The Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) board meeting, held every two weeks, occurred on Thursday, February 15. While over 350 teachers and staff positioned themselves along Riverside Drive in front of the CVUSD main building, passing vehicles honked their support in the hours leading up to the board meeting.
Mr. Steven Frazer of Ayala High School as well as another parent representative made speeches from speakers outside the building to other supporting staff, an introduction to their concerns and the exigence behind why teachers around the district feel they deserve more than they’re being given. While hundreds of staff decorated the sidewalks on both sides of the street, plenty more teachers waited in line next to the board chambers for their chance to sit inside and share their stories. Signs and posters, in both English and Spanish, were painted partisans of what has long been touched on by passionate staff members.
To start this meeting, the CVUSD school board congratulated Ayala’s band and color guard for winning the Bands of America (BAC) regional championship and winning the BAC 6A Division Championship. Mr. Timothy Trost expressed how proud he was of the students as well as the parents for working so hard throughout the summer and school year to make these results happen.
“We are so grateful at Ayala to have the booster program that we have and of course, the hardworking students, and it definitely pays off with hard work,” said Trost.
But it’s not over yet for Ayala’s band and color guard. Within the next couple of months, Ayala’s band will be playing at Carnegie Hall, Ayala’s Jazz Band will be going to New York to perform, and Ayala’s Color Guard and Percussion is going to world championships in Dayton, Ohio as defending champions.
“When [Mr. Trost] started the program, I knew [he] were a young man. It’s been years back, but [he has] that passion to build a program in such magnitude. It’s really paid off after so many years and it’s really an accomplishment when I hear from a parent about how grateful she is of [his] leadership and support for our students,” said board member James Na.
While the student recognition kept the mood light within the board room, staff cheers and boos from the standing room in the adjacent building started to become a considerable distraction. A disgruntled President Sonja Shaw reminded attendees to maintain professionalism, made only more convincing after she was seen snickering about teacher protests with Superintendent Norm Enfield.
In this meeting, Associated Chino Teachers (ACT) pushed for reforms to the payment policy and resources allocated to teachers in the district, making it known that they would not stand any longer for their demands to be dismissed. Later, the topic of teacher wages was brought up by teachers in attendance under ACT. For the last decade, the CVUSD board has marginally underpaid their teachers in comparison to other school districts around the area and has not given the price of living raises to teachers during or after the COVID pandemic. The teachers urge the board to take negotiations more seriously, as ever since the teachers started their campaign at the start of April 2023, there have been no changes made by the board.
The argument from the side of ACT is that teachers are working outside of contracted hours to prepare lessons for classes, spending hours at home grading assignments, and spending their own money on classroom resources that should’ve been provided by the school.
“Most of my students that do the AP 2D Design class have to use their own devices to do digital technology. I can’t show them how to do digital artwork… what frustrates me is that I had to spend 20 grand on some digital tablets that could be connected to computers. Where is the grant money [of the district] going?” said AP 2D Design teacher Mr. Daniel Spellman.
The fact that more teachers are quitting while fewer are being hired has left many of the faculty at schools worried. There are already 21 vacancies and the pay at CVUSD is causing several more teachers to consider leaving the district.
“So there will be, at this moment, at least 40 vacancies in the fall. Other employees are considering their options to leave the district and we don’t know how many that will turn out to be,” said Frazer.
With little to no response from the board in these meetings and even fewer responses from the board in emails, teachers are getting fed up with the non-communication of the board. While this district board meeting showed the triumphs of the CVUSD school district via Ayala’s Band and Ayala’s women’s soccer, it also highlighted the issues with the district.
Despite over 15 Ayala teachers and more than 350 district teachers attending the board meeting to show their support and concern, it’s with growing concern that teachers attempt to save their jobs, not just for their livelihood, but for the students they know depend on them. If no real progress is made, or one is made out of impatience, perhaps there will be less teachers to represent for their next district interaction.
