SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) continues making cuts to stop a state takeover.
"We want to set the record straight that we are not giving away any slots for preschool or early ed programs. Students will continue to have these programs, the difference is that the providers will be different," Barrios explained.
Barrios explained many children will be going to the same site but will have a different teacher. In the worst-case scenario, students are going to be moved to a non-Sac City site, according to Barrios.
"We think this is going to be a seamless transition, and it's on us to make sure those kids get properly placed in a program that's going to continue to offer them the same services they're receiving today," Barrios added.
Currently, there are approximately 1,900 kids enrolled in an early childhood education program.
"We are not eliminating the program, we are just simply not providing it anymore at Sac City, with Sac City employees. It's going to be employees from other agencies that are going to be doing this work," Barrios explained.
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Barrios says the district will save $2 million by eliminating programs such as Early Head Start.
"The impact is to employees, not the kids," said Barrios.
"It's not only the employees. It's also the children because they build a relationship with the children," added Crystal Garibay, whose son has an Early Head Start home visitor.
Garibay explains her 4-year-old son has a brain tumor, so he can't go to regular preschool because he's in and out of the hospital receiving treatment. Her son's provider is one of the SCUSD employees that is being laid off.
"Bringing someone new that he doesn't know and isn’t familiar with, I feel like that's really going to impact him because he's grown so much with her," Garibay said.
According to Barrios, the district will continue to work with families in the coming months to help them find other providers.
"They shouldn’t' be just replacing them, but trying to keep the teachers that have already been in the program for a long time, not just replace them with someone new," said Garibay.
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