HUNTINGTON BEACH : 350 Jam Board Room to Decry School Cuts

About 350 parents, students, teachers and other school employees packed the Huntington Beach Union High School District board room Tuesday night to discuss and decry Supt. David Hagen’s recommendations for bridging a $3.1-million budget deficit.

It was the biggest turnout since the same time last year, when trustees tackled a similar round of spending cuts.

Parents and students argued that educational programs should remain unaffected. Teachers and other employees--including librarians, nurses, media technicians and receiving clerks--defended the importance of their positions, which may be eliminated by the budget reductions.

The Board of Trustees, after hearing 3 1/2 hours of testimony, only briefly discussed Hagen’s proposals. Trustees will hold another hearing March 10, after which they will vote on the recommended spending cuts from an $80-million budget.

Having slashed the district’s annual budget by $17.6 million in the past six years, trustees this year are being asked to take the fiscal scalpel to some vital school programs and to more than 50 district jobs. Fifteen teachers and about half the district’s nurses, librarians and psychologists are among those to be laid off or reassigned under Hagen’s recommendations.

Hagen has also proposed chopping $200,000 from yet-unidentified educational programs, which could include music, drama, sports and other activities, and which may force the closing of the Huntington Beach High School pool.

Additionally, his plan would limit the number of courses students would be allowed to take, accounting for the elimination of 10 of the teaching positions.

Dan Shepard, president of the district’s teachers association, said he believes that Hagen’s plan should make deeper cuts from administration.

“The superintendent’s cuts would make too few cuts near the top and too many cuts near the classroom,” Shepard said. “Class is where the rubber hits the road. . . .”

School nurses, who would either lose their jobs or be assigned to two schools instead of one, also criticized the proposals.

“It is legally risky not to have a nurse at each school at all times,” said Lee Nash, Fountain Valley High School’s nurse. “Is the risk worth the possible consequences? Insurance is something you get before there is a problem. And school nurses are your best insurance.”

Some of the most compelling testimony, however, came from students.

Omar Metwally, a Fountain Valley High senior, delivered a cogent, emotional speech criticizing the proposal to limit the number of courses students may take.

By imposing more scheduling restrictions, “you make it impossible for students to become academically competent as well as well-rounded in the arts,” Metwally said. “The last thing students need are more limitations and more scheduling problems. Things are bad enough already. Please give our students a chance.”