Whittier Elementary school teachers advocate for better salaries and working conditions

Francis Moreno is a special education teacher in Whittier and while she enjoys her work she also worries about her special needs students. Moreno teaches preschool and her students have developmental delays and need extra care. However, she feels the ratio of adults to children hasn’t been sustainable for years. She has been with the Whittier City School District (WCSD) for four years and she currently has 10 students and between one to two part-time aides. 

“In my first year, I had 16 kids and it was very unsafe because we didn't have the staff to really keep them safe, right?” she said. “We had students climbing, students who elope, who ran out of the classroom. So we need to have adult supervision at all times.”

In an effort to better the education setting, members of the Whittier Elementary Teachers Association (WETA)  attended the WCSD board meeting last week where they talked about their working conditions and their demands.

Educators spoke about the constant injuries they are facing, including punches, bites, scratches and hits. They said since September, dozens of incidents have occurred across elementary schools, continuing a pattern from last year when hundreds of injuries were reported districtwide.The members said the incidents occur in both special education and general education classrooms. 

Allyson Bañales Pfeifer, speech language pathologist at WCSD and organizing chair with WETA, said they hope the district understands the importance of the much needed requests. She highlighted that the students with special disabilities are not being blamed for the current situation and the main reason they are bargaining is to obtain more support and resources.

With $17 million in this year’s reserves at WCSD – much more than the legally required $3.2 million – WETA is calling on WCSD representatives to use those funds to immediately invest in students with disabilities, safe and fully-staffed classrooms, and educator recruitment and retention.

“We were trying to push the board to make more immediate decisions, because these things are super urgent,” said Pfeifer. “And the way that they move feels like they don't understand that urgency, or they're not addressing it right.”

Many aides report leaving WCSD because their hours are deliberately capped at five and a half hours  per day, just short of the six-hour threshold that would make them eligible for more affordable benefits. 

Next steps

Alejandro Vogel, teacher and WETA bargaining chair, said on average the classes range from 10, 12 or 15 students, depending on the needs. He said in order to have an adequate education, these classes should have one teacher, plus two aides – aside from those students who have their one-on-one aide because they need more personalized help. 

WETA is advocating for competitive wages for all educators besides special education educators to prevent them from leaving the district. 

“We have psychs, speech and language that fall under our contract. We have a district nurse. We have teachers on special assignments. It would impact all of them,” he said.

Advocates say that certificated and classified staff have left their positions, some even going out on workers’ compensation after being injured, because classrooms lack adequate staffing needed to safely support students with behavioral needs.

WETA is part of the We Can’t Wait campaign–a coalition of 80,000 educators across the state fighting for shared demands.

Vogel said they are scheduled to bargain this Friday with WCSD but he doesn’t know what to expect. 

CALÓ News reached out for a comment from WCSD but didn’t receive a response.