Special education teacher, Athletic Council Leadership (ALC) advisor and Class of 1998 alumni Jason Heilman is leaving West Covina High School for Coronado after 18 years. This move was initially presented to Heilman last school year; he decided to stay after moving to a new classroom along with growing ALC. 

Heilman had decided to remain at West Covina with the knowledge that a special education teacher would transfer to Coronado the following year due to an increase of special education students there. 

Initially, English teacher and basketball coach Kevin Quach would be said teacher leaving since he is the newest hired in the department and with therefore, least seniority, but due to a contract that was recently signed among the district and Teachers Association of West Covina (TAWC) that granted special education teachers a second conference period, these teachers who also teach electives, such as ALC that Heilman piloted and advises, will no longer do so, leading to his decision to leave. 

Special education teachers have needed an additional conference period for case management, but it had been removed from their schedules, as this second conference period was never actually integrated into the contract. TAWC negotiated with the district for the new 2025-2026 contract to include this additional period.

With a case management period and a conference period, special education teachers were able to use their conference period for grading and lesson planning as teaching is still a requirement. Their second case management period provided them time to test students, give them support and observe them in general education classes.

The granting of two conference periods came at the expense of electives that special education teachers currently teach, including history and AVID teacher Howard Lui, who will not continue with his AVID class starting next school year. 

Heilman and Lui are the only special education teachers whose electives were removed from their schedules. 

Erin Reid, English teacher and TAWC president, recognizes the importance of this extra period. Reid, along with other teachers in the union, wanted to ensure that the case management period was added. Despite pushing for this extra conference period, special education teachers were unaware of the outcome that followed.

“The union was in the decision to have the case management period, we were 100% involved. We were 100% behind it. We wanted it to become a permanent part of the contract, so that it could never be, it could never be taken away. The unintended consequence of that which none of us saw coming was that teachers who were teaching electives would no longer have an elective,” Reid said. 

Although credentialed teachers are able to teach electives outside the content area for which they are licensed to teach, such is no longer the case for special education teachers. Reid believes that the district wants to ensure all special education students receive the most support possible. Though she recognizes the district’s intention, she also sees that ALC sets a foundation for special education students to engage in a leadership class. 

“It’s just, they want to make sure that all programs are an essential program, number one. Number two, it’s a little bit challenging, because special ed teachers are hired specifically to service special ed students. So if they’re teaching a class that is not special ed, it takes away from the students that need that support, right? But it all depends on caseloads,” Reid said.

According to Heilman, this leadership class is one of least demanding. 

“It is a little bit harder for them , because our leadership rigor isn’t as laid out like I get, every year. I kind of revamp things, and we keep some things and add some things, but those are like real leadership assignments. Ours is a little bit different,” Heilman said. 

The decision to remove Heilman as ALC advisor came last week, causing concern among current students in this class, who worry for the future of the classroom’s culture. 

Junior Angelina Aguero, ALC’s current president shared her concerns regarding the change and how it might affect the class’ environment moving forward.

“What if they’re not as into it as he is, or they don’t follow the same, like, like, kind of, like curriculum we do. He’s always having talks with us, like, yeah guys we need to stay focused and we need to finish off the year strong with our spirit and everything,”Aguero said.

Aguero also discussed her concerns with ALC’s enrollment now that Heilman will not be advisor, especially with next year’s class size being the highest in ALC history.

“I really hope that he can keep it and also, like, next year would be our biggest class for ALC. So that’s what really sucks, too,” Aguero said. “I feel like ALC is known for having Mr. Heilman and, like, having such a fun, like, free spirit teacher. Like, you know he’s very like, passionate for it. So I feel like he’s definitely the face of ALC right now.” 

In efforts to keep Heilman’s position as ALC advisor, he, along with students, formed a petition against the decision. Although, Heilman concluded that the petition would not be successful to keep him as advisor of ALC.

“I had a teacher help me create, like, petition sheets. They’re not gonna do anything. It’s not gonna do anything,” Heilman said.

Similarly to Aguero, English teacher and Special Education Department Chair Ludivina Magana acknowledges how Heilman’s move will impact the school.

“Heilman’s transfer from our site is a loss to our Bulldog culture. His energy and dedication to the programs and staff will be missed, he is the glue and drive behind many pieces,” Magana said. 

Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Denise Knutsen did not respond to questions concerning the schedule changes within the special education department. Questions sent to Principal Charles Park were not answered at the time of publication of this article. Lui also declined to interview for this article.