Facing layoffs and school closures, South Bay Union still able to pay over $100k to part-timer

South Bay Union is set to close multiple campuses and will likely lay off staff in response to its financial struggles.

But an interim administrator hired this school year will receive a six-figure salary for half a year of work, anyway.

Former Orange County school official Felix Avila will be paid $1,150 a day to lead South Bay Union’s human resources operations. He’ll work up to four days per week through June, according to an agreement that board members approved late last year, meaning his pay will total as much as roughly $136,000. 

Avila stepped in for assistant superintendent Melissa Griffith, who resigned from the district after heading human resources for the past year and a half. 

She was paid less than Avila’s daily rate, district records show. At the start of her contract in 2024, the board agreed to pay Griffith $215,500 for a 244-day work year, or about $880 a day excluding benefits.

Avila’s contract outraged some teachers and community members — and became yet another point of tension as South Bay Union reels from declining enrollment and a long fight over union negotiations

Some teachers are upset over the higher cost of filling the position. The union had been embroiled in stalled talks with the district for roughly two years over pay and other terms — they authorized a strike but ultimately reached a tentative agreement last week.

“If we have no money, how is this increase justified?” said Erin Stonecipher, a substitute teacher at the district, during a December board meeting.

Avila retired in July 2021 after a more than 30-year career in education, including his last seven years as the assistant superintendent of human resources at Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach.

In a memo to board members, Superintendent Jose Espinoza said Avila’s position was needed as the district searches for a permanent replacement.

The district told inewsource in a statement that retired administrators who serve as temporary employees negotiate their rates, and pointed out that Avila’s pay will total less than his predecessor’s because he will work fewer days.

“It’s vital that we have an HR person in charge, it is vital.You may sit back in the back and do jokes and all that stuff,” board member Cheryl Quinones said during the December meeting, directly talking to the audience. 

“But without HR, nothing’s happening. That’s the lifeblood.”

South Bay Union has lost roughly half of the student enrollment it had a decade ago and experts expect that trend to worsen. That means less funding for the district, which plans to close three campuses in the coming years and right now faces a $27 million shortfall.

Its current operating budget is roughly $115 million, with 93 cents per every unrestricted dollar spent on staffing — about 8 cents more than other districts, according to a survey conducted by consultants at School Services. 

“It doesn’t leave room to invest in other things,” Matt Phillips, associate vice president at School Services, told the board during a meeting last week. 

Consultants have issued South Bay Union recommendations meant to “right-size” the district, including through attrition and eliminating redundant lower-level management roles. They also suggested reducing Avila’s role from superintendent to executive director.