The District Board of Trustees convened for their monthly meeting on Wednesday. The Board heard public comment and updates on teacher wage negotiations, and approved a new assistant superintendent.
Public Comment
Dan Molieri, brother to former M-A basketball coach Mike Molieri, was the first to make a public comment. He requested that teachers receive a 10% raise in lieu of compensating administrators. “If the Board is willing to spend millions upon millions of dollars of their funds to protect administrators who are corrupted and in criminal mental capacity, then they have plenty of money to give it to the teachers that are going out there, trying to help these children,” D. Molieri said.
“You have plenty of room to cut administrators who will soon be fired at one point or another, so give the teachers what they deserve—give these students what they deserve. I ask the Board to give the teachers at least a 10% raise, and they could do it by cost cutting administrators who should be terminated immediately so that no more harm comes to the District,” he said.
D. Molieri also briefly mentioned his brother, M. Molieri. “I am not worried about the litigation,” he said, referring to the lawsuit Molieri filed against the District in May.
Voicing their agreement with D. Molieri, an anonymous community member commented virtually, criticizing the Board’s spending on lawsuits. “I think this District budgets something like two million dollars a year for lawsuits, which is a ridiculous amount of money, and that money would be much better spent on teacher salaries,” they said.
Marilyn Travis, a social studies teacher at East Palo Alto Academy (EPAA), urged the Board to provide more leadership support to its schools and grant educators the 4% raise the Sequoia District Teachers Association (SDTA) is petitioning for. Referencing EPAA’s struggle to find an education specialist, and the fact that currently, when teacher’s days are extended by an hour they are not compensated, Travis claimed that the Board has largely failed to provide its sites with adequate support, both financially and administratively.
Approval of New Assistant Superintendent
The Board unanimously approved hiring Janea Marking as the new assistant superintendent following Christine Gong’s retirement.
Leach described that when seeking a replacement for Gong, the District conducted an extensive search across California, and Marking emerged as the top candidate. According to the Board, she has a “proven record of collaboration, strategic financial stewardship, and commitment to supporting student learning.”
Marking expressed her appreciation to the Board and her excitement to enter such a welcoming community. She hopes to support students, staff, and the community in her new position.
SDTA Update on the State of Teacher Salary Negotiations
Edith Salvatore, president of the Sequoia District Teachers Association, stated that it was the eighth day of bargaining between the District and SDTA, and there was still no settlement to consider. She reported that SDTA members are generally disappointed in the Board—however, they look forward to continuing negotiations at their next bargaining session on Nov. 19.
According to Salvatore, despite some settlement, the SDTA and the Board have failed to make substantial progress in bargaining. “We have exchanged official proposals, and there’s a lot of movement that’s been made,” Salvatore said in an interview with the M-A Chronicle. “We have a bunch of individual tentative agreements, but there’s still some pretty big areas where we in the District haven’t come to an agreement on.”
“This is an incredibly expensive place to live, and there’s no raise that the District is going to be able to give us that can keep up with inflation,” Salvatore said. “It’s about decisions that they are making and where they’re spending their money, and our prerogative is that employee salaries increase. Employees are the ones who are working with students and doing the work of the District. That’s where the money needs to be spent.”
Salvatore is uncertain how the District plans to allocate funds, if not toward teacher salaries. “The property taxes are proposed to be higher next year than they were this year, which means the District will have more money next year than they have this year,” she said. “And they have the money this year to pay the raises, so there should be more money next year to pay them.”
SDTA Comments
During the Trustee’s comments, Cruz thanked Superintendent Leach and the administration for sending out a message regarding ICE and for keeping the community safe. Salvatore also expressed her appreciation for Leach’s messaging in the newsletter, which helps to make students feel safe at school. “This is a particularly difficult period in time, but the more we can work together to protect our students, the more possible it will be a point in our past and not a point in our future,” Salvatore said.
Salvatore also mentioned that she appreciated the District’s messages for families who may lose access to food because of the lapse of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits’ funding. Leach later referenced Salvatore’s comment, highlighting community food banks that can support families impacted by SNAP benefits’ cut.
Salvatore concluded her comment by describing a “member who has been out for five and a half quarters of the school year,” requesting that the Board make progress on their investigation. “The District needs to flex their muscle to bring it to a finish so that they can move on,” she said.
The Board will convene again on Nov. 12.
