On May 14, the teachers of Moorpark Unified will be picketing specific corners to inform the communities of Moorpark how devastating the impending cuts are going to be for our students. I know that Californians have heard this rhetoric before, but this time the cuts are truly disturbing.

I believe that we need to put faces with the people that may lose their jobs. At Flory Academy, five of our teachers have been given notices that they may not be rehired next year: Mandy Hardin (second grade), Vanessa Heller (fourth grade), Julie Stephens (first grade), Alison Fajardo (fifth grade) and a kindergarten teacher. Interestingly, all of these teachers have been on temporary contracts, some for four years.

Their lives are in limbo right now. They have to take into consideration that they will not be able to pay mortgages, lose much needed health insurance, and most importantly, will not be able to work with students, the passion in their lives. If they end up finding jobs in other states, Moorpark Unified will once again lose young, passionate teachers that want to be here.

It is true that the number of enrolled students has gone down, but the amount of notices in relation to the population of students does not add up. Fewer teachers mean larger populations in classrooms. K to second grade are safe due to the 20to-1 legislation, but fourth grade through 12th grade will definitely suffer. We already have an average of 32 students in the fourth and fifth grade classrooms. Can you imagine 36 students or more to a room?

All of the kindergarten aides have been cut from all classes. This is heartbreaking because kindergarten teachers will not be able to differentiate their curriculum. They currently have 90-minute centers where they are able to pull students that need help or enrich for students that are ahead. This is really needed because students come into the kindergarten classroom with such diverse abilities, from not knowing the alphabet to being able to write a complete sentence. Without another adult in the classroom, kindergarten teachers will be forced to teach whole group all day.

I have been affected outside of Flory Academy as a parent. My son goes to Moorpark High School. Two of the counselors have been given notice. I can't imagine what I would have done without the ninth grade counselor, Angela Ryals, this year. She has made the transition from middle school to high school a much easier process. And most importantly, you can feel the passion she has for her students. I am not quite sure what the population of students at the high school is right now, but if you remove two of the counselors, the high school will be left with three. Think about it- they very well could be asked to counsel close to 1,000 students each.

All library services for the district will be cut by 50 percent at each site as well. Our librarian currently works four days a week. So we have this beautiful library that will only have a librarian for two days a week. I might add she has been an employee of the district for 25 years.

I am hoping this letter will encourage the community of Moorpark to come together to help the education of our students. Please consider writing or calling Audra Strickland or Tom McClintock to share your concern. If we don't fight together, the future of the California education system will end up 50th in one of the richest states of the union.

Donna Mockenhaupt

Math specialist, Flory Academy