CAPITOLA >> The Soquel Union Elementary School District committed to improve transparency but denied its board meetings had violated state law in a formal response to a grand jury investigation. Released Thursday, the response is the latest development in a multiyear saga sparked by accusations against the district of illegally cloaking its decision-making from teachers and parents.
The May report from the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury found the district’s board meetings in violation of the Brown Act, state education code and its own bylaws and identified four areas of “ongoing concern”: Closed session conduct, trust issues and community engagement, standards for district superintendent evaluation and unclear information in its meeting agendas.
The district quibbled with a number of the grand jury’s findings in its mandated response but committed to a number of changes to how it informs the public about, and reports on, its meetings.
“While technically there may be some things we either disagreed or partially disagreed on, we really wanted to take this as an opportunity to capture the spirit of that grand jury report which was to strive for a greater sense of transparency and community responsibility, so we really took a conciliatory approach,” said Superintendent Scott Turnbull.
From now on, minutes from the district’s board meetings will include information about the topics discussed in closed session as well as when the public was invited to comment on closed session items, according to the response. And agendas for the meetings will be tweaked to clarify when closed sessions are held and what subjects will be discussed.
But those changes go above and beyond what is mandated by state law, the response claimed.
A prior grand jury investigation in 2016 found the district had created an “atmosphere of distrust,” in addition to violating the Brown Act.
Passed in 1953, the Brown Act guarantees the public’s right to attend and participate in government meetings and specifies how meetings must be conducted and reported on.
This year’s grand jury investigation stemmed from more violations revealed by the district in its mandated response, according to the May report.
The board’s response is the latest development in a years-long back and forth between the district, parents and teachers over transparency and communication that led to the resignation of Superintendent Henry Castaniada in June of 2015.
Months earlier, 96 percent of the district’s teachers had taken a vote of no confidence in Castaniada amid tense salary negotiations, with union leaders accusing the district of fostering a “culture of disrespect” by failing to effectively communicate with teachers or bring them into the district’s decision-making process.
The district hired Superintendent Scott Turnbull to replace Castaniada in July of 2016.
Meant to improve and provide oversight for local government, the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury is a panel of citizens empowered to investigate any aspect of county and city government, including schools and other special districts.
The Soquel Union Elementary School District serves 1,900 students from Capitola, Soquel and Santa Cruz at its five schools.
MULTIYEAR SAGA
March 2015: Teachers vote “no confidence” in Superintendent Castanaida.
June 2015: Castanaida resigns, effective June 2016.
Jan. 2016: Complaint accuses board of violating Brown Act.
April 2016: Grand jury finds law violations, “atmosphere of distrust.”
April 2016: Turnbull hired as superintendent.
July 2016: District responds to report, denying violations.
May 30: Second grand jury report finds continued violations of state law.
Thursday: District’s response denies law violations, commits to transparency.
August 28, 2017
Santa Cruz Sentinel
By Nicholas Ibarra
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