Almost a year ago we began to editorialize about the crisis in our Sonoma Valley School District. Facing a huge budget deficit due to continued deficit spending by the Board, as it delayed action about the reality that the student population had declined over 40 percent since 2012, the Board of Trustees was floundering as it grappled with the necessity of closing two schools – a middle school and an elementary site.
Superintendent Dr Jeanette Rodriguez-Chien called the Sun in on the carpet to criticize our cover story, Sonoma Ununified (sic) School District. Sadly, the label was correct at the time, and it is still correct.
An ineffective School Consolidation Committee, appointed by Dr. Chien – majority white, even though the District demographic was nearly 65 percent Latino, and with no representative from one of the four elementary schools – had been charged by the Board to present a plan for consolidation. They had met for almost a year when they made the easy recommendation to close the middle school that did not have the capacity for all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students, Adele Harrison. But they skirted their responsibility to recommend an elementary site to close. This committee did not even visit the four school sites until their next to last meeting; inexplicable, as the committee was guided in their process by an attorney hired by the District, specializing in school consolidation. At the last meeting they formed sub-committees of two people each to analyze one of the main school consolidation criteria set out by the state Attorney General, and submitted that report, created haphazardly, to the Board. The whole process was flawed by the huge failure to get community input on this issue.
The Board is still in disarray on the question. It voted in May to close Flowery School, in the heart of the student population and the only site without declining enrollment; and in June, responding to community input, wisely rescinded that vote. In August they identified Prestwood as the likely site for closure, but responding to huge Eastside community pressure back-pedalled on that decision at the September 11 meeting.
All the while there is an ongoing leadership crisis; three superintendents in a row have lasted only two years each. Currently at the helm is Chief Financial Officer and Associate Superintendent Rena Seifts, doing double duty as Acting Superintendent. With the intervention of the Sonoma County Office of Education, a superintendent search will be conducted “in house,” with no hired national consultant.
The financial crisis was exacerbated by payoffs to two of these two-year superintendents.Then, unbelievably, the Board voted a bonus to Dr. Chien after she had resigned in May, effective June 30, leaving the District in a more serious crisis.
Here’s the current state of affairs: 30 teachers laid off; District office staff larger than it was before the huge decline in student population; no resolution of the deficit; no decision on elementary closure; and the urgent need to fill the job of superintendent.
At the September 11 meeting, the Board reviewed the Unaudited Actuals – where things really stand financially. Revised tax rolls have brought in unexpected revenue. Action to pare down District office staff to reflect the 40 percent decline in students would further help the deficit. The budget crisis isn’t fixed but it has breathing room.
It may be possible for the Board to step back, listen to the voices of the community, and bring together the parents and teachers of the four elementary schools to guide the creation of a plan for action. A new Consolidation Committee? Maybe a new superintendent can direct and own the process of consolidation.
–The Sonoma Sun Editorial Board
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