Activists are now calling for some Stockton Unified School District trustees to resign.
STOCKTON, Calif. — In a
5-2 vote during their special board meeting Tuesday, Stockton Unified School
District trustees moved to suspend any public town hall meetings about this
summer's scathing grand jury report, which found mismanagement and a lack of
transparency at Stockton’s largest school district.
The vote followed nearly
20 minutes of discussion among board members and one person who filed a public
comment card on the item.
In early August, the
school district announced a two-hour long town hall meeting allowing members of
the public to address board members regarding the grand jury report for up to
three minutes.
The move to create the
town hall was an action called upon by community members such as recent
Stockton Early College Academy graduate and critic of the district’s board,
David Sengthay.
“I was disappointed but
not surprised,” Sengthay said following Tuesday's vote. “They were unable to
take the criticism well and I think that their move to cancel any further town
halls was, in fact, a way to prevent more negative press and to prevent that
sort of publicity around the school district.”
The June grand jury report
found poor business practices, an inadequate duty of care, and a lack of
transparency at the district are pushing it towards a $30 million budget
shortfall by the 2024 fiscal year.
The report said the
state's Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team has been brought in to
conduct an audit of the financial issues faced by SUSD to avoid a potential
state-ordered takeover by the San Joaquin County Office of Education.
SUSD has until Sept. 15 to
submit a formal response to the grand jury.
Sengthay says by canceling
any future town hall meetings on the report, the school district, also
California’s 13th largest, is perpetuating issues outlined in the report.
“The decision to vote on
these town halls was done during a special board meeting, which means it wasn't
publicized well, and it was done during work hours -- at 1 p.m.,” Sengthay
said. “The town hall was definitely a way for the public to get involved and
stay engaged and now we're losing that sort of aspect."
Board president Cecilia
Mendez made the motion to cancel any future town hall meetings saying the
district should first formulate a response to the report and then allow the
community to speak on the drafted response during the board’s next regular
meeting, before the board votes to approve or revise the response.
The motion was approved by
trustees Alicia Rico, Ray Zulueta, Scot McBrian and Zachary Avelar.
“No town halls, we’re not
going to have any more town halls right now,” Cecelia Mendez said during
Tuesday’s meeting. “We have to finish to respond to the grand jury, we need to
do this, you know we have to do this."
Trustee Rico said if more
town hall meetings were held, she would decline to participate due to a lack of
respect from community members.
"I hear the video,
the audio from the last town hall you guys had, it was nasty. There is no
respect for people," Rico said. "We're not doing nothing against
them. By the way, they come to the meetings and start saying a lot of things,
this is not a community that we need. We need community to resolve these
issues, not to make those issues worse."
Trustees Maria Mendez and
AngelAnn Flores voted against the motion, citing calls from community members
who requested the town halls and to discuss the report with board members
before a response is drafted.
“This is not very
transparent and not very respectful to the community voice,” Flores said during
Tuesday's meeting. “By taking this vote the way we are in the motion for this
vote, is in clear disrespect to the results of the grand jury report. This is
exactly what they called us out on.”
In a statement to ABC10,
SUSD Interim Superintendent Traci Miller said in light of the board's decision,
she will begin hosting her own public meetings across the district.
“I will be hosting
meetings with the public called Community Conversations. I am anticipating
having fruitful discussions on matters of the school district,” the statement
said. "I plan to host at the school district and in each of the 7 areas of
the district. I am willing to put in the work to make improvements where
needed.”
Following the Tuesday
vote, Sengthay and other activists are calling for the five board members who
voted in favor of canceling the town hall meetings to resign.
"We had some board
trustees ridicule the public for only demanding transparency and respect saying
it was too much," Sengthay said. "It's ridiculous for a board trustee
to go public and say that we don't deserve them as a community when it's in
fact the community that voted them in."
An online petition calling
for the resignation of Trustees Cecilia Mendez, Rico, Zulueta, McBrian and
Avelar has gained over 160 signatures in less than a day.
McBrian, Avelar, Flores
and Maria Mendez's seats on the board are all up for election in November.
The district's legal
consultant Jack Lipton said he believes the district's response to the grand
jury report will be ready for consideration at the board's next meeting on Aug.
23.
ABC10 - KXTV
Gabriel Porras
August 18, 2022
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