More school district job cuts in the offing

Molly Shore

As many as 19 classified workers, including six custodians and two

supervisors, could find themselves out of work if Burbank Unified

School District board members approve a resolution facing them

Thursday.

The layoffs, Supt. Gregory Bowman said, must be made as part of

more than $500,000 in budget cuts to the district’s Facilities

Maintenance and Operations department to help balance the 2003-04

budget.

“ ... [W]e need to move forward with notification of layoffs

because we have to give 30-day notices,” Bowman said. “It is possible

to be rescinded.”

The positions that could be eliminated include one area custodial

supervisor; one custodial plant supervisor; one carpenter; six

custodians; one electrical lead person; one grounds technician; one

heating, ventilating and air conditioning mechanic; one senior

instructional media specialist; one locksmith; two maintenance

workers; one painter; one senior secretary and one electronics

technician.

California School Employees Assn. Labor Relations Representative

Dvora Mayer claims the district is targeting specific people -- union

members -- with the cuts.

“It is ... an attempt to weaken our chapter as a whole,” Mayer

said.

Half of the chapter’s executive board and half of its stewards are

in danger of losing their jobs, she added.

Rex Fraizer, president of the association’s Burbank Chapter 674,

is one of the maintenance workers whose job is targeted, but because

of his seniority -- 18 years in the district -- he said that he has

bumping rights.

“I can bump back into a custodial position I previously had, but I

would be taking a 17% salary reduction,” he said.

Mayer said that if the heating, ventilation and air conditioning

mechanic position is cut, there won’t be anyone in maintenance

operations qualified to do air conditioning repairs.

With the layoff of six full-time custodians, Mayer also wondered

who would pick up trash.

“Teachers won’t do it,” she said. “And I know that as a parent, I

don’t want my child going out and picking up trash, which takes away

from learning time.”

Although no date is specified for the proposed layoffs, Mayer

called them “carte blanche” layoffs because the district can do so at

any time with a 30-day notice to the employees.