Tuesday was the last day on the job for approximately 4,700 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) employees who were laid off or transferred in the latest round of district budget cuts.

Demonstrators called for an end to job cuts at a protest outside LAUSD headquarters Tuesday. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Approximately 150 of the workers and their supporters demonstrated outside LAUSD headquarters Tuesday evening to protest the budget cuts and layoffs, and demand that the district find other ways to retain employees. The workers who lost their jobs were classified employees, including secretaries, plant managers, custodians and cafeteria workers. They are among 6,100 district employees, including teachers, who have either lost their jobs or been transferred since June.

At Fairfax High School, the layoffs included eight clerks, half of the current clerical staff. The loss means school officials will have to consolidate several offices. The effects of the changes will be significant to students, according to principal Ed Zubiate.

“It is having a tremendous impact on our school,” Zubiate said. “It’s always a struggle to get the school cleaned, to keep the offices cleaned and to get the phones answered, and with half the staff, I don’t know what the impact will be. In the last couple of years I’ve lost maybe five to ten teachers, and it would have been much more if we hadn’t made decisions to cut somewhere else to keep other teachers. When people are displaced, it affects the whole staff, and morale is pretty low right now.”

Jorge Illingworth, a senior office technician at Fairfax High School who is not one of the employees who is losing their job, participated in the demonstration Tuesday to support his colleagues. Illingworth said he has worked for the district for the past 15 years, but prior to that was unemployed for a long period and had an extremely difficult time finding a job.

“I know what these people are going through, and it’s very depressing,” Illingworth said. “I am thankful to still have a job, and it pains me to see that a lot of people are where I was fifteen years ago. If you don’t keep busy, you can fall into despair.”

LAUSD superintendant Ramon Cortines said the cuts were necessary because of a $640 million budget deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year. Representatives of the unions representing LAUSD employees, including United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and the California State Employees Association Los Angeles 500, which represents classified workers, said they will continue to fight the layoffs. UTLA president A.J. Duffy addressed the demonstrators and pledged to stand behind all school employees.

“It’s not just about having a teacher in front of the classroom, it’s about the fact that educating students takes a village, educating a student takes an education community,” Duffy said. “If we don’t have office workers to work with our kids, then our job is more difficult. If we don’t have plant managers to clean up the classrooms and clean up our schools, then our job is made more difficult.”

Marla Eby, a spokesperson for UTLA, said the unions hope to persuade the LAUSD Board to find other funding to prevent layoffs, including shifting $100 million in federal stimulus funding the district has received to prevent more job cuts. She added that the cuts were not based on seniority, and some of the workers who lost their jobs during the latest round of cuts had been with the district for 30 to 40 years.

“The terrible thing is these people are getting laid off at Christmas time,” Eby added.

Other LAUSD employees who participated in the demonstration said the layoffs are being felt district-wide.  Rusty Yates, an English teacher at the Orthopedic High Hospital Medical Magnet school southwest of downtown Los Angeles, said five office workers and a plant manager were dismissed Tuesday.

“It’s going to really affect the students, It’s very, very demoralizing for the staff and the students,” Yates added. “It’s going to prevent them from having a comfortable, clean, safe and efficient learning environment.”

Zubiate said it has been very difficult to even face the employees because of the impending layoffs, and added that the staff held a gathering for them Monday that was very emotional. One program that has been affected by the cuts is the small learning communities, where the student body is broken down into small groups, allowing for more personalized instruction. Zubiate said the remaining clerks for the small learning communities will each have to oversee 1,000 student records.

“They are responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of keeping these records, which are extremely important for each student,” Zubiate said. “To an outsider it may not sound that important, but it is a big responsibility we have as a school. When it comes to custodial, I don’t know what I am going to do.”

Zubiate said Fairfax High currently has approximately 2,500 students, and approximately 90 teachers. He added that the school has created a special community liaison office to form partnerships with the community to bring in private funding, which has helped curtail some of the job cuts. He added, however, that district officials are warning about more cuts in the near future, which is causing great concern.

“We’ve shifted things around to alleviate the impact of losing teachers, but it’s not looking good,” Zubiate said. “As more and more people lose their jobs, it is having a tremendous impact on day-to-day operations.”