Cotati-Rohnert Park school board election draws six candidates for three seats

With six candidates vying for three open seats, the stakes are high in the Cotati-Rohnert Park school board election.

The five-member board, currently fraught with strife, will choose the new superintendent for the district of 5,800 students after Robert Haley stepped down from the post this month.

The new board also will be in charge of relocating Technology High School students from their digs at Sonoma State University onto the Waldo Rohnert Elementary campus by next August.

“I believe as much as we try to bring everybody together on issues, there is still some division and some of it, I think, might just be personality conflicts that people can’t get past,” said Tracy Farrell, the board president who’s seeking re-election.

The division on the board and between the pool of candidates veers into two camps: Those who liked Haley’s leadership, and those who questioned it. Both sides expressed hope the Nov. 6 election will turn a new leaf for the board to work more harmoniously.

Farrell is campaigning with Marc Orloff, an insurance claims director who’s seeking a third term on the board, and recently retired Thomas Page Academy Principal Teresa Peterson. All three speak highly of Haley, who was superintendent for seven years before resigning midyear to take a new job in San Diego County.

“I’m quite proud of what we’ve accomplished in my eight years,” Orloff said.

The district was at risk of being taken over by the state because of financial woes when Haley began in 2011, and as he leaves this month the budget is in good standing.

Under his tenure, the district also opened three schools and began construction of a multi-million dollar, 75,000-square-foot structure that’ll house a theater, gym and classrooms at Rancho Cotate High School. It’s expected to open in March.

“I’m running because in the last four years we’ve done some phenomenal things in the school district, passing bonds and upgrading our facilities,” Farrell said. “I wanted to continue that path and see it through.”

But Haley also came under intense criticism during his tenure. School board member Tim Nonn, who is blind, sued the district last year. He accused Haley, Orloff, Farrell and board member Jennifer Wiltermood in the suit of violating state and federal disability discrimination laws, barring his aide from assisting him at board meetings. The lawsuit was dropped after the district agreed to hire a special aide of Nonn’s choice and footing his $37,500 legal bill.

Nonn did not name school board member Leffler Brown in the lawsuit. Brown, who has been on the school board for 24 years, said he supported Nonn in his request to have an aide.

“It’s a severely divided board, and that’s got to stop,” Brown said. “The lack of teamwork on their part is unacceptable.”

He said the majority of votes on the current board are 5-0, but on occasion they result in contentious 3-2 splits, as it did Oct. 16 when the board voted to hire Interim Superintendent Tony Roehrick. Nonn and Brown, once again, made up the minority in that vote.

“We’re not always going to agree, and there has been some divisiveness, I would say, and that’s unfortunate,” Orloff said. “Hopefully that can be repaired depending on how the board makeup is in the next term.”

Another point of contention was when a judge last year found the district violated state labor laws after Orloff and Farrell made an unannounced visit to a union leader’s classroom on April 23, 2015.

Technology Middle School teacher Maha Gregoretti, a vocal critic of the district, had a disagreement with Farrell and Orloff the day before over their support of removing a fence. Administrative law judge Donn Ginoza said the surprise visit created “a reasonable basis for fear.”

Reading about the judge’s ruling in Gregoretti’s case was one of the reason Joe Cimino, a 35-year-old electrician and father of ?two young children, decided to run for school board.

“When there’s that sort of tension around kids, they pick up on that,” Cimino said. “Why are board members creating a hostile environment?”

Cimino is campaigning alongside Brown and Chrissa Gillies, a 56-year-old bookkeeper who ran unsuccessfully in 2016. They’re campaigning on a platform of transparency and equity.

“I love when people don’t always agree because that’s how you get different perspectives,” Cimino said. “But I want everyone to have the same mission statement, the same goal.”

Cimino, Brown and Gillies had their ballot statements translated into Spanish, according to the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters. About 42 percent of Cotati-Rohnert Park students are Latino, school officials said.

“You need to look at your demographic to serve your demographic,” said Brown, who broke his left heel while constructing a pool and was unable to canvass.

Peterson, a 63-year-old with ties to the district as a parent, grandparent and retired educator, said she filed to run just half an hour before the candidate’s deadline and didn’t know why she didn’t translate her ballot statement.

Nevertheless, she said her perspective as a longtime community member and an educator for two decades would benefit the board.

“I thought last minute I should throw my hat in the ring,” she said. “Especially with the superintendent leaving, it’s nice to have someone with experience.”

Other key issues for candidates are teacher training, student achievement and parent engagement, which all six said they would work to improve on, if elected.

Gillies said she supports more transparency and opportunities for residents to ask board members questions.

“We want to have town hall meetings where people can speak,” Gillies said.

All six candidates were contacted in September by Rick Luttmann, a member of the League of Women Voters Sonoma County, to coordinate a forum. It fell through amid scheduling and communication disagreements.

Luttmann later endorsed Brown, Gillies and Cimino, who he said were more communicative and flexible about the forum.

He said he never heard from Farrell or Peterson directly, and Orloff spoke on behalf of the two women.

Orloff said he and the other two candidates were cooperative and had agreed to a September date, but the forum was canceled anyway.

You can reach Staff Writer Susan Minichiello at 707-521-5216 or susan.minichiello@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @susanmini.