselors<\/a> and a middle school<\/a> campus. No teacher layoffs have been proposed at this point, but in a budget update published this month<\/a>, the school district announced that staffing reductions would align with next year\u2019s projected enrollment, which has been steadily declining for decades, and which the district says is driving these cuts.<\/p>\n

Yet there has not been \u201ca comparable decrease from Hughes Way,\u201d union vice president Peder Larsen said in an interview, referring to the street address of LBUSD administrative offices. Cutting teachers should be a last resort, Larsen said, because those cuts hurt students.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A supporter holds up his sign at a rally outside of the LBUSD office before a board meeting in Long Beach, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Poly High School students Paryss Wills and Rylee Hildreth said they attended the rally for that reason: because teachers have had such a significant impact on their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen teachers are cut, students are the ones who lose, and our students need us,\u201d said Janice Pope, an English teacher at Cabrillo High School. She said she is worried about increasing class sizes and the inequity of losing resources at a school like hers that serves many marginalized students.<\/p>\n

Pope has been teaching in the district for more than two decades; because of her seniority, she said she is unlikely to be laid off. But she fears her former student, Monica Nazario, who said she was inspired to become a teacher at Cabrillo because of instructors like Pope, is at greater risk. A layoff notice would mean Nazario would lose her health benefits and her ability to pay rent, she said.<\/p>\n

Nazario said she comes from a family of immigrants and was the first among them to go to college \u2014 possible \u201cbecause of Ms. Pope and because of other teachers at Cabrillo that really encouraged me,\u201d she said. Nazario has made it her life\u2019s goal to give back to her community in the same way, showing up for her students, who she says depend on her every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my calling,\u201d Nazario said. \u201cI\u2019m here for the kids and no one else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scores of teachers and community members gathered outside Long Beach Unified\u2019s offices during Wednesday\u2019s board of trustees meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-95302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}