Board Wrestles with Plan for Superintendent Search
By Anna Pier
Note: In a new initiative, inspired by the aim of the Intervention Team from SCOE (Sonoma County Office of Education) to promote and improve communication from the School District to the community, the District emails a Recap of board meetings. The following report details highlights of that meeting.
A positive tone marked the first public meeting of the 2025-26 school year of the Board of Trustees of Sonoma Valley Unified School District on August 14. The report from the Valley of the Moon Teachers Association (VMTA) set the tone, detailing how our intrepid teachers, following a tumultuous 2024-25 year marked by endless contract negotiation, layoff of thirty teachers, a rescinded decision on closure of an elementary site, and closure of Adele Harrison Middle School, brought their best to the opening of this new year.
VMTA Co-President Laura Hoban highlighted the amazing collaborative effort of everyone to accomplish the consolidation of all middle school students at Altimira Middle School. She praised Connor Snow, principal of the school, for managing the huge transformation. The union report also acknowledged the dedicated work of the vice-principal; the Maintenance crew; the Transportation office which reorganized all the bus routes; the custodial staff; the parents of ELAC (English Learners Advisory Committee); and IET, getting the consolidated middle school site “tech ready” for Opening Day. Finally the report appreciated Acting Superintendent Rena Seifts for her hands-on help with the unpacking. Hoban said the associated teachers are hopeful of a year marked by a collaborative and cooperative relationship with the Board. The union co-president elaborated, with the hope that the Board thrives and grows, “working inclusively,” its members being truly representative of Sonoma Valley, leaders who are a part of our story.”
Other reports were by Andrea Deely of CSEA, thanking the classified staff she represents for their work over the summer; and Police Chief Brandon Cutting, who said there have been “absolutely no issues in the first four days.” Cutting added that at the High School, “the students are driving better than the adults.”
Acting Superintendent Seifts affirmed that in over 30 years in school administration she had “never seen such community dedication” as she witnessed at Altimira, including Rotary support for the school garden and the landscaping over the summer, and the Back to School Welcome BBQ for teachers and staff. Seifts also praised the Board for the Districtwide new “bell to bell” no-cell phone policy. She said that walking around the high school at lunch, she saw students engaged in talking with each other.
The other significant report at the meeting was a long presentation by Brandon Krueger, a SCOE Administrator of Special Projects, focused on the superintendent search. The SVUSD Board appointed Chief Financial Officer Rena Seifts as Acting Superintendent in June, when in May previous Superintendent Dr. Jeanette Rodriguez-Chien announced her retirement effective June 30. Krueger, a retired Superintendent of Windsor School District, stated that he has 30 years of Human Resources experience in superintendent search work.
Talking at length on the upcoming search, he acknowledged the importance of making sure that stakeholder voices are heard, discovering what different interest groups want and the needs of the community of Sonoma, listening to the voices of nonprofits, parents, teachers and classified staff. He spoke of aligning the core values of the Board and the community, to be sure “the process is authentic.”
Acknowledging that the District has had three superintendents for two years each, he underscored, “If you do things the same way, you will get the same result,” stating that he wants to “fine tune the process” this time. Acknowledging that previously stakeholder data had been gathered, he stated that the process needs amending. Krueger suggested a timeline of August 15 to October 3 for meeting with all groups, but acknowledged that the search process, which has no legal requirements, is at the Board’s direction.
Krueger is a member of the Ad Hoc Committee, requested by County Superintendent Dr. Amie Carter when she spoke to the Board at the June 5 meeting. Other members are Board President Catarina Landry, Trustee David Bell and other District staff. Krueger described the role of the committee as “support, advice and a sounding board.” Krueger spoke about creating an Invitation to Apply, so potential individuals living in our community can come forward.
Retired Superintendent Krueger’s presentation was followed by a Board discussion of three timelines he proposed. Trustee Bell, opting for the Option 3 longest timeline, asserted, “it’s unlikely to find a qualified candidate who lives in the community.” Trustees Landry and Bell also favored the longterm option, recruiting in January and hiring for the 2026-27 school year. Trustee Jason Lehman agreed, but suggested that they could be looking right now, “keeping a pole in the water.” Trustee Anne Ching, explaining that she led the last search, and was on the Board for the one before that, pointed out that previously they had followed Option 3 – without a successful outcome. She supported an accelerated timeline, to see what we get locally. Trustee Gerardo Guzman pointed out that people are disillusioned with the process, wondering how the Board “can pivot as needed, twisting the process for the result we want.”
The discussion concluded with a unanimous vote to institute a hybrid timeline for the superintendent search. The job will be posted locally as soon as possible, and will be open until filled, including being open to a candidate who can start sooner than July 2026.
The other especially significant item was scheduling Study Sessions. After discussion, the Trustees unanimously decided to hold the three upcoming Study Sessions at 5 PM in the Board Room at the District office (17850 Railroad Avenue). On August 20 the Board will hold its only Study Session on elementary school consolidation. Trustee Ching stated she would prefer Saturday meetings, allowing for “a deep dive.” Trustee Bell asserted that “there’s really only one school option for consolidation, maybe two.” Board President Landry stated that because the Board really needs time to talk together they will limit public comment on August 20. The session will be open to the public, and accessible by Zoom.
August 20, study session which elementary school to close. To late for me or many others to find out about it and attend. And of course public comment will be “limited” anyway. But, thank you Anna for being on what is going on at SVUSD. I will watch the study session as soon as it is available on Sonoma TV as a recording.