Students will see an absence of classified staff in the Student Success Center after a consensus vote was passed, eliminating six classified positions during a joint College Council, Administrative Services, Instructional Services and Student Services meeting on Jan 10.

Other positions include Assessment Center, College Operations, Physical Education and Counseling and College Life. With the eliminations, De Anza College completes its goal of reaching $8.8 million in budget reduction by July 2019.

An hour and a half long discussion took place in Conference Room B, between faculty and staff and interim president Christina Espinoza-Pieb about why certain positions were being cut, and how eliminated positions would affect the work distribution within different departments.

“Eliminated positions need to be looked at in terms of the college wide impact and in terms of the overall long term health of the college,” Student Success Center co-director Diane Alves de Lima said during the meeting. “Those positions should be weighed against other positions on the list, rather than positions in the Student Success Center.”

Espinoza-Pieb said the urgency to discuss and approve the eliminations were due to the upcoming district deadlines. Positions can be reconsidered if a shift in work responsibility within affected departments reveal a job better fit for elimination.

“I really want you to keep in mind, none of this has been easy,” Espinoza-Pieb said to the audience, “ but I will always air on the side of keeping filled positions employed and going with vacant positions. If anybody doesn’t knows that about me, they will know it now.”