All eyes were focused on school closures and the teachers union filing unfair labor practices against the Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) at the December 13 school board meeting. Yet, there are issues and concerns of great importance that have been missed by reporters.
The meeting was split into two open sessions. A short open session before a closed session, which very few community members attended and one after the closed session where a large contingent of community and teachers union members attended and spoke.
In the first open session there was a violation of the Brown Act. Trustee Catarina Landry was nominated and elected board president and Jason Lehman vice president, without a call for public comment first. It is tradition, but not a rule that the post of president be rotated to the outgoing vice president. Trustee Celeste Winders had been vice president and was acting president after Trustee Troy Knox resigned. This agenda item is of note for two reasons, 1, It was scheduled for a time when it was likely that the public would not be in attendance and 2, For the Brown Act Violation.
This violation was reported to SVUSD and they responded that they intend to conduct the election of its officers once again, with the opportunity for the public to make comment on the item at the January 16, 2025 board meeting.
Another grave concern is that in the second open session on December 13, that went on until after 11:00 PM, most community members who attended to speak about the school closures and labor issue had left before agenda item 16.7, policies on Hate Motivated Behavior. Though voted on and approved, comments made by trustees, David Bell, Catarina Landry and Jason Lehman, demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge about hate and bias speech and the legal obligations of SVUSD for Title VI and IX protections. Trustee Winders had to explain these obligations to them in detail. This should be of concern to our community, especially the parents of children of color, female students and LGBTQ students.
If you are concerned about this, please attend the January 16 board meeting.
Lisa Storment and Josette Brose-Eichar
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