Trustees decide how to fill the Area 2 Trustee seat, and approve a committee to recommend future of Adele Harrison site
By Anna Pier
The four Trustees, who currently comprise the Governing Board of Sonoma Valley Unified School District, opened and closed their regular meeting on April 10 with a closed session with labor negotiators. The meeting was held at the Sonoma City Council Chambers. Trustees David Bell, Anne Ching, Catarina Landry and Jason Lehman discussed and acted upon many items; this report confines itself to ones of particular significance for the community.
The first item was how to fill the Trustee seat to represent Area 2, vacant since the resignation of Celeste Winders on March 13, the date of the last regular Board meeting. Area 2 is roughly the Springs. The options were to hold a special election or appoint a replacement for the term that runs through December 2026. The Board was informed by the District’s attorney that, not only would the cost of a special election range from $8,500 to $22,000 but, in an odd year, the special election must be held in November. Given that information, the Trustees quickly decided to move forward with the appointment process. They established an extremely accelerated timeline. They directed Superintendent Rodriguez-Chien to announce the opening the next day, Friday, April 12, and applications must be submitted no later than 4:30 PM Friday, April 18. (See Superintendent’s Letter of April 11)
A sub-committee composed of Trustees Bell and Lehman, who volunteered for the job, will review the applicants for eligibility. President Landry emphasized that their role is only an eligibility screening, and “not to filter.” The trustees will then meet in Special Session on April 22 to interview the applicants and select the new Trustee.
The next major item tackled by the Board was the creation of the 7/11 Committee. This is the common nickname for the School District Property Advisory Committee, because the California Education Code requires that the committee have “no fewer than seven and no more than eleven” members. During public comment, several speakers had commented on the way the “7/11 Committee” had been established. One speaker observed that “there was no process to the creation of this Committee,” whereas “every other District had a public process.” Caitlin Cornwall, representing the Sonoma Valley Collaborative, whose primary focus is the severe crisis in affordable housing, noted that it is rare to have public land available to potentially address that crisis, and encouraged the Board to ensure that there is “an abundance of transparency and rigor” in the 7/11 Committee’s work. Dennis Housman of the Valley of the Moon Teachers Association (VMTA) lamented that there had been a lack of public process in the selection of the Committee.
A resolution to approve the 7/11 Committee as constituted was an action item. Superintendent Jeanette Rodriguez-Chien had appointed these proposed members: Isabella Alvarez, student; Samuel Granger, teacher; Molly Kiss, Principal at SVHS; Jennifer Lemas, parent; Nancy Kivelson, community member; Nick Monroe, community member; Christopher Murray, community member; Richard Preiss, community member; Matt Sevenau, community member; Alice Turner, student.
The role of the 7/11 Committee is to make a recommendation for the disposition of vacant school property, which in June 2025 will be the Adele Harrison Middle School site. Among the tasks of the committee are: to determine if the property is surplus; to consider other uses the District might make of the property; to consider leasing vs. selling the property; to address the acceptable tolerance of use; to hold public community meetings for input; to consider the District’s budget and financial position; and to take into account District demographics. Attorney Harold Freiman, who acted on behalf of the District administration for the conduct of the work of the School Consolidation Advisory Committee, has been hired to take that same role with this new committee.
During discussion of this action item, Trustee Anne Ching stated she was not confident that the committee appointed is representative of the community. Ching asked the Board to consider postponing the vote. Instead, at the urging of Attorney Freiman, the Board approved the item, with a 3-1 vote.
Another item of importance for the community was the first reading of a resolution changing the rules for public comment. The most significant proposed change was eliminating any public comment via Zoom. In his report as Co-President of the VMTA, Dennis Housman objected to the proposed new Board policy on public comment. He quoted from the Brown Act with regulations for California City Council meetings to support his objection to the “stifling of public participation” caused by the Board’s recent decision to postpone till the end of the meeting public comment on issues not on the Agenda. He also opposed eliminating public comment on Zoom.
Trustee Ching and Student Voice Kendall Clemons supported the need for allowing public comment by Zoom. Clemons pointed out that many people are unable to attend in person as they are home taking care of their children, but they would like to be able to participate with public comment on issues that affect their children. Ching said that making this decision based on what other school districts have done post-Covid may not reflect the unique community we have in Sonoma, a small district with great community involvement.
The final item of more general community interest was the question of renaming Altimira. In January, the Board proposed this, and solicited suggestions from the public. Only two were received, one from an Adele Harrison parent to change the name to Sonoma Valley Middle School; the other was to retain the name Altimira Middle School. The Board decided to postpone action on a name change for twelve months, when they would initiate a process that will allow for student participation.
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