By Alexander J. Schorr

Photo, left, via Grossmont Education Association: angry crowd turns back on Acting Superintendent Sandra Huezo and the GUHSD board

March 13, 2025 (El Cajon) – The Grossmont Union High School district staff and its students have been protesting the board majority’s controversial firings of teaching, librarian, and counseling positions in recent days, including student walk-outs, picketing at schools by parents and teachers, and a petition signed by more than 3,500 people opposed to the cuts. Opponents held a rally outside Wednesday night’s contentious board meeting, where 500 people filled the hall and every speaker criticized the board’s action.  But their pleas fell on deaf ears, and the board chairman refused to allow a motion by trustee Chris Fite that would have reversed the vote authorizing the lay-offs.

By Miriam Raftery

February 27, 2025 (El Cajon) -- At 4:30 today, the Grossmont Union-High School District is holding a special meeting to considering firing 49 employees including all high school librarians.  Others targeted include English teachers, psychologists and more.

Opponents of cutting librarians have set up a website at  https://sites.google.com/view/save-guhsd-librarians/home. It includes a petition which has gathered over 1,100 signatures as of late this afternoon.

“The Grossmont Union High School District Board majority is pulling the same shady tricks as last year. They are planning layoffs claiming no money when they are holding a 13% reserve fund. This is well over state requirements,” says Jay Steiger, former GUHSD candidate who previously served on the district’s bond oversight committee.

 View the full list of 49 positions on the chopping block.  The 4:30 p.m. meeting of the GUHSD board will be held today at El Cajon Valley High School’s multipurpose room, 1035 East Madison Avenue in El Cajon.

By Alex Schorr

Photo,Left to Right: Dr. Gary Woods (President, Area 3 Trustee), Robert Shield (Vice President, Area 4 Trustee), Scott Eckert (Clerk, Area 2 Trustee), Jim Kelly (Member, Area 5 Trustee), and Chris Fite (Member, Area 1 Trustee).

February 9, 2025 (El Cajon) – Teachers, parents, and community members leveled sharp criticism of the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) board of trustees during a special budget workshop meeting on February 6. Numerous speakers objected to the board’s creation of a costly new chief of staff position and waiving of board policies to do so, after the board majority earlier voted to lay off numerous employees, including many teachers.

By Kirsten Andelman

Photo, left to right:  student rep Elizabeth Fox;  trustees Elva Salinas,  Chris Fite, Jim Kelly, Gary Woods, and Robert Shield

March 26, 2024 (El Cajon) --The Grossmont Union High School District Board voted 3-2 earlier this month to issue Reduction in Force notices for 91 full-time staff positions, after about 81 employees received district letters last week warning of looming “pink slips” for the next school year.

Board leaders blamed the state of California for mandating notice of the cuts by a March 15 deadline, as leaders in Sacramento brace for a looming budget deficit of over $31 billion dollars for the 2024/2025 fiscal year.

Of the eliminated positions, 53 were “certificated” and/or teacher positions, and 38 were “classified” positions. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Trustee Gary Woods has drawn heat for his comment sugesting that a mental health services provider axed by the district after a public comment over counseling of LGBTQ+  students did not reflect "East County values."

September 27, 2023  (El Cajon)—Two trustees, a candidate, parents and students are speaking out to sharply criticize the Grossmont Union High School District’s board majority for voting against renewing a contract with San Diego Youth Services, the district’s long-time mental health services provider.

SDYS provided two programs for the district:  on-site clinicians seeing students referred by teachers over mental health concerns, and a suicide prevention program.

The action came after a July 20 board meeting at which Cajon Valley School Board Member Anthony Carnevale told GUHSD trustees that he had asked the chief executive director of SDYS whether students could receive talks or referrals on gender-change surgery and transition. Carnevale stated, “He did not answer my question and asked if I did not want LGBTQ+ students receiving care.”  Carnevale said his district had ended its contract with the organization, NBC San Diego reports.

This essay won second prize in the East County Leadership Council (ECLC) 2021 COVID-19 essay contest. Prize money has been provided through the generosity of ECLC donors and a grant from the Foundation for Economic Justice.

By Anonymous Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) student in East County Leadership Council’s (ECLC) COVID-19 Essay Contest (Second Prize)

July 14, 2021 (San Diego's East County) -- Every single one of us has been affected by the current COVID-19 virus whether it was in a positive or negative way. However, the pandemic has affected people differently depending on our social status and our income. While some are adapting to school online and staying home for quarantine others are adapting to losing their jobs. COVID-19 has caused many businesses to go out of business, resulting in an overall of 25% of U.S. adults being laid off or losing their job. This doesn’t only have an effect on the adults but even on the children. From personal experience, I constantly think and stress about bills being paid because the idea of being homeless again is terrifying. The COVID-19 outbreak has caused low-income families to struggle to put food on the table and struggle with paying household bills as well as medical bills. It has been proven that the pandemic has hit low-income families the hardest, specifically African American and Hispanic households. 

Cajon Valley, first to reopen, has most cases.  Three other districts report cases; others lack transparency in disclosure.  

Update October 31:  The Cajon Valley Union School District has added a breakdown by schools of its COVID cases, which now number 15 students and 2 employees  (17 total) at 11 schools. 

By Miriam Raftery

October 21, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – How safe is it to send your child back to school amid a pandemic, or for teachers to provide instruction inside classrooms?

East County Magazine has checked out the websites of all districts in East County to determine how many cases have been reported at schools that have reopened thus far, and how transparent each district is in making this information easily available to parents, teachers and staff.

To date, the County Public Health Department has not reported any outbreaks (defined as 3 or more cases tied to a single location) at any East County elementary, middle, high school or community college district. However some school districts do have cases among both students and staff. It is unclear whether cases were contracted on campus, or how many others may have been exposed.

In some districts, information on schools with COVID cases are being publicly disclosed, but not in others. Asked about this discrepancy, County spokesman Michael Workman said, "A change in the order regarding schools is being discussed and may be in place soon. The state guidance referenced above covers school notification. It’s too early to say what our health order change may say."

Here are the results of ECM's investigation.

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

"I've heard that it's been communicated that Grossmont High School District was fully aware of this charter petition. I need to say this is simply not true. That communication never took place until yesterday.  In fact, quite the opposite.” --GUHSD Superintendent TIm Glover (photo, left)

January 18, 2020 (El Cajon) -- Observers of the political hijinks which have become customary at meetings of the Cajon Valley Union School District (CVUSD) board of trustees were not disappointed at the last regular meeting for the year on December 17^th. 

The meeting started with school board President Tamara Otero advising her fellow board members “to be careful in any contact” with Board Trustee Jill Barto in light of Barto’s recently filed federal lawsuit against the district, which alleges violations of her civil rights and First Amendment freedoms.

Then the spotlight shifted to Grossmont Union High School District Superintendent Dr. Tim Glover. Glover visibly caught the board off guard when he addressed the trustees, raising objections to Cajon Valley’s preliminary plan to expand and start a new charter high school (grades 9 to 12) at the site of the district’s Bostonia Language Academy, which encompasses kindergarten to eighth grade. The new charter school would be called the “Bostonia Global Charter School.”

GUHSD to hold hearing tonight at 6 p.m. on Steele Canyon's charter renewal

By Ana Nita

View video of Nov. 6 Steele Canyon governing board meeting:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByIxjGKYLUI 

November 13, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- Steele Canyon High School is yet another charter that landed in hot water recently, following allegations of violating the law and acting undemocratically to undermine parents’ rights. The accusations are signed by two of its governing board members – Vice-Chair Timothy Abbott and newly installed board member Mark Robak. Both are both accusing the charter committee of excluding parents from decisional power during the process of renewing the charter’s authorization with Grossmont Union School District, the school’s sponsor. 

Abbott and Robak are also battling with the school’s governing board about new changes in the bylaws that were allegedly included without proper notification and which are  “undemocratic,” according to Robak. “Similar examples may be found in Venezuela and Cuba,” wrote Robak in a letter of protest sent on October 30 to Scott Parr, CEO of the governing board and Principal at Steele Canyon High School (SCHS).

By Miriam Raftery

June 6, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – A $1.2 million grant awarded by the national nonprofit American Student Assistance (ASA) will fund participation in the World of Work (WoW) program for over 33,000 students at 38 local schools in the La Mesa-Spring Valley (LMSV), Vista Unified and Grossmont Union High School (GUHSD) districts.

The program was developed by the Cajon Valley Union School District (CVUSD) in partnership with the University of San Diego to provide  K-12 students to explore career options and identify their individuals strengths and interests. The program has rolled out in 27 schools in the past two years, been written up in national publications such as Forbes business magazine, and most recently drew attention in meetings with U.S. Department of Education representatives (photo left) and a presentation at the Brookings Institute.

By Miriam Raftery

September 22, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – Despite litigation over the Grossmont High School District’s failure to build an Alpine High School, the Alpine community failed to mount a challenger to trustee Jim Kelly, who represents Alpine after redistricting.  Trustee Robert Shield is also running unopposed.

But trustee Gary Woods, who represents the El Cajon area in district 3 and directs a religious educational institute,  faces a challenge from Peggy “Liz” Weaver, a public school teacher of fourth and fifth graders at Rancho Elementary School.

By Paul Kruze; Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

Hear court audio

Read appellate decision

January 21, 2018 (Alpine) -- Just as students returned to school after winter break last week, lawyers for the Alpine Union School District (AUSD), Alpine Taxpayers for Bond Accountability and Grossmont Union High School District returned to court in front of a three-judge tribunal headed by Associate Justice Patricia D. Benke of the 4th District California Superior Court of Appeals.  

But a week later, the court panel upheld an earlier ruling by Judge Pressman against Alpine, agreeing that the GUHSD need not keep millions of dollars set aside for an Alpine High School that now may never be built, despite previous bond measures approved by voters that included funds for the school. Then on Friday, the State Board of Education denied Alpine's unification petition that would have enabled the AUSD to build the high school. The double losses may prove to be knock-out blows for the hard-fought effort to bring a high school to Alpine.

By Miriam Raftery

January 9, 2018 (Alpine) – Two key hearings that could determine the future of students in Alpine are coming up: a court appeal and a State Board of Education hearing  January 19 at which the Board will consider a recommendation by the Department of Education to deny a unification petition, and a January 11 appeal of a lawsuit over funds to build the long promised Alpine High School.

East County News Service

May 25, 2017 (San Diego's East County) -- Throughout the month of June, approximately 4,797 students earning a high school diploma from nine comprehensive high schools, two charter high schools and three alternative high schools in the Grossmont Union High School District will be donning caps and gowns for  commencement exercises.  Congratulations, East County graduates!

Following is a schedule of graduation dates, times, locations, listing of valedictorians and salutatoriansby school, and a list of the valedictorians including parent names and communities.

November 7,  2016  (San Diego’s East County) – Oday Yousif Jr. is a graduate of Valhalla High School in the Grossmont Union High School District and a current student at San Diego State University. Now he’s running for the Grossmont school board,  seeking to bring a student’s perspective to the board and serve the needs of multi-lingual and multi-cultural students.  You can hear our interview, originally aired on KNSJ radio,  by clicking the audio link: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au... . 

Yousif asked for an interview to clear up information on a  mailer with misleading information on candidates' party endorsements. He is the only candidate endorsed by the county Democratic Party in Grossmont’s  Trustee Area 2, which includes La Mesa, Mt. Helix,  and portions of surrounding neighborhoods. He also spoke out in support of Measure BB,  Grossmont's school bond measure, which he backs despite some flaws in the measure because he believes "our schools need more money" to better serve students.