Tell me about it. Opponents filed a lawsuit in April to stop consolidation, but a Sonoma County Superior Court judge ruled they did not meet a 35-day window to file legal challenges or successfully argue why the school district hadnt followed the law in implementing consolidation. (707) 824-6403 | Fax: (707) 824-6499 No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. The result is a deepening of the hurt and frustration already felt by many rural families., The group that tried without success to recall three school board members earlier this year said in a statement it is looking into the necessary steps to circulate a recall petition to remove Patrick Nagle from his appointed position.. For now, Nagle and some of his critics plan to meet and talk about things. 462 Johnson Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472 [4][5], The recall effort began after the three board members voted on March 10, 2021, to approve a plan to consolidate Analy and El Molino high schools. Were definitely on the road to meeting our goal, she said. Dana Pederson, superintendent of the Guerneville School District, said comparing employee contracts, benefits packages and seniority scales alone could prove complicated. [1][2] Fadave resigned in July 2021, citing personal reasons. You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8531 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. SANTA ROSA HIGH SONOMA SFP - Career Tech GRANT 55/70920-00-004 SCOTTS VALLEY UNIFIED SANTA CRUZ SFP - New Constr. I question the savings if you do that.. The school board interviewed all three men in a round-robin format, asking the same five questions to each. The Sonoma County Elections Office approved the recall petitions for circulation. That would be approximately a month before most final budget decisions are made, and nine months before the regularly scheduled November election. A demographers report will help determine where the boundary lines will fall. Sonoma County (/ s n o m / ()) is a county located in the U.S. state of California.As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. He said he views enrollment as more periodic and up-and-down than static or permanent since the board only knows the current situation and near-future projections. This would be the first local consolidation study undertaken since the state in 2013 adopted its Local Control Funding Formula model of doling out funds to schools. The West Sonoma County Union High School District has been operating with a structural deficit for a decade. She said as a board member, she would want to go through the budget line by line to unearth the details of more vague areas of the budget where a difference could be made to uphold the priorities of teachers, parents and students. UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: Unhappy over plans to consolidate Analy and El Molino high schools, advocates of trying to reverse the decision say they have about half the signatures they need ahead of an Aug. 28 deadline. State executives | District Board President Patrick Nagle confirms Eric Hoppes stepped down Friday, six weeks after . (707) 824-2300 | Fax: (707) 827-7936 This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone. By Camille Escovedo, Staff Writer, Sonoma West Times & News, October 12, 2020. Learning is a transformative experience. California schools, while required to follow many statutory practices, also have a great deal of leeway in the form of "Local Control." He is a Sebastopol resident. I had hopes the board was going to honor its commitment to a new school, a fresh start for a newly consolidated school. I am saddened, however, by the hostile and negative statements that have been directed at board members. Herrington said his office remains at the ready if other district leaders make a similar request. I feel like I need to do everything I can to make sure they dont control our futures any longer, she said. He and his wife, Ame, a 93 El Molino graduate, are two of many west county residents angry at the school boards decision last year to move El Molino students to rival Analy, consolidating the two campus communities into one to address a growing budget deficit. Forestville resident Steve Griffith, 71, has two children who graduated from El Molino and said he agreed that the rebranding process was flawed and rushed and mishandled.. 7050 Covey Road, Sebastopol, Sonoma 95436 Student Achievement Is Our Top Priority . Lasek, Analys vice principal since 2021, will begin as vice principal and curriculum director at both Park Side School and Brook Haven Middle School in Sebastopol on July 1, said Sebastopol Union School District Superintendent Linda Irving. Many of them are over issues related to the pandemic, such as school closures and reopenings. Ive worked really hard for the last 15 years of my life in a position that is, for all intents and purposes, volunteer and have always dedicated my time to whats best for kids, and its just kind of heartbreaking to think that people really feel like I have bad intentions because thats not true at all, Noe said. 25, Idaho, Idaho Falls School District 91, Idaho (Elizabeth Cogliati), & Nampa School District, Idaho (Mike Kipp) A group of vocal El Molino parents responded in April by filing a lawsuit in Sonoma County Superior Court challenging the validity of the consolidation process under the states bedrock environmental law; the court date for that case is set for Sept. 22. A study asking the same question in 2006 found that combining the 11 districts would save at least $200,000 a year, but those findings are moot now in part because the structure of school funding was radically shifted in 2013, calling into question the financial benefit for some to merge. Search . Some residents are skeptical, though. Or will it help the district? Menu . And they also have concerns about their education, the value of it, she added. Board members Kellie Noe, Jeanne Fernandes, and Laurie Fadave were named in the notices of intent to recall. [3] The effort against Noe and Fernandes did not collect enough signatures. School District County Category Phase Application No./Site Name; . You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. The members of the board will interview the three candidates and then they will make their decision. Both of the tax measures failed when they did not reach the required two-thirds majority approval from voters. Another caller, who identified herself as a current sophomore, said reverting back to Analy would take away one last piece of identity among the former El Molino students. But representation for the more remote regions of the district, by a current resident, continues to be a sticking point. The pandemic has really underscored the extent to which public schools are more than just education institutions, Flint said. But that has now been lost.. Will it save us money? Two tax measures that would have provided bridge funding to help push off consolidation for at least a year both failed to garner a two-thirds majority in March. Board member Angie Lewis dissented following a discussion that lasted nearly two hours and reflected the tumultuous year of protests, lawsuits and recall efforts in response to the consolidation. On Twitter @alana_minkler. For many districts, salary and benefits packages can account for between 80% and 85% of a districts budget. If all 11 districts were combined, enrollment would swell to about 6,000 students, tying it with Cotati-Rohnert Park as the third-largest in Sonoma County behind Santa Rosa and Petaluma. The families of west county have had to endure more than their share of trauma over the last few years, Fadave said. Local Control requires a commitment to actively seeking and evaluating community stakeholder input. OConnor said he did not want the high schools to consolidate, but the idea of specializing each campus into different programs and moving students around to enroll in those concentrations interested him, according to earlier reporting by Sonoma West Times & News. Aiello said she wants budget cuts to be made as a community decision where those impacted can express what they feel makes a school run effectively, rather than a top-down administrative decision. After that, Protos office has 30 business days to determine how many of them are valid. With your help, I'll be tackling the questions that vex us: (the funny, the mundane,andthe irritating.). The school districts financial woes only grew, though. In Person and Virtual En Persona y Virtual Tuesday April 25th 2023 6:00-8:00 pm We have an incredibly supportive parent association that funds a set of enrichment activities and specialists that add to our school day, he said. No off-topic remarks. I understand the west county, I never left the west county other than when I was in the military, he said. Cities | Joseph Steinberg, 17, a junior at Analy, said the news came as a total shock when his friend Eli McElroy, 17, had told him minutes before a Press Democrat interview. [1] [2] Fadave resigned in July 2021, citing personal reasons. 25, Idaho, Idaho Falls School District 91, Idaho (Elizabeth Cogliati), Idaho Falls School District 91 recall, Idaho (Lara Hill), Mequon-Thiensville School District, Wisconsin, Antioch Unified School District, California, Belchertown Public Schools, Massachusetts, Cave Creek Unified School District, Arizona, Corona-Norco Unified School District, California, Cupertino Union School District, California, Desert Sands Unified School District, California, Litchfield Elementary School District, Arizona (A. Jeremy Hoenack), Mount Pleasant City School District, Michigan, San Francisco Unified School District, California, Tustin Unified School District, California, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia, Benicia Unified School District, California, Central Valley School District, Washington, Chico Unified School District, California, Chualar Union School District, California, Elk Grove Unified School District, California, Fairfax Elementary School District, California, Fallbrook Union High School District, California, Fremont Union High School District, California, Gadsden Elementary School District, Arizona, Kenosha Unified School District, Wisconsin, La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, California, Liberty Elementary School District, Arizona, Litchfield Elementary School District, Arizona (Kimberly Moran and Melissa Zuidema), Los Alamitos Unified School District, California, Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, California, Lucia Mar Unified School District, California, Maine School Administrative District 51, Maine, Mount Diablo Unified School District, California, Pajaro Valley Unified School District, California, Papillion-La Vista Public Schools, Nebraska, Paradise Valley Unified School District, Arizona, Ridgefield Park Public Schools, New Jersey, Rochester Community School District, Michigan, Rosendale-Brandon School District, Wisconsin, San Dieguito Union High School District, California (Michael Allman), San Dieguito Union High School District, California (Kristin Gibson), San Juan Unified School District, California, San Ramon Valley Unified School District, California, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, California, Scottsdale Unified School District, Arizona, Shepherd Public School District, Michigan, Stevens Point Area Public School District, Vista Unified School District, California, Waunakee Community School District, Wisconsin, Weld County School District RE-4, Colorado, Wisconsin Rapids School District, Wisconsin, https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=West_Sonoma_County_Union_High_School_District_recall,_California_(2021)&oldid=8530690, Pages using DynamicPageList3 dplreplace parser function, Conflicts in school board elections, 2021-2022, Special Congressional elections (2023-2024), 2022 Congressional Competitiveness Report, State Executive Competitiveness Report, 2022, State Legislative Competitiveness Report, 2022, Partisanship in 2022 United States local elections. Not only that, I think the study should look at what salary schedule you are putting all these new folks on. Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 14_6 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/14.1.1 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1, At The Table with Clark Wolf Sat. Voiding a board appointment requires far fewer signatures than recalling an elected member: Organizers would need to collect 541 signatures in 30 days to remove Nagle and trigger a special election, according to Deva Proto, county clerk and registrar of voters. Both said they did not plan to run for re-election. I think I have the ability to listen and work with all kinds of different people.. My job is to help you make sense of K-12 education in Sonoma County and beyond. Its not new to Sonoma County and not a surprise, given that in a county of our size we have 40 different school districts, he said. This column is about the story behind the story, a place to shine a light on who we are, what makes us a community and all of the things that make us special. The West Sonoma County Union High School District Board of Trustees has placed on the ballot the question of whether the District should levy an education parcel tax for the specific purposes stated in the full text of Measure A. Talk of consolidation and merging can make people nervous that specialized programs would be lost, he said. EDITORS NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the date Nagles term on the school board expires. She said she wanted to involve staff, teachers, parents and students in decisions and meet with stakeholders informally as well as during formal board meetings to hear their perspectives. See more news athttp://www.sonomawest.com/. Both seats are four-year terms (2021-2024). Its counterproductive.. West Sonoma County Union High School Districts Superintendent Chris Meredith wished them the best, but deflected questions on any issues the administrators might have had prior to their resignations. | Fernandes and Noe called the expense wasteful, in light of their plans to leave the board less than a year after any recall election would be held. We said so many times, If you could just work with your community and find solutions together and create a budget that works for all of us, we would drop everything, she said. year. Miss Ferdinandson is like a cornerpiece to our school and its going to be really strange without her, Steinberg said. Aiello said she understands why teachers advocate for the things they advocate for, alongside her perspective as a parent of an Analy High School graduate. No off-topic remarks. The Sonoma County Registrar of Voters had 30 days to verify the signatures.[1][5][8]. The sunlight was just beginning to recede from the treetops in Forestville on a warm summer evening when Josh Nultemeier headed to quiet Pajaro Lane with a pen and three petition forms. Member of Tax Payer Association Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee . May 18: Idaho Falls School District 91 recall, Idaho (Lara Hill) & Nampa School District, Idaho (Kim Rost) My name is Josh, and Im out here collecting signatures for the recall against the board members who voted to close our high school.. Board Appointment - January 23, 2019 mjwebb240@sbcglobal.net . But I have to stand by the fact that I feel we have to do whats in the best interest of the kids, not alumni., Noe also stands by her votes on consolidation and pursuing a rebranding, though that timeline was delayed. Ballotpedia features 407,502 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. She taught at Sebastopol Elementary School for 31 years and is the parent of an Analy High School graduate. State legislature | West Sonoma County Union High School District recall, California (2021), States that have pre-petition signature requirements for recalls, West Sonoma County Union High School District, West Sonoma County Union High School District, California, Montezuma-Cortez School District, Colorado, Pocatello-Chubbuck School District No. West Sonoma County School Board Meeting 8-25-21 (Screenshot from livestream)The West Sonoma County Union High School District Board of Trustees will appoint a new member tonight. Overall, our goals are to get the board to revote and not close El Molino High School [or] if they are going to choose to consolidate to do it in a thoughtful, longer term process," Hayes said. . Gravenstein Union School District Superintendent Dave Rose said he wasnt surprised by the high school districts move. The West Sonoma County Union High School Board of Trustees appointed Sebastopol resident Patrick Nagle as a new trustee at a special meeting Wednesday night. 6950 Analy Avenue, Sebastopol, CA 95472 Steve Griffith, a Forestville resident and parent to two El Molino alumni, was the only applicant from a river community to apply for the open seat. This is not where we want to be.. West Sonoma County Union High School: 1,782 students; 33% receive free and reduced-price lunch, Source: California Department of Education, 2019-20 data. Over the years we have done a lot to maintain the two-school model, Noe said, including funding a marketing position to try to attract more students first to El Molino, which was experiencing the bigger enrollment decline, and then the district as a whole. I do think its not a bad thing to ask the question: Is there a better way to deliver education? said Sebastopol Union Superintendent Linda Irving. www.wscuhsd.org/o/laguna, Special Education/Behavioral Health Services, COVID-19 Prevention Program (CPP) November 2022, 5340 Skylane Boulevard, Santa Rosa, CA 95403. In accordance with the provisions of Education Code Section 5323 and 5340-42, a consolidated governing board member election, is to be held in our district on Tuesday, November 3, 2020 and will be ordered . For some it may be beneficial, for some it may not.. No off-topic remarks. West Sonoma County High School District 462 Johnson Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472 (707) 824-6403 | Fax: (707) 824-6499 www.wscuhsd.org The West Sonoma County Union High School Board of Trustees appointed Sebastopol resident Patrick Nagle as a new trustee at a special meeting Wednesday night. Nagle, who spent six years growing up in county-provided housing in Gualala while his father worked for the Sonoma Sheriffs Office, said he can relate to the perspectives of residents in far west county, despite living in Sebastopol now. An effort to recall three of the five members of the West Sonoma County Union High School District board of trustees did not go to a vote in 2021. Recall elections against 17 board members were held in 2021. Ill answer the questions. And they absolutely refused to work with us.. Several residents of the far west county, including Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, expressed discomfort and anger about Nagles appointment, citing the fact that all other board members are also from the Sebastopol area and stating Nagle supported the controversial consolidation of Analy and El Molino high schools last year. No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. But to what degree that would happen, and with what districts, are all questions officials throughout the west county area said only the study can answer. West County trustee Angie Lewis on Wednesday acknowledged the tension that accompanies any discussion of consolidation. No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. It is more than simply the right thing to do, schools are obliged by law to create a school climate that is safe for all students. I thought that was probably a good place for me to contribute.. I support the goals of Portrait of a Graduate. [1] The plan to consolidate the two schools was initially given conditional approval on November 30, 2020, pending the results of two tax measures that were on the ballot on March 2, 2021. To the recall organizers, if they managed to replace the board members with like-minded candidates, that time frame could be critical to achieving their goals. The seat was held by Laurie Fadave, who left in July. Citizens of west county have the opportunity this election season to vote for two new members of the West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) Board of Trustees, the board that oversees Analy, El Molino and Laguna high schools. Sign In. West Sonoma County Consortium7050 Covey Rd.Forestville, CA 95436Phone: 707-824-7911Fax: 707-634-7413rvelasquez@wscuhsd.org. But what may not be apparent in the study, those same officials said, are loyalties and connections forged over generations in some of the smaller districts. All the districts would have a perspective, he said. Our board members are very attuned to this discussion. We need to talk about it.. The school board trustees made the move official with a unanimous vote at their regular board meeting Wednesday night. Trustees were on the receiving end of criticism about their approach to rebranding, with several critics arguing it shouldve been pursued after and not before surveys were conducted to gauge the public and students positions. Im confused as to how we went from going from a temporary bridge name to it being permanent, she said. As a classroom nurse, she worked with schools and families on education plans for students. But it is a subject that crops up regularly in a county with 40 districts. I understand their sense of loss and the uncertainty about how this will affect their children. West Sonoma County Union High School District measure to levy $48.00 per parcel annually for three years be adopted, raising $1,150,000 . I think its high time that we take a good, fresh look at this again, West County trustee Ted Walker said Wednesday. Fadave was also a mentor for years training teachers in what was formerly known as the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program, now called Teacher Induction. I want to assure our school community that we will manage these transitions with a commitment to protect the wonderful educational climate that exists, and continues to grow, at our schools.. Gavin Newsom and District Attorney Jill Ravitch. Ferdinandson started at the district in 2000 as an English teacher and in 2021 became principal of the school, which had just been renamed West County High School in an attempt to rebrand it after its merger with El Molino High School. 2020-21 Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan for West Sonoma County Union High School District Page 3 of 24 [A description of the options provided for remote participation in public meetings and public hearings.] Any consolidation, even between just two districts, would call for reorganizing budgets; staff salaries, seniority and benefits; and board representation. Not that anybody couldnt represent all areas.

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