El Concilio out as Stockton Unified expands afterschool programs

Afterschool programs could see a massive expansion at Stockton Unified with new state funding.

Trustees' at the June 6 board meeting axed a questionable afterschool deal with El Concilio, a Central Valley nonprofit that could have benefitted from the increase in state money coming in. For the last year, they've provided after-school support.

Stocktonians, though, face an intergenerational problem: a lack of safe, productive spaces and activities for children. Filling that need is part of Mary Rogers’ goal as Stockton Unified’s administrator of expanded learning programs.

“My part of the matter is to help ensure that our kiddos not only receive academic support, to help close the achievement gaps in ELA and math but also to enrich their minds and their bodies with opportunities to learn something new,” Rogers said at the June 6 board of trustees meeting. “Most importantly, a new trajectory for them to be the whole and balanced person that we all work so hard for them to be.”

The largest school district in Stockton has, for the past 10-15 years, had the support of outside organizations such as Jacoby Center, The Table Community Foundation, and YMCA to help bolster its afterschool programs, but it hasn’t been enough – wait lists are long to get into afterschool programs, Rogers said.

“We are in need of growing and getting where we need to go so we can allow more students and more staff across the board into our program,” Rogers said. “Can’t have students if we don’t have staff and support.”

The programs currently serve roughly 5,000 students, with the capacity limited to 120 students per site, typically underperforming students. Rogers said new state funding expects to increase capacity by 100-plus students per site, add additional staffing and financial literacy programs, skill or trade training, home economics, gardening, tutoring, mental health support, and special education programming.

Rogers said the district has money to spend on afterschool programming — $53 million this year thanks to a new funding source in 2021 from the state, and she expects it to grow next year. She proposed adding 84 new “paraprofessional” district jobs — noncredentialed support staff — to Stockton Unified’s after-school programming.

Union or nonprofit jobs?

Job growth at Stockton Unified poses a question: create in-house, union jobs or outsource labor to third-party organizations and nonprofits? Rogers said they are exploring both options. She said California School Employees Association jobs are generally better paying, benefitted jobs in after-school programming, whereas outsourced jobs are typically not far above minimum wage.

“It’s a comprehensive thing, but it’s not to take away anyone’s jobs,” Rogers said. “I’m working with CSEA 318, an amazing team … I meet with USA monthly, I connect with STA, SPPA, pretty much every department in this district … making sure there’s a clear understanding of where we are and the big picture.”

Rogers said the district has not been able to hire fast enough due to employee turnover. That’s where outside partners provide stability, Rogers said.

More: New Stockton Unified superintendent talks budget, safety and priorities

SUSD’s newest after-school programs partner is El Concilio; the local nonprofit offering services to primarily the Hispanic population of the Central Valley joined the array of outside support after a questionable deal was struck in May 2022 under Trustee Cecilia Mendez’s tenure as board president.

Louise Barros, a labor relations representative for CSEA 318, the union chapter representing paraprofessionals at Stockton Unified, said the union sent a cease-and-desist letter to the district in April 2022 in response to outsourcing labor. 318 is currently in negotiations on a new job description for an afterschool programming position, Barros said, an alternative offered by the district in place of the union filing an unfair labor practice complaint.

“Our contract has a ‘no contracting out’ clause, and the work that has been performed by El Concilio employees is work customarily and routinely performed by bargaining unit members in Stockton 318,” Barros said on June 6. “Until we complete negotiations, I urge the board of trustees to not approve the extension of El Concilio’s contract.”

El Concilio

El Concilio was named in the June 2022 San Joaquin County Grand Jury report ripping the school district for financial mismanagement, dysfunction, and lack of transparency. The nonprofit received a contract for “expanded learning activities” despite scoring the lowest among four vendors and about a dozen community members and afterschool partners speaking against the agreement in May 2022 — none spoke in support of El Concilio.

El Concilio was back on the agenda on June 6; Rogers had come before the board to present a $1.4 million contract renewal for El Concilio to continue providing two paraprofessional staff at 12 afterschool program sites. The staff reports included in the board agenda did not say how much money El Concilio had been given in the past year.

Trustee Sofia Colón was concerned about the process that landed El Concilio its original contract.

“This organization was called out in the grand jury report because of low scoring,” Colón said. “Now we're coming back with an agreement — have we scored them again? Have we seen improvement? What’s different now versus the original agreement?”

Rogers said there had been no “formal” performance evaluations of El Concilio’s involvement with Stockton Unified’s afterschool programs other than school sites saying whether they would like to continue to work with El Concilio.

“What happened prior to us now, we weren’t a part of that; we were just following through with moving forward,” Rogers said. “The majority was overwhelming of wanting to still work with them — however, there were one or two concerns with some sites.”

The board was not provided those evaluations before the June 6 board meeting. Board President AngelAnn Flores said El Concilio is partnering with outside vendors to bring people onto school site campuses — some staff have not been comfortable with that.

“They don’t feel that their students are safe with the people that they’re bringing on their campus,” Flores said. “I’ve had a couple of schools reach out to me letting me know that they’ve had people on their campus that they’ve had to ask to leave several times.”

El Concilio failed to secure funding for afterschool programs for the 2023-24 school year on a 2-4-1 vote. Trustees Ray Zulueta, Flores, Donald Donaire, and Kennetha Stevens voted no. Colón abstained from voting.

This article originally appeared on The Record: El Concilio out as Stockton Unified expands afterschool programs