In response to a district-wide decline in student enrollment, the Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD) employed mass Reductions in Force (RIF), notifying 253 of its permanent and probationary middle and high school teachers on March 8 and 11 that they were at risk of being laid off. The announcement on February 27 sparked widespread student outcry. Students across AUHSD amplified their criticisms directly to district officials, yet also used social media posts and petitions to advocate for teachers.
At the March 7 Board of Trustees meeting, the Trustees unanimously voted to follow through with the RIFs and lay off 119 permanent and temporary AUHSD teachers by May 7. Their decision prompted the majority of the audience of parents, educators, and students to leave mid-meeting.
At the meeting, over 20 students addressed the district’s Trustees, Superintendent Michael Matsuda, and AUHSD Cabinet to condemn the RIF notices and urge the Board to seek alternative solutions to the budget cuts which, rooted in the districts’ nearly 1,350 student decrease in enrollment, triggered the layoffs.
“Our number one priority should be maintaining the security of the jobs of our teachers,” Oxford senior Luqman Muhammad said, who voiced his disapproval to the Board. “Why cut out the most essential resources to the education of students in our district?”
“Our number one priority should be maintaining the security of the jobs of our teachers. Why cut out the most essential resources to the education of students in our district?”
– Luqman Muhammad
Prior to the Board meeting, AUHSD students created an Instagram account, @protectauhsdteachers, to convey information on the RIFs via posts accessible to students and the community. The account rapidly gained traction, amassing over 900 followers in a week after its creation. Encouraging direct civic action, the account suggested students voice their concerns at the meeting and write emails to the Trustees.
“We were heartbroken that teachers who had changed our lives were getting laid off. It just got worse as we found out the extent of the layoffs, the legal but unfair procedures behind it, and the alternatives the district could have pursued but didn’t in favor of a cost-effective solution,” a student behind the account said, who preferred to remain anonymous.
On March 1, Cypress High School sophomore Gavin Kim, disheartened by the layoffs yet determined to inspire civic reform, created a Change.org petition “Save Our Teachers.” Since its launch, the petition has garnered over 3,000 signatures.
“I started the petition in hopes of inspiring other students, parents, and community members to speak out against the RIF notices that had been sent out in masses,” Kim said.
Student activism in the district stretched far beyond social media. Oxford Academy sophomore Ethan Hoang designed posters to inform fellow students about the layoffs. Shedding light on both the Change.org petition and @protectauhsdteachers, he hung his posters around campus, hoping to inspire other students to advocate.
“I wanted to make sure people knew about [the layoffs], and see how they could contribute to stop the layoffs from happening,” Hoang said.
Anaheim High School senior Andrew Campuzano, one of the student activists who addressed the Trustees during the meeting, fears the district’s decision will have detrimental implications on students’ education at AUHSD.
“I think that the biggest thing that is going to affect us is our classroom sizes going up. I fear that my younger brothers won’t have those same mentors I had, and that’s why I came out here,” Campuzano said after the meeting. “I’ve practiced public speaking many times, so I wanted to use that to defend my teachers today. I’m here to seek justice. I know I have a voice.”
Despite the Board’s decision, the fight for teachers has not halted for student activists.
The day after the Board meeting, Oxford sophomore Georgia Walsh took to her Instagram account to recap the districts’ final verdict for those who couldn’t attend the meeting. Walsh, now working with other AUHSD students to plan future advocacy, refuses to cease her activism.
“We will hold them accountable for the failures as a board,” Walsh said. “We don’t plan on forgetting how the Board has failed our teachers, and us as students.”
