PUSD Superintendent Hosts Coffee Chat at Lorbeer Wednesday

PUSD Superintendent Richard Martinez is hosting an informal discussion session geared toward Diamond Bar parents at Lorbeer Middle School on Wednesday morning.

The event is the first in a series of six that will take Martinez to various schools in the district to hear and answer parents' concerns and questions over coffee and pastries.

"We want to give parents a chance to talk and be heard and get answers to their questions," Martinez said.

The meetings come at a time that Martinez characterized as difficult for PUSD. During the next two months, Martinez said, the school board will consider a number of budget-cutting resolutions.

At a meeting last week, the school board cast a split 3-2 vote who comprise the district's capital facilities staff.

On Feb. 2, Martinez said, the district will look at cuts to PUSD's childcare programs in response to state-level cuts for the CalWORKS program.

"This is unprecedented that we are laying off mid-year," Martinez said.

School board officials, Martinez, and the teachers unions all expressed a focus on keeping cuts away from the classroom.