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As Santa Ana Unified School District moves forward with plans to remove nearly 300 staff positions, among them teachers of the year.
Noel Campbell, this year’s teacher at Manuel Eskeda Middle School, received an email last Friday.
“At 4am on Friday, our district emailed all employees who may fire a 2025, 2026 school year, that could be fired from the 2026 school year,” Campbell said.
This message came as a surprise to the eighth-year teacher, especially after learning that she was only a few hours after learning that she was a finalist in the National Education Awards.
“Literally on Friday, I get a text that you’re in the top 20. And a few hours later, you haven’t been asked by my own district to return to next year. It felt like a high to low height in a day,” Campbell said.
The district cites a $187 million budget deficit due to the end of the Covid-19 relief fund and a 32% drop in registrations over the past decade.
In a statement, the district wrote in part:
“This staff cut is a necessary step to ensure that the district remains financially solvent and continues to serve students and families.”
In total, 387 employees will receive a reserve layoff notification last week, but the district says it will be able to recover some positions before the board makes a final decision on May 15th.
Campbell said she is considering leaving teaching entirely because the uncertainty is frustrated enough.
“If I’m fired, I’ll leave this profession and feel downplayed by the profession, so I don’t understand the logic that the best-acclaimed teachers have to start over in their careers.”
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