San Jose, CA – In an unprecedented move, a collective voice representing teachers, staff, parents, and concerned community members has issued a resounding “failing grade” to the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) administration for its handling of critical educational matters.
Amidst mounting concerns over a range of issues, including leadership decisions, resource allocation, and educational strategies, this diverse coalition has come together to express their shared disappointment and dissatisfaction with the SCCOE’s performance.
“This is not a decision we’ve taken lightly,” stated Sarah Gianocaro, a representative of the coalition and SEIU 521 chapter president. “SCCOE has a responsibility to prioritize the educational needs of our students, and unfortunately, recent actions and policies have fallen short of meeting those needs.”
The coalition has outlined several key areas of concern highlighted in the “report card”:
SCCOE Report Card
November 2023
Goal #1: Improve access to inclusive, equitable, high-quality education Grade: F
Strengths:
- Improving access to inclusive education in early learning programs
- Co-teaching model for early learning in 2 classes
- Special Education provides the least restrictive environment (setting between district and non-public school)
- OYA charter provides an opportunity for students to earn their HS diploma while working on college and career pathways
Needs Improvement:
- Support to staff in using principles of universal design, modifying and accommodating for students with disabilities or challenging, maladaptive behaviors in general education classrooms
- Co-teaching classes need more infrastructure for inclusion
- Age-appropriate outdoor play structures and facilities, sensory and wellnesses spaces for students at all grade levels (Board Priority #1: improved facilities for early learning)
- Special education programs access to general education (facilities, programs, communications, activities)
- Lack of communication, due diligence, and ensuring equitable access to programs when selecting facilities
- Facilities access (i.e. appropriate, accessible restrooms, outdoor space, calming spaces/wellness centers, sensory areas, etc).
- Improve staffing so students make substantial progress on their IEP goals. (Board Priority #2: Advance efforts to improve outcomes for students with disabilities and Board Priority #5: Literacy & Academic Achievement)
- Expand staffing to ensure consistent staffing, behavior support team, medical personnel where needed, paraeducators, wellness specialists, mental health support staff available
- Students denied access to requested classes due to a shortage of ASL interpreters, trilingual staff
- Service to students in south San Jose/South County
- Access to on-site mental health services for all programs and sites
- Access to hot food/meals while attending school (OYA)
- Transparency and honesty in decision-making and reporting
- Failure to utilize nearly $87 million available funds for students
- Addressing staffing shortages
- Expand access to programs like gardening, music, animal-assisted therapy
- Inclusion opportunities for all students, especially post-secondary students
- Increased job and vocational opportunities for high school and post-secondary students
- Improve coordination and communication between SCCOE administration and district administration hosting SCCOE sites to increase inclusion opportunities
Goal #2: Provide quality support to districts, schools, students, and communities Grade: F
Strengths:
- Teacher preparation and credential programs to meet the needs of our students, communities, and districts
- Grant funding to improve access to mental health services using wellness centers at specific sites
- Access to COVID vaccines, home test kits, and on-site testing
- Environmental education (Walden West, continuing education support) (Board Priority #4)
Needs Improvement:
- Advocate for and support children’s mental health and wellness, expand school-based programs and services (Board Priority #3) across programs and sites
- Accommodate requests to work from home when employees can in order to continue to support districts, school, students, and community and to ensure that students do not miss services
- Expand environmental education for students in SCCOE programs
- Provide more on-the-job support and training to teacher preparation and credential program participants
- Utilize all available earned grant funding to provide quality support to districts, schools, students and communities instead of returning funds to the grantor
Goal #3: Be a premier service organization Grade: F
Strengths:
- Support to districts for payroll, accounting, technology, and other mandated services
- Providing support for teacher pipeline initiatives aimed at increasing diversity, teacher and staff retention, and technical careers (Board Priority #6)
- Offers a variety of employee benefits
Needs Improvement:
- Discrimination and retaliation in hiring and promotion practices; interviews seem pre-determined and biased
- Recruitment, onboarding speed, and worker retention.
- Lengthy-time between application and hiring results in loss of qualified candidates
- Equitable treatment of employees regarding work-from-home accommodations. Process is arbitrary, preferential, and not based on job descriptions and program needs.
- Retaliation by supervisors/co-workers when complaints have been made
- Failure to spend grant money, requiring money to be returned to the grantor
- COVID-leave policies
In response to these concerns, the coalition is urging the SCCOE administration to engage in meaningful dialogue and take actionable steps to address these issues promptly. Particularly, SCCOE must utilize the $85 million more than the mandated reserve left at the end of June 2023 to address issues and invest in students and our community.
“This is not just a critique but a call to action,” emphasized SCCOE teacher Riju Krishna. “We want SCCOE to celebrate our strengths, but more importantly recognize and accept areas of need, so we can collectively and collaboratively, work diligently in the best interest of our students and the communities that we serve.”
The coalition seeks an immediate meeting with SCCOE officials to initiate constructive dialogue and facilitate tangible solutions that prioritize the educational welfare of students.
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The Association of County Educators is affiliated with the 325,000-member California Teachers Association and Service Employees International Union.
Service Employees International Union, Local 521 represents 53,000+ public- and nonprofit, private-sector workers in California’s Bay Area, the Coast, and Central Valley. Under a Community First vision, we are committed to making sure the needs of our community, and the vital services we provide our community, come first. We believe our communities thrive when residents, elected leaders, and workers recognize that we are all in this together when it comes to our safety, health, and well-being.
