[ad_1]
The hallway at Stege Primary School.
Photo: Andrew Reed/EdSource
A group of educators, staff and parents are suing the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD), alleging the district has failed to address poor building conditions, teacher vacancies and violated the rights of students, particularly African American, low-income and multilingual students.
The lawsuit was filed last Friday by civil rights law firm Public Advocates and pro bono attorneys Munger, Tolles & Olson, months after the district received 48 complaints against Williams. It is the first time a school district has been sued in the landmark Williams v. Williams case. Karissa Provenza, an attorney with Public Advocates, said the state established a grievance process, access to textbooks, clean and safe schools and qualified teachers for all California public school students in 2004.
“The petitioners in this case seek a court order compelling WCCUSD to immediately correct these violations, respond to the complainants, and ultimately provide students with the safe and healthy school environment they deserve,” a statement from Public Advocates said.
In June 2023, Stege Elementary received 45 complaints about facility issues, including moldy walls, broken tiles and windows that wouldn’t open, according to a statement from Public Advocates. Six months later, three complaints were filed about teacher vacancies at Stege Elementary, Helms Middle School and Kennedy High School.
Under the Williams complaint process, the school district has 30 days to resolve the issues and 45 days to respond. According to the public advocate, West Contra Costa officials have not yet addressed the issues within the time allowed by law.
Provenza said the district has not attempted to legally fill vacant teaching positions, but has relied on unauthorized substitutes for too long, which is illegal.
District officials could not immediately be reached for comment. But in response to complaints about teacher vacancies, West Contra Costa officials acknowledged that their reliance on substitutes was illegal.
District officials said vacancies have not been filled due to teacher transfers and delayed notification of teachers leaving the district for the 2022-23 school year. The district also blamed systemic issues at the state level for the problem. The response said California schools saw a significant increase in teacher vacancies and a decrease in the number of new teachers starting in 2021 as the pandemic caused many educators to leave the profession.
When substitutes aren’t available, other teachers in the building have to take on more work and sacrifice prep time to teach, Provenza said.
Dane Shikman, co-counsel at Munger, Towles & Olson, said West Contra Costa has “created a vicious cycle” by failing to address poor school conditions and teacher vacancies.
“Teachers are leaving or not applying for positions in part because of poor school facilities,” Hickman said in a statement. “The resulting teacher vacancies lead to lower student achievement and attendance, and cause stakeholders, including district administrators, to lose confidence and reduce investment in schools and their facilities. “This lawsuit seeks to break that cycle and give WCCUSD students the opportunity to succeed in school.”
Darrell Washington, a parent at Styge Elementary School, isn’t one to complain, saying his son isn’t ready for success.
“He’s had two or three different teachers over the last year,” Washington said in a statement. “It feels like a chaotic game of musical chairs. The system is not supporting my child or any child at Stege’s. “As a community activist, I want to raise awareness of what’s happening at the school, not only for my son, but because it’s a disservice to all of our children.”
Raka Ray, an English teacher at Kennedy High School, said students without a regular teacher are less engaged and curious about learning. Ray has also observed that students are more likely to skip classes, fight and be “obsessed with their phones.”
Teacher vacancies also disproportionately affect students of color. In the 2022-23 school year, Stege Elementary School had about 38% African American students and 34% Hispanic or Latino students, according to the state Department of Education.
Nearly 83 percent of Helms students are Hispanic or Latino, and about 7 percent are African American. About 73 percent of Kennedy students are Hispanic or Latino, and nearly 18 percent are African American.
“For marginalized students coming from high-trauma backgrounds, having a sense of stability is extremely important to their academic success,” Ray said in a statement. “The void I saw was my students losing hope in the education system’s ability to provide them with a better future.”
Solving the teacher vacancy problem
Superintendent Chris Hurst addressed teacher vacancies during Wednesday’s board meeting, saying the human resources team is “working hard” to fill positions before school starts.
Hurst said as of this week, there were 76 elementary school teacher vacancies, 23 secondary school teacher vacancies and 13 special education teacher vacancies. The district also had 247 classified job openings, most of which were kindergarten aides.
Elementary schools with three or more vacancies include Stege, Bayview, Coronado, Harding, Verde and West County Mandarin. High schools with three or more vacancies are Korematsu, Pinole Valley, Richmond and Kennedy.
Hurst said the district attended 37 job fairs last year and relies on partnerships to hire and recruit teachers. West Contra Costa has partnerships with 35 colleges, Teach for America, teacher residency programs and retired teachers. The district also uses multiple search boards and held three job fairs this summer.
Camille Johnson, deputy director of human resources, said at the meeting that the district has hired 10 teachers in the past two weeks. However, Johnson said if all teacher vacancies are not filled this summer, the district will turn to substitutes. He added that there are daily, 30-day and 60-day substitutes.
[ad_2]
Source link
