DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines Public School Board met Tuesday evening for a regularly scheduled meeting after announcing potential staff cuts throughout the district’s 63 schools earlier this month.
Initially, the Community Schools Coordinator, or CSC, program was set to be cut in half, downsizing from 42 full-time employees to 24. However, DMPS Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts announced that after "looking at our budget line by line to see what was possible," the district would increase the number to 28 full-time employees.
“Community Schools Coordinators, I know some of you are in the room and I’m looking at you right now. I want you to know, you should never have had this experience," Roberts said at the meeting Tuesday.
Since 2022, nearly every school within DMPS has been assigned a full-time Community School Coordinator, thanks to funding from the state's Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. However, this funding is set to expire in 2024, hence the cuts.
Madeline Cano Cook, who works as a CSC at East High School, told Local 5 that all CSCs received pink slips from the district a few weeks ago. This notification meant that their contracts would not be renewed for the following school year, and all CSCs would be laid off.
If they wished to continue working in the role, they were encouraged to re-apply for the limited number of available positions remaining. The position was reposted on the DMPS job site under a new title — Student Support Interventionist — and listed as an hourly position rather than a salary like it was before.
"They changed the title but kept our same work," Cano Cook said. "That deadline for us to apply was this past Sunday, and a lot of us did not re-apply."
The newly-listed position included an approximately $15,000 pay reduction from what CSCs currently make, according to Cano Cook.
"Our current director Jake Troja said himself, ‘If I was in your position, I would not take a pay cut like that,'" she told Local 5.
At Tuesday's school board meeting, dozens of staff members, parents, students, and community partners voiced their concerns and showed support for the program.
"Community School Coordinators aren't just beneficial, but the service and leadership they provide has a transformational influence on individual communities and our entire district as a collective," one speaker said.
"We can't afford to lose these dedicated advocates for our students," said Anna Brousard, a second-grade teacher at Greenwood Elementary.
Many testimonies caused others in the room to get emotional.
"I just hope that you can really take to heart and understand that you are causing harm in this decision," a speaker said.
Roberts not only addressed their concerns but admitted to years of wrongdoing on the district's behalf.
"I express regrets and apologize because of how it was handled, all of this in the last three years, by school district leaders," he said.
But for many students attending the meeting, words were not enough. Instead, they demanded action.
"Do better. Do better for your students, do better for your staff and do better for your community," said Reagan Park, a senior at East High School.