Trustees Name New President, Look at Fiscal Status and Low Student Achievement
By Anna Pier
The Sonoma Valley Unified Board of Trustees, meeting on December 10 at the District office building, first held a two-hour Closed Session, then reconvened in Open Session. After a presentation by the students of Altimira Middle School, Valley of the Moon Teachers’ Association co-president Laura Hoban gave the report of the teachers union, opening with a celebration of wonderful student performances by Sassarini Singers, activity by Altimira students, and Sonoma High photography students. Hoban praised the collaborative communication with the Administration, and with regard to fiscal solvency, advocated for “a mindset of problem solving, not alarm.” VMTA went on record as opposing the new charter school initiative.
California School Employees Association (CSEA) outgoing President Andrea Deely introduced new President John Grey, who reported that there are 251 classified employees in the District.
Noteworthy in the trustee reports was that of David Bell and Gerardo Guzman regarding the 20-year old HVAC systems. Replacement will be approximately $8 million. There was no public comment on items on the agenda.
In a mandated organizational item, trustees discussed a new president. Trustee Anne Ching urged President Catarina Landry to accept another year at the helm, but for family reasons Landry did not accept. When Trustee Jason Lehman asked who of his colleagues did not have family to consider first, Trustee David Bell said he would be happy to take the job on for the year, “if it is the will of the Board.” President Landry nominated Bell, and he was elected unanimously. Anne Ching pointed out that only she and Catarina Landry have done the whole board governance training, and she urged the other three – Bell, Gerardo Guzman and Lehman, all newer trustees -ueger to take the full training. Bell did not respond.
Hired consultant Ron Calloway presented an update on the superintendent search process, and shared a document that purports to reflect the qualities our community and Board value in an ideal superintendent. This profile comprises community feedback collected by Brandon Krueger, the original leader of the search process; comments shared during last week’s stakeholder Zoom meeting; and thoughts from the Board. The document is available on the district website and will guide both the interview questions and the evaluation process. Co-consultant Scott Mahoney, who boasts that he has overseen the hiring of 30 superintendents, stated that “it turns out that most superintendents keep or lose their job not based on qualifications but on personality.” He added that the life expectancy of a school district superintendent in California is now 2.8 years.
Calloway presented the plan for choosing a new superintendent. On January 10 the Board will interview the six candidates they selected from 29 applicants in closed session on December 10. Each will be asked the same 18 questions. On January 11, two or three finalists will have hour-and-a-half in-depth interviews. Calloway said he and Mahoney are “optimistic that the Board will identify a finalist.” Then the process begins with 15 detailed reference checks, “not just the ones the candidate offers,” and including the union president, CSEA president, a special-ed parent and special-ed teacher, a regular-ed parent and teacher, and the Foundation director. They will conduct a comprehensive background review, possibly a trustee site visit to the finalist’s current district, and then contract negotiations will take place. The Board hopes to announce the new superintendent at the regular meeting on February 12.
Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Dr Christina Casillas made a long presentation on the recently released California State Dashboard on student outcomes. These recent results were 10 points lower than the previous year’s, which were already low. (https://www.caschooldashboard.org) Trustee Guzman commented grimly, “grade level” is mediocre, “and we are far below mediocrity.” Trustee Landry asked what the Board can do to support a change, while President Bell stated unequivocally, “we need to put a consequence in place,” such as retaining students in third grade, with a mandatory intensive summer program. Trustee Ching asserted that the role of the Board is “not to decide consequences, but to ask our admin and staff to bring us a proposal.” Trustee Guzman pointed out that we know what our students are capable of, so what is needed is rigor, which he described as “a push to excellence.”
One major problem area the Dashboard revealed was chronic absenteeism. This was astonishingly high at Creekside, registering 70 percent. It is also significantly high in Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Kindergarten.
The next agenda item was the Fiscal Health Risk Analysis, presented by a state expert at the behest of the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE). In June, when the District budget projected below minimum reserves for three years, County Superintendent Dr. Amie Carter arranged assistance from the Fiscal Crisis and Management Team (FICMAT). Since then, an unanticipated increase of $1.6 M in property tax revenues put Sonoma Valley Unified in the black. Acting Superintendent Rena Seifts, who is also Associate Superintendent of Business Services, disagreed with the risk level that the FICMAT identifies, citing the 1st Interim Report with the $1.6 M increase in revenue. Seifts pointed out that “we have right-sized the District, with significant cuts.” Trustee Lehman asserted that now the trustees can address the real issue: low student outcomes.
The next major decisions were approval of two MOUs (Memorandums of Understanding) . The first was an incentive bonus to school employees for early retirement, approved unanimously. The second was to grant a $750 stipend to teachers for completing the extensive SEAL (Soban Early Academic Language) certification training and then accomplishing the extensive unit planning and collaborative work required to create a language-rich environment. This was approved 4-1. Acting Superintendent Seifts stated that Flowery’s test scores showed an increase for the year because they had “implemented the SEAL program with more fidelity.”
Finally, the Trustees addressed setting the Reserve Balance, by updating a 2017 policy. Trustee Lehman stated that healthy Basic Aid districts – SVUSD is a Basic Aid district, meaning it is funded by property tax revenue – have reserves over 15 percent of budget. President Bell proposed setting an immediate goal of 10 percent. Discussion continued until the final vote of 5-0 to postpone any change now.
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