Thursday, November 6, members of SEIU 1021 and the Association of Sonoma County Office of Education (ASCOE)—including special education teachers, special education teaching assistants, licensed vocational nurses, accounting technicians, and more—packed the County Board of Trustees Meeting. They delivered more than 100 signed petitions. 

Their message was clear: Students lose when bureaucracy grows. Superintendent Carter must put students first! 

Sonoma County Office of Education Superintendent Carter has laid off 9 teachers and 11 teaching assistants. More layoffs are expected. 

At the same time, over the past two years, she’s added 12 new management positions—all with six-figure salaries. 

SEIU 1021 member and licensed vocational nurse Krystal Garcia said, “Our children must remain our highest priority. Their safety, well-being, and opportunity to learn in a supportive environment depend on having enough caring, qualified staff. Yet despite this shared responsibility, SCOE has laid off 20 dedicated employees. Now, classrooms and programs are struggling under the weight of short staffing, and it’s the children who suffer most. Where’s the balance? How can Superintendent Carter be adding so many top-level executives as she lays off frontline staff?”

Special education teacher & ASCOE President Kalyn Ruland said, ”Superintendent Carter’s decision to lay off the educators serving our county’s most vulnerable students, while prioritizing bureaucrat executives like her ‘director of AI,’ is a profound failure. In dismantling the system designed to provide a top-quality education for the students who need it most, she has shown that her priorities do not lie with the students or the educators who support them.” 

Watch the ongoing SEIU 1021 and ASCOE digital ad campaign here and here.