Times Get Tougher for School Employees

Rebecca Tritch, a science teacher for five years, received word that she had lost her job last week, during her second year at Santa Paula High School.

Like most educators, Tritch had been well aware of the school budget deficits, she said.

But the magnitude of the problem didn’t hit home until she received a letter from the Santa Paula Union High School District in March notifying her of a possible layoff, Tritch said.

“It was a shock,� she said.

Although the deadline for notifying teachers is May 15, the board of the Santa Paula high school district made its final decision last week, giving the four teachers a jump on looking for other jobs.

The Santa Paula teachers are not alone. Next year more than 300 school employees across the county--teachers, secretaries, psychologists, janitors, classroom aides, bus drivers and administrators--may be demoted, work fewer hours or find themselves out of work.

Despite her recent bad news, Tritch, 35, is still passionate about her profession. She came to teaching after seven years as a computer trainer at the Internal Revenue Service and taught for three years in Riverside County before moving to Santa Paula.

Tritch is hopeful that there are still teaching jobs available. But as she begins her search, she is pessimistic about the long-term outlook for schools.

“I’ve gotten very disgusted with what’s been going on at the state level,� Tritch said, referring to the $2.1 billion in cuts proposed for public schools statewide. “Our main resource for the future is our kids. I hate to think what we’re going to end up with if education is not a priority. I hate to think what will happen.�

In the Oxnard Elementary School District, Linda Butcher is one of three nurses this year, all of whom have a full workload making the rounds of five or six schools each to provide medical care for the district’s 12,200 elementary students.

In March, all three nurses were given layoff notices. The two besides Butcher have chosen to retire, district officials said. The district is trying to find the money to keep Butcher, but even if it does, she would be the only nurse on the staff.

“I thought we were stretched as thin as we could stretch, but I guess it’s going to be even more so,� said Butcher, 50. “It’s going to be physically exhausting and emotionally challenging,� she said of the job next year.

The nursing staff cuts mean that the district will have to rethink how to provide health services for children, Assistant Supt. Kent Patterson said.

The district might restructure the job, changing the nurse’s title to health coordinator and hiring two health clerks to do the paperwork, Patterson said.

Still, Butcher would be the only staff nurse available for medical emergencies and to perform state-mandated health tests for vision, hearing and scoliosis, a disease causing curvature of the spine.

“My first priority would be that if any child needed help, I would be able to go there,� Butcher said. “I would imagine that I’ll be on the move quite a bit of the time.�

Another concern, Butcher said, is whether she will have time to continue a project with the USC mobile dental clinic. Last year, that program provided 200 Oxnard children with about $100,000 worth of free dental care, she said. With no staff coordinator, the program might not continue.

“I don’t want to see things like that disappear,� Butcher said.

Max Cain, a teacher for nearly 15 years, is one of three teachers notified by Oxnard’s Ocean View Elementary School District that her services may not be needed next year.

But Cain, who teaches fifth grade at Laguna Vista Elementary and also runs the school’s program for gifted students, is in her first year at Ocean View. “I just happened to be one of the last people hired,� she said.

Cain, 45, is looking for work in other areas, including real estate. But she said her hope is to remain a teacher.

“Teaching has always been my love. I’ve wanted to do this since I was in first grade,� Cain said.

But she said funding must improve to keep the schools going.

“Unless some real drastic changes are made, such as public awareness of our problems, and unless something happens in Sacramento, I don’t see public education being able to survive too much longer,� Cain said.

Cain is leaving the decorations up in her classroom over the summer, optimistic that enrollment will increase enough at the school to require an additional teacher.

“If I have to move them in September, I will,� Cain said. “But I’d be real unhappy not to be here.�