Governance Workshops Approved
Allman Cleared in Ward Case
Financial Health of District Improves
Appointment of Principals and Assistant Principals Announced
Mask Choice Resolution Fails to Pass
Governance Workshops Approved
The Board approved a contract with a consultant to conduct governance workshops for the Board. The first few minutes of the meeting as we were attempting to approve the Board Agenda is a good example of the kinds of topics that will be covered.
The Board Agendas for regularly scheduled Board Meetings are required to be published at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting, and nothing that is not on the final published agenda can be brought before the Board. However, if something happened between the time of the published agenda and the Board Meeting that renders a specific item moot or no longer relevant, it can be skipped when the Board gets to that item, or it can be removed by consent of the Board at the beginning of the meeting. For example, maybe a presenter isn’t available, or the item resolved itself before the meeting. In these cases, the Board may, at the beginning of the meeting, decide to scratch the item from the Agenda altogether. However, it is not appropriate to debate the merits of any specific agenda item when the Board is approving the agenda of the meeting. Debate happens when we get to that item during the meeting.
In this case, Trustees Bronstein and Young asked for Item 12H, Approval of 11 Month Position for an Administrative Assistant, be pulled from the agenda and be brought back at a later meeting. However, when asked why it should be pulled from the agenda, a debate began on the merits of the item. These points on the merits of the item may potentially be good reasons to perhaps not vote for the measure when it is introduced, but they were not reasons to remove it from the agenda. We should debate the item when it comes up during the meeting.
Trustee Young also supported removing this item from the agenda, stating that it is Board practice to remove any item from the agenda when asked by a single Board Member as a matter of professional courtesy. That is not true, otherwise a controversial item that was not supported by a single trustee could be prevented from a vote. Imagine, for example, if a trustee asked to pull the back-to-school resolution from the agenda as we were trying to get kids back in school. This could have prevented us from voting on that important item.
In fairness, trustees may confuse the concept of approving the Board Agenda with the “Consent Agenda”, where we vote on several routine items at once in a single vote. In that case, if any single Board Member asks that an item listed under the Consent Agenda be removed from the Consent Agenda, then it will be debated and decided on its own at a different point in the meeting, but it is not removed from the agenda entirely.
At this meeting we wasted nearly 18 minutes debating the Admin Position without actually debating it. I still don’t know what the objections are with the position. This also created confusion during the voting to approve the agenda, and the item was removed from the agenda by mistake. What made this even worse is that staff told the Board that it would impact the hiring of this position if it weren’t approved at this meeting.
I’m very much looking forward to the Governance Workshops with the consultant so we can discuss this, along with several other issues related to Board Governance.
Allman Cleared in Ward Case
Former Superintendent Cheryl-James Ward filed a formal complaint against me with the District where she accused me of creating a hostile work environment for her based on her gender. She stated nine specific incidents as evidence that created this hostile work environment.
The Board hired an independent investigator to look into all nine of Ward’s claims, and after an exhaustive review of all the evidence, the investigator concluded that she could not find me guilty and rejected each and every one of Ward’s claims. She concluded that although I could be tough and demanding as a Trustee in support of parents and students, none of Ward’s individual claims supported Ward’s complaint. This is a complete vindication.
Here is my Trustee Report:
Thank you President Muir.
I would like to begin by making an announcement.
As many members of our community are aware, Superintendent Cheryl James-Ward accused me of creating a hostile work environment and other misconduct during a Board meeting on February 17th. At my request, the Board authorized an independent investigation, and I can now report that this investigation has been completed.
The investigation lasted three months, numerous witnesses were interviewed, and the investigator wrote an exhaustive report. In summary, the final report cleared me of every single one of the charges that Cheryl James-Ward made against me. The investigator did not find sufficient evidence to support ANY of the charges levied by Cheryl James-Ward - not a single one - as I knew would happen when I called for the investigation. I have been completely vindicated.
This was a sorry and disappointing chapter in the Board’s history, but it’s over, and it’s time to move on. I believe all my fellow board members acted professionally during the investigation, and I thank them for keeping the best interests of the district at heart. We have a strong group of administrative leaders in our district, and I continue to work cordially and respectfully with members of the Executive Cabinet and site leadership, as I did before the investigation, as I did during the investigation, and as I will continue to do now that it’s over.
I have to say, I have never been more excited about plans for the future of our district. I have a lot of items on my “wish list” if you will. I have been talking with staff since school ended in June, and we are prioritizing these items, looking at feasibility, and discussing ways to make progress. Some of what I’m working on includes:
· Finding ways to work with Kaplan Consulting so that all of our college-bound students have an excellent resource to help them matriculate to the college of their choice
· Building Swimming pools
· Ensuring the Financial stability of our District
· Expanding and improving our ISPE program; and
· Considering turning SDA into a boundary school
Every year before school starts, students have a sense of anticipation. There is always a feeling of optimism and ideas and a fresh start, and I feel that too. I’d like to turn to all of my fellow board members and ask them to join me in this fresh start to the new school year and to thank them for their hard work and dedication as we look toward a busy fall. If we can remember this sense of optimism and good will, I’d like us to commit to a positive professional relationship going forward, with a board room free from politics and divisiveness. Trustee Young had the excellent idea of participating in a self-evaluation and board governance workshop, and I believe Mr. Jim Huge will be a great facilitator. I’m excited to see what he can do, but for this to be a success, we all need to WANT it to be a success. I know I do. So, let’s commit to coming together for the good of families, students, teachers, all employees, and everyone who cares about this district. Then, we will have come a long way to realizing our goal of making our district be the best it can be.
I am hoping this will put an end to this sad chapter in our District’s history. It’s time we all start the hard work of changing the culture to put parents and students first.
Financial Health of District Improves
The State of California has increased funding for public schools, which will provide our District additional funds of $5 million dollars in on-going revenue and $12 million in one-time revenue. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to provide enough revenues to get us out of our structural deficit due to prior board actions and ongoing pressure on teacher salaries. The financial health of our District remains at risk.
Appointment of Principals and Assistant Principals Announced
The District approved the appointment of the following individuals to new roles in the District.
Scott Wilde – Principal at Pacific Trails Middle School
Cara Dolnik – Principal at San Dieguito Academy
Adam Bishop – Assistant Principal at San Dieguito Academy
Brenda Robinette – Assistant Principal at La Costa Canyon High School
Congratulations to all of you!
Mask Choice Resolution Fails to Pass
Finally, a resolution providing support of mask choice sponsored by Board President Mo Muir failed to pass, with Trustees Bronstein and Young voting no. Their argument was essentially that we already have mask choice, so there is no need for this resolution. Although that is true, I note that Trustee Young sponsored a resolution that reminded everyone that bringing a gun to school is against the law and against Board policy. After some events it may be important to send a signal to our community that the Board stands for certain propositions by reinforcing Board action.
Board President Muir was prompted to bring this forward after the San Diego Unified School District implemented the mandatory wearing of masks, and their Board President, Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, stated that “if parents don’t like it, they can have their kids stay home.” Given this overreaching policy by our neighboring school district and the cold and uncaring comment, I agreed with President Muir that we could put any parent concerns to rest by reinforcing to our community that we have no intention to act on our own to mandate the wearing of face masks, despite what San Diego Unified says and does.