Gerardo Guzmán appointed School Trustee

By Anna Pier

In a unanimous decision on April 22, four Sonoma Valley Unified School Board trustees, representing Areas 1, 3, 4, and 5, appointed Gerardo Guzmán as trustee to represent Area 2, which is roughly the area of The Springs. Flowery Elementary School is in that area.. Guzmán is the fifth Latino to serve on the school board; he is preceded by Camerino Hawing, Catalina Velázquez, Salvador Chávez Jr. and Celeste Winders, all of whom served as the sole Latino on the board.

Guzmán is a longtime local resident who, after attending Sassarini, Altimira and Sonoma Valley High School, went on to UC Berkeley on a full scholarship, where he graduated with a degree in architecture. He was the first in his family to graduate university in an era when this was still uncommon.

The vacancy on the Board was created by the resignation of Trustee Celeste Winders on March 13. It is unclear why the Board delayed the process of filling the vacant seat, but at their April 10 regular meeting they began the process, directing the Superintendent to advertise on April 11, with applications due by the end of the day the following Friday, April 18, and interviews scheduled for a Special Meeting April 22.

Despite this extremely short turnaround, six residents of Area 2 put their hats in the ring for the position. The trustees commented on this extraordinary show of interest, with Board President Catarina Landry of Area 1, Jason Lehman of Area 3, and Area 4 Trustee David Bell all pointing out that none of them had had an opponent to run against in their respective Areas. Trustee Anne Ching, who was on vacation and meeting via Zoom, is the only sitting trustee elected to that position in a contested race.

Tarney Baldinger, Melanie Blake, Ryan Dieckmann, Gerardo Guzmán, Megie Sarah Tuft Marvel and Steve Williams had all been declared eligible by a screening subcommittee comprised of Bell and Lehman. The three criteria for eligibility are: being at least 18 years of age, a registered voter, and a resident of the Area to be represented. The six were viewed as an extremely qualified and capable group of candidates. Among endorsements during public comment, David Donnelly, retired and beloved SVHS teacher, spoke eloquently for the candidacy of former trustee Melanie Blake, praising her creative, successful collaborative work accomplishing budget  cuts, in 2008 when she was head of the teachers’ union during that year’s financial crisis. Nicole Abate Ducarroz, a former 15-year trustee, called in on behalf of Guzmán.

In random order, one by one, the candidates responded to the same three questions. Then, without additional public comment, the board opened the process for discussion. Their deliberations were brief, and did not include even mention of most of the candidates. Trustee Bell opened with his support of Guzmán, Trustee Lehman followed, agreeing but proposing Tarney Baldinger as his equal, other choice. President Landry supported Guzmán, and Trustee Ching added her vote.

Guzmán thanked the board, read the oath of office, and took his seat at the table. The board then returned to their discussion of which elementary site to close. After over an hour’s discussion, the group’s decision was to direct staff to study how the closure of the Flowery site could be accomplished, moving the Dual Immersion program to the Sassarini campus, as a magnet program, no longer a neighborhood program. The newly-appointed Guzmán, in whose Area Flowery lies, approved the directive which leads to the closure of that school.