Saddleback Community Colleges to Lay Off 9, Transfer 4 in Budget Cut

Nine people will lose their jobs and four administrators are being reassigned to teaching or counseling positions in a budget-cutting move by south Orange County’s Saddleback Community College District.

Those to be let go on July 1 include Anne Ambrose, public information officer at Saddleback College; Susan Clark, public information officer at Irvine Valley College and Glenn Feingerts, photographer for the college district.

The job cuts, made by the district’s board of trustees earlier this week, elicited cries of “union politics” from some of the affected employees. They charged that the newly structured board is under the control of the Saddleback Faculty Assn., the teachers union for the college district.

Budget Shortfall

Shirley Gellatly, vice chair of the board, denied the charge. She said the job cuts “were very difficult to make” and were carried out because the college district faces a budget shortfall of about $1 million this year.

Gellatly added that the district would save about $960,000 by laying off the nine people and eliminating 14 job positions.

Feingerts said Friday that he learned about his termination just after returning from the state convention of the California Assn. of Community Colleges, where he won three first-place awards for his photography.

Union Animosity Charged

He speculated that the trustees cut the public information staff because of union animosity toward former district spokesman Bill Schreiber.

Schreiber, now an aide to Rep. Robert Badham (R-Newport Beach), resigned from the college district last May after he was repeatedly criticized by teachers and union officials. He was accused of being a “mouthpiece” for then-Chancellor Larry Stevens, whom the teachers wanted to remove from his post. Stevens resigned earlier this year after three new trustees were elected in November on a ticket backed by the teachers union.

Gellatly said Friday that the layoffs and transfers have nothing to do with the controversies over Stevens and Schreiber.

“I know they’re going to say that, but this board took the action only after long consideration,” she said.

‘We Had to Cut Somewhere’

“We wanted to make the cuts as far away from actual instruction as possible. Teaching students is what this college district is about, and it’s also what brings in the money. This board, however, certainly didn’t take the action it did because we think the jobs (that were abolished) are unnecessary. It’s just that we had to cut somewhere.”

Gellatly added that “it is possible” the two public information jobs might be restored at the board’s April 28 meeting. “That’ll be up for discussion,” she said.

The four administrators whose present jobs will be abolished are Peter Espinosa, special assistant to the chancellor for government affairs and special projects; Annette Hayes, director of occupational projects; William Weisgerber, facilities planning assistant and systems coordinator, and Ronald Steinke, director of student services coordination.

Espinosa is scheduled to become a counselor, and the other three are scheduled to return to teaching.

Non-Teaching Jobs Cut

In addition to the public information and photographer jobs, positions scheduled to be eliminated on July 1 are for a maintenance carpenter, maintenance equipment operator, a mail-room clerk, two receptionists and a secretary. All nine are classified, or non-teaching, employees.

Classified employees, angered at the layoffs, have charged that the teachers union has been feathering its nest at other workers’ expense. They note that teachers have persuaded the board to hire more faculty and to pool money for a teachers’ raise despite the need for budget cuts.

Gellatly said the district is hiring 10 more full-time faculty members because “this board wants to reduce the ratio of part-time teachers.”

She added that $760,000 has been set aside for an employees’ pay raise, but that the raise would also include the salaries of non-teachers.