Thank You To Concerned Community Member - School Board

Article Source: Judith Puccini

Thank You to Concerned Community Member -

I was pleased to see that the community is watching televised school board meetings. A concerned citizen took the time to post to The Patch her impressions of the recent school board meeting and asked some questions. I was in attendance at that meeting, witnessed first-hand what transpired, and was one of the public speakers. From that perspective, I wish to respond to the writer’s questions. There is a video of the meeting posted on YouTube and perhaps San Bruno Cable will offer a repeat airing of the televised Board meeting under discussion. The video provides documentation for the response I offer.

During the meeting, members of the public addressed the board on the significance of losing two superintendents in less than two years, along with other key staff leaders. Speaker after speaker, applauded the current superintendent for her remarkable leadership that captured not only the imagination of our community, but also that of a premier school district who picked her out of a nationwide search as being the best to fill their district needs.

The theme of the public comments was exposing the reason behind the exodus of such valuable leaders: lack of support; lack of Board consensus; lack of respect; and bad behavior that these dedicated leaders have been subjected to from certain members of the Board. Comments referenced the opinion that these members of the Board are impeding leaders’ ability to move the District forward. Several speakers laid the primary blame for the dysfunction at the feet of Trustee Jennifer Blanco and one called for her resignation. A letter from a concerned parent was sent to the entire Board and read into the record naming Trustee Blanco as the underlying cause for the Board’s dysfunction; this theme was echoed by nearly every speaker. All of this can be seen/heard on the video.

In other words, I want the writer of the post to understand that our Superintendent didn’t just up and quit. She was committed to San Bruno. She was about to become President of Rotary. She was here for the long haul. But, as was pointed out by the public speakers, like her predecessor, this superintendent was up against consistent bad behavior from certain board members. When a nationwide search by another school district told her they valued her, respected her and wanted her expertise to lead them forward – she owed it to herself to say, ‘yes’.

One speaker eloquently reminded the Board of their elected duty to govern and allow the Superintendent to lead, making it clear that we have Board members now who seek to manage the operations of the District – that is not their role. What is obvious in the video and what the writer of the post was asking about is the kind of nit picking issue that Trustee Blanco was using to impede Board business at the meeting the writer watched. This happened at the beginning of the meeting.

The Trustee wanted to discuss credit card statements and move that item to a meeting when she and fellow Board member Mason (who was absent) could be present to discuss it. While Trustees can request items to be placed on agendas, it is the Superintendent and Board President who determine on which agenda items should be placed, sensitive to timelines, etc. They obviously felt that this was not an item that needed to be discussed at a future Board meeting.

Trustee Blanco said she had been waiting for the item to be placed on the agenda for some while and could wait longer. The point President Martinez made was that the item was now on an agenda and four members of the Board able to discuss it. Her motion to move the item to a future agenda failed, which was not the outcome she hoped for.

Trustee Blanco then threatened to walk out of the meeting if that agenda item wasn’t tabled to a later date. She said that she had researched code and three members of the Board needed to be physically present for the Board meeting to continue. Because of Ms. Blanco’s threat and the fact that one Board member was absent and one was teleconferencing, President Martinez called two recesses to confer with the Board’s attorney and the County Superintendent to determine if, legally, Board action items on the agenda could proceed if only two members of the Board were physically present at the meeting; he was advised that they could not. This is the “confusion” the writer is referencing as she watched the televised meeting. It was clear to the audience what was happening, but may not have televised well.

President Martinez had a decision to make: should he give in to bullying, threatening behavior which he characterized as extortion, thereby setting a precedent for the future, or move forward with the agenda; he moved forward with the informational items on the agenda. Trustee Blanco walked out of the meeting; the important action items on the agenda could not proceed. I was not the only one in the room who felt that her actions violated her elected responsibility to San Bruno. Among the critical items on the agenda for action were Public Hearings on LCAP and the Budget so that these two items could be voted on, in compliance with the law, by the end of June.

There were a number of recognitions on the agenda and informational items that President Martinez wanted to recognize; e.g., the District’s Community Difference Maker Awards to Recology San Bruno, San Bruno Lions Club and San Bruno Rotary Club. Members of these clubs were there – these are the forces in our community that help support our children, teachers and our schools, and Trustee Blanco walked out on honoring them.

The author of the post may not have been watching when yet another key District administrator resigned during that meeting. In her emotional remarks, Chief Business Official Wendy Richard told the Board that it was because of how she had been treated by certain Board members, citing abuse and naming Trustee Blanco in particular, as her reason for leaving. This is the individual who the County placed in the District to help turn us around fiscally and to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude. She along with two Superintendents have been driven away because of the Board dysfunction.

I am grateful to know people are watching these meetings and I encourage the author of the post, along with the entire community, to please pay attention to the school board’s behavior. San Bruno cannot keep losing high quality leaders. The interim superintendent will need your support to manage the operations of the District. The Board’s role is governance through consensus building and not personal agendas. I also think this Board needs to take some workshops on Board governance; most certainly, some of them do not understand their roles as Trustees.

Judith Puccini

Resident and community volunteer for 58 years

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Source Credit: Judith Puccini

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