Montebello : School Board Gets New List of 50 Non-Teaching Layoffs

The Montebello Unified School District board tonight is expected to approve a list of about 50 layoffs. The financially troubled district is laying off the employees in order to balance its budget. On July 1, the school system let go about 150 employees, most of them teachers. The latest cutbacks will affect non-teaching workers, such as secretaries, custodians and security officers.

Remaining employees have had to accept pay cuts of about 2.3%. The board last week debated reducing the number of layoffs by authorizing larger pay reductions, but the employees union said its members preferred layoffs to further across-the-board salary cuts.

At Tuesday’s meeting, board members Eleanor K. Chow and Willard G. Yamaguchi suggested that the board should also consider letting a top administrator go, which would save at least $80,000.

“It’s very difficult for people to buy into (layoffs) when you’re not cutting from the top down,” Yamaguchi said. “One place we have not looked at is at this table,” he said, pointing at administrators. “The employees are angry, and rightfully so.”