MOORPARK : Educators Reject Hiring Freeze

Responding to the concerns of a large and vocal group of Moorpark Unified School District employees who turned up at Tuesday’s school board meeting, the board voted 3 to 2 against instituting a hiring freeze on all non-instructional positions in the district.

“I feel that this well-intentioned effort is really misguided,” said school board member Gregory Barker, who, along with Tom Baldwin and Sam Nainoa, voted against the freeze.

Board members Clint Harper and Pam Castro voted in favor of the move, which they felt was necessary in light of the district’s dire financial situation.

Wearing bright green buttons reading “Celebrate Classified School Employees,” district workers took turns at the podium to criticize the proposal that they said would increase workloads and could permanently eliminate jobs.

Robert Beal, president of the Moorpark chapter of the California School Employees’ Assn., said a hiring freeze “would put added pressure on our employees and the morale of our employees would be greatly affected.”

Harper had initially suggested the freeze as a way to trim a budget shortfall estimated at more than $1.5 million. Harper said restricting some hiring would be a way to cut spending without compromising classroom education.

“My intent in bringing this forward was in no way to eliminate jobs,” Harper said at the meeting. “What I am trying to do is make sure that we save every nickel and dime that we can.”

But other board members criticized the proposed freeze, saying it would not save enough money to justify the loss of morale it would cause.