The Classified School Employees Association (CSEA) executive board (E-board) met with the Mariposa County Unified School District on Dec. 2 to discuss certain issues that have come up in the recent past. The E-Board members asked the district about the $1.7 million that had been found.

The explanation was interesting in that all the money that was found is allocated for certain programs and projects within the district. The E-Board then asked the district what was spent out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds, a portion of the stimulus package that is designated to save classified jobs and employee layoffs. The reply was far less than we had expected.

The district, according to Superintendent Randy Panietz, has spent none of the $700,000 from the ARRA funds which were designated as funds to save classified employees from layoffs and classified jobs. Mr. Panietz has told the E-Board that these funds were not meant for “noninstructional employees.” Ken Price, chapter president, read all the information on the ARRA funds and found no specifications for these funds to be spent only on “instructional employees.”

However, Price did ask, since sometimes things change, and CSEA is not notified right away, if the district can say exactly where to find the restrictions on the ARRA funding. We were told that they would get back to us, however, we have yet to hear from them.

This appears as if the district was saved only on the backs of the classified staff that took furlough days. Classified staff is the only group taking serious hits in the district, a practice that seems quite unfair.

Mr. Panietz did tell the E-Board that the meony the district took from CSEA in furlough days would be made-up “some how.”
Ken Price, president
CSEA Chapter 609