School district welcomes Pamela Martens and gets on with cuts

The May 13 meeting of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District began on a celebratory note, following a reception to welcome incoming superintendent Pamela Martens, who will take office at the end of the school year.
The upbeat tone continued as trustees welcomed the new student representative, Ethan Cohen, honored Sonoma Valley High School students of the year, Kylee Adams and Nathaniel Lee, recognized Sonoma Valley Adult School students, Maria del Carmen Sanchez and Lillian Nichole Furniss and appointed Leticia Cruz as principal of Sassarini School.
Outgoing superintendent Barbara Young thanked the board for doing all the work they did and for choosing Dr. Martens. “I’ve just spent two whole days with her,” she said, looking at Martens, “and I’m so proud you’re coming to take my place.”
The celebratory note waned as they got down to the business of the meeting: personnel cuts. This is the step the board takes to allow them to reduce certain classified positions. Among the ten positions scheduled to be eliminated are: Campus Supervisor I, Child Care Assistant, Child Care Team Leader I, Computer Lab Operator, Computer Lab/Site Network Technician, Health Assistant, Instructional Assistant, Instructional Assistant– Bilingual, School Bus Driver, Translator. Further reductions include Food Service Assistant I and II, Office Assistant Receptionist, Library Media Specialist, School Community Liaison Bilingual, Account Specialist, Administrative Secretary, Attendance and Welfare Technician, Building Trades Technician I, Bus Driver Trainer.
Two of the district’s bus drivers made an eloquent plea, using charts, to show how costs could be cut without losing the Bus Driver Trainer position, but the trustees proceeded as planned. They indicated that the cuts were painful but necessary that night, in order to provide adequate notification to the employees. There was a faint hope expressed that perhaps there might be better news from Sacramento on Wednesday on the state funding for the district, and the trustees agreed to continue looking for more ways to cut costs.