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UPDATE: Sonoma Valley school district dumps superintendent

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Sonoma Valley Sun

Sonoma Valley School District shocker at Tuesday night’s board of trustees meeting: Chair John Kelly announced that Superintendent Socorro Shiels has been relieved of her duties, effective immediately.

Kelly said the vote to dismiss, held in a private session, was 5-0. Bruce Abbott, an associate superintendent, will step into the top job on an interim basis.

As a union, The Valley of the Moon Teachers Association did not have input to the decision, according to co-presidents Renea Magnani and Ronette Wesson. But, “we were concerned that the contract was being considered for extension beyond expiration in June of 2021,” they said in a joint statement to The Sun.

The union is on record as opposing the Shiels hire in March of 2018. “Our members spoke then of how we didn’t want her hired as she was coming from Santa Rosa with a poor track record, and we have spoken since about our not wanting her contract extended,” Magnani and Ronette Wesson stated Tuesday night. “We hope this is a positive turning point for our district and community.”

The timing of the decision was also questioned, as it comes before Anne Ching and Troy Knox, elected to their first terms as SVUSD trustees on November 3, are sworn in next month. “Many of our unit members wrote asking the board if there should be a vote, that it be held off until next month when the newly elected board members take their place.”.

 




Sonoma Sun | Sonoma, CA