30 to Lose Jobs as West Covina School District Tackles Deficit

WEST COVINA —  Thirty non-instructional employees of the West Covina Unified School District will be laid off as part of budget cuts needed to offset a deficit of at least $3.2 million.

At a meeting that lasted until midnight Tuesday, the Board of Education also eliminated all district funding for field trips and equipment purchases and cut the data processing budget by $50,000. In addition, the district eliminated its portion of funding for elementary school textbooks and for athletic teams’ transportation to sporting events. However, district officials said individual schools should have enough contingency funds to cover those expenses.

“I think we’re doing what has to be done,” said Supt. Jane D. Gawronski, who has headed the district for less than a month. “We’re going to have fewer people but the same workload. It’s going to be hardest on the people laid off, but it’s also going to be hard on those people still left.”

The cuts approved Tuesday will save about $1.5 million. The board must trim another $1 million from its $28-million budget for the 1987-88 school year to begin recovering from the deficit.

Final figures will not be available until next month, but the deficit is expected to be between $3.2 million and $3.6 million. Last month the state Legislature approved a $3.9-million loan to help the district meet its expenses and ensure that classes continued until school closed on June 18.

Second Set of Cuts

Gawronski will present the second set of cuts to the board Aug. 11. Final budget approval is scheduled for Sept. 1.

Gawronski joined other administrators and board members in explaining the cuts to the estimated 75 people who crowded into the board meeting room and spilled over onto a side patio.

Much of the discussion centered on the personnel cuts.

Bill Trunnell, a mechanic, drew applause from the crowd when he asked the board to consider the hardships he will face because of the district’s decision not to fill the only other mechanic position.

Trunnell will be responsible for maintaining and repairing nine buses, six driver education cars and various trucks and vans plus other equipment. He is also the first person called on to replace any absent bus driver.

“I guess I’ll do the best I can,” he said after the board approved the cut.

Board members acknowledged that Trunnell will face a difficult workload, but said other departments will have to cope with similar situations.

In addition to those laid off, the district will not fill about 20 positions now vacant.

Positions Eliminated

The eliminated positions include a guidance specialist, a bilingual resource assistant, librarians, clerical workers and maintenance and custodial workers.

Some employees and residents complained that it was unfair that the overwhelming majority of personnel cuts affected classified employees, office workers and managers who do not teach or need a college degree.

“We want to cooperate and have shown we are more than willing to do so, but it appears our group is making most of the sacrifices,” said Gwen Rodda, president of the California School Employees Assn., the bargaining unit for classified employees. “Our people are wondering when management and certified personnel will share the burden.”

Gawronski said she sympathized with those who will be laid off, but said virtually every district employee would share the burden of the deficit.

District officials said that because of contractual obligations, it is too late to lay off teachers, but that some teachers could lose their jobs in the 1988-89 school year.

The board at its next meeting will consider reducing or eliminating some of its own benefits, such as members’ $200-per-month stipend, travel expenses, paid medical insurance and membership in state school board organizations.

Gawronski said she is considering eliminating the elementary school instrumental music program and making additional clerical cuts.

“You can only cut so much,” she said. “When you’re down to a school that has one principal, one secretary and one teacher per classroom, there’s nothing left to cut.”

Gawronski said she was aware that she would have to make some unpopular decisions when she took the job. It was the district’s financial turmoil that helped make the job attractive, she said.

“I really enjoy challenges,” she said. “I leave jobs when they become routine to me.”

When news of the deficit--then thought to be at least $2.7 million--became public in May, two of the district’s top administrators, including the superintendent, were placed on paid leaves of absence.

Supt. Donald Todd retired June 30 after being on administrative leave for medical reasons, and Jimmie L. Duncan, assistant superintendent for business services, is still on paid administrative leave.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first attended by Stanley Oswalt, retired Rowland Unified School District superintendent, who has been named district trustee.

The trustee position, stipulated by the state emergency loan, ensures that someone outside the district will oversee its financial operations.