On March 11, 2025, parents, students and faculty filtered into the Board of Education room “as the fight continues” for the reductions that were taken into action at the previous meetings. Many were in attendance at the meeting, with the room filled to the brim, ensuring everyone heard what would be said.
Several resolutions were discussed during the meeting, the first being Resolution #25-05 which requires the Board to notify the employees that they will not be elected the following year. The second, Resolution #25-06, added particular kinds of certified services that will be discontinued or reduced, including art, music and more. The last resolution, Resolution #25-07, ensured that the Board has to notify temporary employees that they will not be elected for the coming year. All of these resolutions were passed by the end of the meeting.
The meeting officially started at 6 p.m., and anyone who wanted to speak or make a public comment had to fill out a form in advance. During the meeting, 40 public commenters, ranging from children to adults, voiced their opinions and worries about what was to come from previous reductions to impel the Board of Trustees to reflect on their decision on Resolution #25-02. Many people who came were in support of the Ventura Unified Education Association (VUEA), who were pushing for the final decision of a previous meeting to be revised.
Santanah Schnizler ‘27 shared his opinion on the subject, saying, “It’s also frustrating to see that cuts are being made from the bottom up … The district admitted at the meeting that they didn’t give the same level of thought to classified staff cuts as they did to certificated staff.”
The meeting opened with the Board of Education talking about certain administrators who were released or reassigned. Through that, they led their way through the normal agenda and eventually commenced public comment. Each public commenter got two minutes, and due to the overflow room, the board called four names at a time to ensure everyone had the opportunity to share their thoughts and perspectives.
One by one, individuals approached the Board to express their concerns about who was affected by these decisions and what consequences might arise if the Board’s decision remained unchanged.
Kiana Felix ‘25 expressed how she felt, stating, “I think it’s heartbreaking. I’ve been with the district since kindergarten … Without a doubt, it hadn’t been the principal or the vice principal … It’s always going to be the people who I interact with on a day to day, it’s always going to be the people who greet me at the door, it’s always going to be the librarians and the technicians, the ones that keep the school running and the unity that they create directly.”
After the public comment ended, they proceeded to the Board comments. Most of the Board was concerned about the people affected but had to focus on the timing and the budget. During the board comments, Jerry Dannenberg said, “So while we will be looking at all this stuff in more detail, we still have the timing problem and the budget problem … This is a bigger problem than just Ventura Unified [School District] … this is the problem of the state of the federal government.”
Through public comment, the Board members shared their words on the final decision, and some related to the staff getting cut and wanting to give the Ventura Education Support Professionals Association (VESPA) a fighting chance. Some regretted that they didn’t give the decision as much time and thought as it deserved.
Board Vice President James Forsythe said, “It is evident that we didn’t give the same breath that we gave certified to our classified employees … It wasn’t fair, it isn’t right … we should have asked more questions.” By the end of the Board’s comment, they wanted to make things right and give Resolution #25-02 the time and the detail that the people thought it deserved.
Ultimately, the Board decided to take another look in more detail at the Resolution #25-02 decision and how it would affect the people of Ventura. They decided to revisit the subject at a future board meeting, ensuring that the public commenters were heard.
Even though the Board of Education decided to listen to the public’s voices and review decision Resolution #25-02, the fight is still ongoing. There will be more board meetings about this subject and how to resolve it.
Sara Serota said, “In terms of the teachers there, the ones delivering the product and when those jobs are cut our students’ quality of education will go down.”
