Parents, students plead with board to retain Cloverdale DLI teacher after termination appears on agenda

Parents, students and a Cloverdale Elementary teacher pressed the Moreno Valley Unified Board of Education during public comment to reverse a personnel item appearing on the board agenda.

Multiple speakers said the district listed Jasmine Guzman, the schoolive DLI teacher, on the employment agenda under a termination or resignation heading and asked trustees to reconsider. Supporters said Guzman regularly stays after school to tutor students, helped them improve grades and built pupilsconfidence in English and Spanish. "She helps me a lot on everything — science projects, history projects," student Sydney Martinez said during public comment.

Family members described measurable improvements after Guzman began tutoring and running study halls. A parent said her childmoved from needing repeated homework help to approaching assignments independently. "She has built confidence and self-esteem," one speaker said. Other parents described higher test scores across multiple subjects and urged the board to retain Guzman, arguing she has been a stabilizing presence for the DLI program.

Guzman addressed the board herself, saying she found her name on the agenda under an employment action and asking the trustees to visit her classroom before reaching a final personnel decision. She said she has received positive evaluations, participates in district leadership work and regularly engages families in multilingual outreach. "I invite you to my classroom so you can experience what my students experience," Guzman said.

Board members did not respond to the individual public comments during the allotted public-comment period. The district had previously reported routine closed-session personnel actions and settlements at the start of the meeting. Guzman and multiple family speakers characterized the personnel action as a sudden "pink slip" and requested that the board either delay action or review her classroom practice in person before any final step.

Trustees have statutory discretion over personnel decisions and typically deliberate such matters in closed session; the public record from this meeting shows multiple closed-session personnel approvals earlier in the evening. The board did not announce a public resolution of the Guzman matter during the meeting. Several speakers suggested the trustees could use the board's upcoming calendar or a site visit to verify classroom conditions and student outcomes before any final personnel vote.

What happens next: the board will consider its next procedural steps in public agenda items or future closed sessions; the teacher and families asked trustees to hold off on final action until the board has observed the classroom and considered parent testimony.