Pajaro Unified School District holds impromptu meeting to discuss dissolving some positions

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Board members from the Pajaro Valley Unified School District held a meeting to discuss budget cuts, with the possibility of cuts to mental health services. 

This leaves many people concerned about the future of these critical services.

The district board met today where counselors, parents and teachers voiced concerns over the recommendation of eliminating mental health services.

Although the board is not approving anything today, they have been considering a few reductions.

"One of the areas that we did discuss, and that the team may choose to recommend to the board, is in the area of mental health clinicians as well as our socio socio emotional counselors," Heather Contreras Superintendent of Schools Pajaro Valley Unified School District.

The cuts would affect vital services for students, leaving many parents and educators worried about the consequences on school communities.

"I actually was one of the first social emotional counselors when the district, started having that and I have seen since 2015 kind of the progression and how much we have grown from just having a few of us for the entire school district to now having, what we had 22 that got cut down to 16, Christina Souza Social-emotional counselor said.

For some families, losing these services would be devastating because many students rely on them for emotional support.

Helping kids not only with trauma and anxiety, but in the classroom as well.

"She was being bullied at school. and she needed to gain social skills, so I know that my colleague met with with her, and she got the support that she needed," Selene Avila parent of a student at PVUSD said. My kids are part of that because they wouldn't have the tools needed to succeed. If they show up and they have trauma or they are, just worried about their friendships and kind of like what's going on outside of the classroom, they're not going to thrive in the classroom. so that's going to be a big, you know, pushback with, just not having the the tools for mental health."

The district is set to hold another meeting January 15th where they’ll present the final budget recommendations.