Investigation clears Santa Rosa schools chief

Strained relations between Santa Rosa City Schools teachers and district officials were exacerbated Wednesday by investigation findings exonerating Superintendent Socorro Shiels from public charges of “malfeasance” and “blatant violations of trust” leveled by the teachers’ union president last month.

In a report that also raised questions about the role of school Trustee Ron Kristof in provoking distrust of district administrators, a Sacramento-area attorney hired to investigate the matter concluded that Santa Rosa Teachers Association President Amy Stern accused Shiels without a proper assessment of the facts or “relied on incomplete information from unknown sources.”

The findings were disclosed during a jammed board meeting attended by more than 150 people, most of them teachers and many holding signs related to bitter, ongoing contract negotiations with district officials.

At issue is a Nov. 5, 2014 letter from the West County Transportation Agency, a joint powers authority comprised of 16 local school districts, outlining the Santa Rosa district’s potential savings of more than $2 million a year in student busing costs if they were to join the transportation co-op.

Stern in March accused Shiels of withholding the letter from the board of trustees and trying to hide the prospect of saving on transportation when it could have aided teachers’ contract bid for salary hikes and improved benefits.

Stern also issued a news release to that effect on behalf of the 800-member union, saying Shiels’ failure to deliver the letter was part of a pattern of withholding information from the union that was relevant to negotiations.

She called Shiels’ alleged misconduct “a breach of the superintendent’s duty as an agent of the board” and requested a formal investigation.

But the inquiry conducted by Sacramento-area attorney Jay A. Resendez and made public at Wednesday’s board members found that the Nov. 5 letter from the transportation agency arrived at the district office Nov. 13 and was emailed the next day to all school trustees, though many overlooked it among a large volume of reports included in what they said was a regular Friday board update.

It appeared from Resendez’s findings that the letter re-emerged as an issue in March because of an email inquiry from the West County Transportation Agency President Ron Calloway to Kristof about the potential cost-savings and the degree to which the Santa Rosa board was considering joining the group.

Kristof, not remembering the letter, responded that the board had not been informed and that he would share the news with the teachers’ union - a move board Presdent Donna Jeye on Wednesday called a sign of the district’s and the board’s profound “dysfunction.”?“What happened here was about accusation and damaging peoples’ reputations,” Jeye said. “It could have been solved with a simple question. Ron, I take exception… You said you don’t blame Amy for bringing it forward. I don‘t either. But I do blame you for not bringing it forward.”

Jeye also asked what Shiels could possibly gain by overlooking the possibility of saving so much money, and demanded an apology she said was owed to the superintendent, Assistant Superintendent for Business Steve Eichman and board Clerk Lori Kolacek, all of whom would have handled one of two original letters conveyed to the district.

The matter erupted amid rising tensions over contract negotiations that have come to a standstill. Teachers are demanding a 5 percent raise in compensation, which would include $3,500 a year toward individual employee health benefits.

The district has offered a 2 percent pay hike and $1,500 more toward medical benefits, leaving negotiations to drag out over many months.

Union representatives argue that the district has caused unnecessary delays in part by withholding documents and relevant fiscal information that would help them properly evaluate the district position.

It was in that context that Stern announced at the March 11 board meeting that she had learned about the transportation agency letter, which its author said was an effort to respond to questions raised two weeks before it was sent by Santa Rosa board members during a discussion on alternatives for reducing busing costs.

But the Oct. 22 meeting also included discussion of a looming mid-November deadline to join the JPA that Trustee Bill Carle acknowledged at the time could not possibly be met given the due diliegence required to join the transportation co-op.

In addition, the district remains in the midst of a contract with another bus company that does not expire until June 30, 2018.

Shiels called the entire episode “unfortunate,” saying, “As adults, we have to model for students integrity, compassion, honesty. I hope we can all do that together.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. Lori Carter contributed to this report.