Monday was the first day of classes at FIELD, the Farmworkers Institute of Education & Leadership Development, and a small number of students and teachers were not in class.

Instead, they were staging a protest in front of FIELD's main office on South Union Avenue in Bakersfield. The protest was organized and led by FIELD President/CEO David Villarino, who was put on paid leave recently by the agency's board of directors.

Contributing columnist Jose Gaspar is a former news anchor/reporter for Telemundo Bakersfield and KGET. Email him at elcompa29@gmail.com. The views expressed here are his own.