As the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Board of Education was set to convene for its March 7 meeting, a union group stood outside the district offices with their message for officials.
Union SEIU Local 99, which represents many of the district’s employees, held a rally to demand more staffing for student services and increased pay for what the union calls “essential education workers.” The union was also protesting layoffs in the district, such as the recent decision to reduce the district’s amount of physical activities specialists at elementary school sites.
Union representation stated that SEIU has been in negotiations with the district for two years on issues like pay rate and number of hours, urging the district to invest more in staff that provides student services.
“At this point, we need the district to move forward with offering livable wages for workers who live and contribute to the school district, [so they can] live in Santa Monica,” SEIU Communications Director Blanca Gallegos said. “Many workers have to commute every day to get to the school district. They’re very dedicated to students and to education, we feel their contributions to student learning should be recognized and rewarded with living wages.”
Roughly 25 individuals attended the rally, including Henry Placencia, who has worked for SMMUSD for 13 years as a skill maintenance worker. He said his personal lack of pay raise has led to additional assignments and roughly 60 hours of overtime each month to earn a substantive wage.
“[We’re here] to raise awareness amongst the families of Santa Monica-Malibu, the people of Santa Monica and Malibu, that it’s not just about us that we’re fighting for, but for their students when they come to school.” Placencia stated.
Negotiations between SEIU and the district are continuing after both the rally and several public comments during the SMMUSD board’s Feb. 27 meeting echoing the demands.
“SMMUSD continues to negotiate in good faith with our SEIU bargaining unit through the interest-based bargaining process,” SMMUSD Community & Public Relations Officer Gail Pinsker told the Daily Press. “We continue to listen to expressed interests as we collaboratively work through this process in a manner that has worked successfully for all groups in prior years.”
The union also stated its intentions to negotiate regarding the layoffs of physical activities specialists in the district. During the Feb. 27 meeting, the SMMUSD board passed a resolution by a 5-2 vote in the reduction of physical activities specialists by 6.75 full-time equivalent positions, equal to nine employees. District officials stated that SMMUSD was found out of compliance with a federal program monitoring report from the California Department of Education for 2023-24, and that the elementary school physical education program is not being run by certificated teachers in that area.
Franklin Elementary School activities specialist Michael Thompson was one of the impacted parties, who attended the rally in an attempt for district officials to give the impacted employees “a leg to stand on” regarding the opportunity to be properly credentialed for the role.
“What they’re doing is very disheartening,” Thompson said. “[It’s] just completely outright outlandish how they’re going behind closed doors as a district, either taking their cue from the state or coming up with it on their own, but trying to move a lot of people … they’re really trying to shuffle us out.”
He added that he first heard the rumblings his job may be in jeopardy from one of his students in the fall, and that short-staffing the PE department will cause chaos on elementary campuses. For the 2024-25 school year, the district is looking to fill five elementary PE openings, as well as retain seven of the specialists to support implementation.
“Hopefully, we can come to a better solution,” Thompson said. “Hopefully, [the board will] reconvene at the table … and they’re able to say ‘hey, okay, let’s step back for a second’ … not ‘this state is forcing us’ because when it comes down to it, when you make moves like this … it’s money.”
Though the board did not make any comments regarding the PE layoffs during its March 7 meeting, Santa Monica-Malibu Council PTA President Erika Bell offered support during her regular report.
“We truly appreciate our coaches and how they connect and work with our students,” Bell said. “They are an important part of our community and we trust that the district is doing what it can to help them during this transition.”