By Anna Pier
Four trustees of the Sonoma Valley Unified School Board met in regular session the evening of February 12 at the Sonoma City Council Chambers. Trustee Jason Lehman was not present for this very important meeting, the Agenda for which included offering a three-year contract to the Board’s recently selected new Superintendent Jason Sutter, and authorizing extensive cuts of teachers and support staff.
The chambers were packed with community members, including many District staff, and parents and students. Many had come to address the recent unilateral decision by Board President David Bell to remove the Pride Flag from the flagpole in front of Sonoma Valley High; and many others were present to protest the extensive proposed staffing cuts, including the Director of Wellness position. In view of the 40 people signed up to make public comment, the trustees decided to limit comment to 90 seconds each.
First to speak, before public comment, were Valley of the Moon Teachers Association Co-Presidents Laura Hoban and Shellie Ryan. The union leaders set the tone for the meeting with an impassioned, eloquent statement to the trustees, and to the new superintendent who will take office on March 1. (See their full statement on page 5.) Hoban, who was accompanied at the podium by Ryan, read the statement on behalf of the 198 members of the union, which comprises approximately 97% of the eligible staff.
The statement detailed a consistent pattern of ignoring the teachers’ union recommendations on many significant actions recently taken by this board.
These include moving to close Prestwood Elementary School, rather than slowing down the process as recommended by the union. Following that, against the strong recommendation of both the VMTA and the District leadership staff report, the trustees voted to grant a charter to the proposed MacArthur Park Charter School, despite serious insufficiencies in the petition, including inadequate budget and a vague plan for providing special education. The new charter school will be funded by the District with an estimated $2.2 million, wiping out the savings meant to be realized by the closure of Prestwood. The union asserts that the proposed drastic cuts to teaching and support staff are “deeper than they would have been if they had not approved the Charter, and not one of them addressed that, admitted it or owned to it.”
The statement also pointed out that the teachers do not yet have a contract; but they expressed willingness to renew the negotiations when Director Kristen Ugrin returns from vacation.
In all deliberations that evening the trustees never acknowledged any of the concerns clearly expressed to them at the start of the meeting by the teachers union, despite the plain declaration by the union representatives that teachers and support staff are “at a breaking point.”
The day after the meeting, VMTA leaders expressed their disappointment that President David Bell ignored, without even a mention, the call by the teachers of the District for his resignation, in acknowledgement of his failure to understand and serve the interests of the students he was elected to serve, as revealed by his removal of the Pride flag, and also later in his written apology. The union leaders statement continued, “We were deeply disappointed that not a single board member admonished President Bell for the actions he took outside of board protocol. We had expected at least one Trustee to voice their disappointment or ask him to refrain from acting unilaterally again. … Their complete silence on Thursday spoke loud enough.”
The VMTA statement at the Board meeting was followed by a strong appeal to the trustees from California School Employees Association (CSEA) president John Gray, on behalf of the aides and other school employees whose jobs are being cut, and whose work is being compromised, by the proposed cuts.
The first Agenda item was approved by a 4-0 roll call vote of the three-year contract as Superintendent with Jason Sutter. All the trustees present welcomed Sutter, and Bell’s remarks included an apology for “the rocky road.” Sutter’s wife and two daughters joined him in front of the chamber, where he spoke briefly, expressing appreciation “for the trust you have in me,” and “gratitude for the opportunity to serve Sonoma Valley.” He added, “We have real work ahead of us, as we have seen tonight.”
Is this a Letter to the Editor or an Editorial? Sure sounds like one, but it is not identified as such (not filed under either heading on the web site).
I am a Petaluma parent who has been dealing with your new Superintendent Jason Sutter here in the Petaluma City Schools in recent years. You should be aware of the illegal actions Jason took here in Petaluma and of his long record of going after teachers and parents who make complaints to the district. He has shown an open ability to lie and sweet talk the public about his actions. He is good at this, but you should not trust his words.
He routinely supported the administration rather than good teachers in the district, even in cases where the administration (McNear Principal Melissa Becker) was taking clear illegal actions with clear evidence against her. Instead of admitting these clear illegal actions and disciplining the principal, he spent Petaluma district funds to hire a lawyer to try and force an NDA on the parent who was bringing forward these numerous valid and highly concerning complaints about Ms Becker. He also assisted Becker in the forcing out of two great long tenured teachers who had spoken against Becker. For years he has allowed Principal Becker to retaliate against staff and parents who spoke against her and the district. He is widely disliked by teachers and parents alike in the PCS, with complaints coming from multiple schools across the district. I would be cautious in trusting his words, and I would encourage the Sonoma Valley community to never allow him to use tax payer funds to try and silence a parent who is complaining as he did here in Petaluma. This is both unacceptable and illegal. I believe he has learned tactics on how to go after those who complain, and I would not be surprised if he were to use those same tactics against Sonoma Valley parents and teachers in the years to come. Good luck, I’m afraid your board made a very poor choice in this hire.