The Hollister School District trustees are reconsidering a plan to take over their afterschool programs, which would have severed their long-standing relationship with the YMCA and the Youth Alliance (YA), after an overwhelming public show of support for the two organizations. 

Facing a capacity crowd, with around 50 attendees outside of the building watching the meeting on cell phones, the trustees were themselves schooled by parents, teachers and people who work in the programs as they spoke during the four-and-a-half hours it took for them to decide to table the motion until next month.

At issue are the applications to the state for continued funding for the district’s Expanded Learning Opportunities Program and After School Education and Safety programs, which have been run by YA (as the CASA De Milagros program) and the YMCA since the district first approached them in 2003, after failing in its own efforts to administer the programs. 

On April 14, according to YA director Diane Ortiz, both organizations were notified that their services would no longer be needed beyond this school year. Parents, students and teachers got word of the decision on April 21.

While dozens of people spoke during three public comment periods, the main points were made by one of the first speakers, a young girl, approximately eight years old, who said, “We really like our programs. Nobody is really asking for this, and we don’t feel like they should be taken away.”

These points were repeated by speakers expressing a concern that the district was making the decision without consulting parents first, and a lack of faith among the speakers that the district could successfully replace the beloved programs.

Parent Don Foley said that the program, as outlined on the district website, was more of a wishlist than an actual plan of action.

“It took three months for my son to get his Chromebook from you, which tells me that you guys can’t really organize anything,” he said. “The fact that you guys just go ahead and do this without really looking at the community and what is best for them is silly.” 

After a presentation of the district’s plan by Director of Education Service Colleen Myers, other speakers, including Valeria Mariano, who works in the program, accused the district of merely copying the current plan with no explanation as to how they would implement it. 

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said, “it was a wonderful presentation you made. But in my head, it was just copy and paste because every single thing you talked about in that presentation we do.”

Other speakers talked about the strong connection that the afterschool program workers had made with the children and their concerns that severing that relationship would be harmful.

“Every student is met with positive attitudes from the program leaders,” said Jaime Rosales. “The program provides our students with an emotional outlet to be able to identify their emotional needs and how to communicate them better. They did provide that need for our students. Otherwise, like I say, if you don’t have anything to get into, you’re going to get into something bad.”

After the third round of speakers, a vote was called on a resolution to apply for the state funds needed to keep the programs going. Trustee Jan Grist began by assuring the crowd that the vote was only for the funds and did not have any impact on whether the YMCA or YA would be involved next year.  

Speaking in favor of the change, Superintendent Erika Sanchez said the move to keep the programs in-house would provide an opportunity to rehire teachers who lost their jobs last year; that the number of participating students could be doubled under the district’s management of the programs; and that the two organizations had been “out of compliance” by not filing invoices in a timely manner, a charge that Ortiz disputed.

Trustee Jose Perez, Jr. announced he could not support the measure without first allowing a meeting with the YMCA and YA to see if an agreement to continue their services could be worked out. Trustee Lisa Marks moved to table the resolution on those terms, and that the vote be held next month after the district had a chance to address the parents’ concerns and arrange talks with the YMCA and YA.

The motion passed unanimously.

Speaking with BenitoLink after the vote, Ortiz said, “I want to thank the families, students, teachers and community who showed up, emailed, called and voiced their concerns. It’s because of your voices that we have a meeting with the district. It’s not over yet, but the community was heard tonight. We are grateful for the love and support.”