Clerks at Hawes and Kettler laid off...

Clerks at Hawes and Kettler laid off

The libraries at Hawes and Kettler elementary schools are likely

to be short staffed next year after the Huntington Beach City School

District board voted Tuesday to send layoff notices to both schools’

library clerks.

The decision was made as the district continues to struggle with

funding shortfalls that stem from the state budget crisis. This week

was the third time the district has resorted to cutting staff

positions to trim its budget. In April, the board authorized

eliminating two custodial jobs and one bus-driver position. Two more

transportation jobs were eliminated on June 8.

Hawes and Kettler were picked for the cut because they have the

smallest enrollments in the district, a justification that did not

sit well with parents who came to the meeting to protest the move.

“The idea that students who attend a lower-attendance school

should be deprived of services provided to students at a

higher-attendance school is inequitable,” said Cathy Lindsay, who has

a child at Kettler.

The district could make up for the loss at the campuses by having

the district’s four smallest schools share library clerks, said Kathy

Kessler, asst. supt. for human resources.

“It would be our intent to provide service to those schools

through those two remaining librarians,” Kessler said.

In April, the board agreed to reduce library clerks’ hours when

the body opted to send layoff notices to other employees. By law,

however, any reduction in staffers’ hours can only be made as part of

a collective-bargaining agreement. Kessler said an agreement on hours

was not reached during labor negotiations and the layoff notices

would be sent in case an agreement is not reached.

Layoff notices must be sent 45 days before an employee is fired,

Kessler said. Tuesday’s meeting was the last possible time when

notices could be sent out in time for layoffs to be in effect by next

school year.

However, the idea to share library clerks is not final. The union

representing district staffers would have to agree to that plan

during negotiations, said union president Midge Hill.

The union and district have been negotiating since May 4. Hill

said she believed negotiations were going well enough that an

agreement could have been reached without any library clerks losing

their jobs.

“There’s absolutely no need for additional layoffs,” she said.