Dueling visions for the future of west Sonoma County high schools face off

A day after families and teachers from El Molino, Laguna and Analy High School protested at the administrative offices of the West Sonoma County Union High School District, Superintendent Toni Beal went to the Analy campus Friday to interview candidates for principal of the school that those families hope not to see established.

Since the school board approved the consolidation of Analy and El Molino High School in March, Beal and her staff have been preparing for the undertaking. The plan is written into the school district’s budget for next year, and committees of students, parents and teachers are formulating strategies for everything from choosing a new name and mascot to unifying a divided community around the new combined campus.

“We have to move forward,” Beal said. “Because we have students arriving in August and we need to be ready to provide a welcoming campus and instruction.”

The scene in downtown Sebastopol Thursday afternoon, though, belied the notion that the fight over the consolidation process is over for a number of families. As the protesters marched, their signs spelled out their arguments against the plan, which will combine the district’s two main high schools on the Analy campus in Sebastopol.

“Wrong time, wrong plan,” read one paperboard. Two people leading the pack at one point held signs reading, “We are united! Board must revote!"

Even as the next school year inches closer, the diverse communities of west Sonoma County are for now a long way from allied in their visions of what will best serve the district’s 1,800 students in the fall. Some community members’ ongoing opposition to the consolidation, including a potential legal challenge and recall efforts against school board members, are progressing even while district staff and committees work to solidify and optimize consolidation in a short few months.

"We need to figure out, how do we start to work together under this new school model?“ said Kellie Noe, president of the school board, who was one of three trustees to vote for consolidation last month, edging the plan through on a 3-2 vote. Though district officials also presented cutting a period from the school day as a way to partially tackle its looming $1.2 million-per-year structural deficit, Noe saw consolidation as the better option.

“A modified six-period day still didn’t get us the level of $1.2 million in savings to get rid of the structural deficit,” Noe said. “It really came down to, are we going to keep programs and sports for all kids, or are we going to prioritize facilities?”

Her vote, though, sparked the ire of the El Molino community’s staunchest opponents to consolidation, who voice concerns about equity for their students who would have to shift to Sebastopol. In the weeks since, members of the group called Keep Our Lions Roaring have organized a recall effort to remove Noe, board Vice President Jeanne Fernandes and Trustee Laurie Fadave from the school board over their votes to consolidate.

Each trustee was served with information about the recall petitions, which proponents plan to file with the Sonoma County Registrar’s office on Monday, said Gillian Hayes, one of the group leaders and an El Molino mother.

Recall proponents will need to collect about 7,200 signatures, representing 20% of registered voters in the district, to put each recall question on the November ballot.

“We’re not going to stop fighting until we have what these kids deserve,” Hayes said in a March interview. “(The board) didn’t do the right thing.”

Noe, who has served on the school board for 15 years, said the recall effort is “heartbreaking” to her, and pointed out that if the petitions make it to the ballot, at least some or all of the cost to hold the election could be charged to the school district.

“It’s not going to find us $1.2 million,” she said. “It’s going to cost the district more money and lead to more (course) sections being cut.”

The road to the March decision by the school board was at once both long and painfully short. While previous boards mentioned the concept of consolidation in past years of budget discussions as the district watched declining enrollment chip away at incoming revenue, last October was the first time families were confronted with the imminent possibility of combining Analy and El Molino.

Residents attest that even among years of budget cuts and a well-established rivalry between Analy and El Molino, the tension of this phase surpasses any in recent memory.

“Never in my life have I seen a situation tear apart the west county like this,” said Loretta Castleberry, a third-generation west county resident and member of the Analy Alumni Association’s Board of Directors.

Castleberry and some other Analy community members have recently joined the chorus of El Molino families in opposing at least some aspects of the planned consolidation. For some families, like Castleberry’s, connections to both schools run deep. Castleberry’s niece, Gaylynne Sword, is an El Molino mom and heavily involved in the group resisting consolidation.

“We feel as if the board has alienated the entire community,” Castleberry said. “Even though our goals may not be the same goals, (El Molino and Analy) have more in kind than different.”

“We both feel that what’s happening is being rushed for no good reason,” Sword said. “It’s a no-win situation to do this quickly.”

Both women have joined others in asking district officials why incoming funds from the three federal coronavirus relief bills, as well as a state relief bill, wouldn’t be used against the deficit to delay consolidation by a year. Officials, though, argue that the money can’t be used for such purposes, and have not opted to divert them toward keeping the schools separate.

The Analy Alumni Association board has spoken out against the district’s plan to rebrand the campus, rather than consolidation itself. In an April 6 letter to the school board, the alumni association board pressed trustees to abandon rebranding for the coming school year, arguing it should avoid the associated costs for now. The letter also cited potential problems with certifying courses with the University of California, California State University and NCAA under a new school name, concerns also expressed by El Molino families.

“There should be no change of name or ’rebranding’ at either campus until such time as all consolidation-related litigation and recall threats against existing board members are resolved,” the letter read in part.

The district has not yet provided a total estimated cost to rebrand all facilities and materials, including fields, buildings and scoreboards. Officials have suggested using remaining funds from the $90 million bond that voters passed in 2018, a proposal that is also controversial with taxpayers. Not all projects are likely to be complete within the first school year at the campus.

The committee of students and teachers working on the rebranding process plans to present recommendations to the school board on a new name, mascot and colors by the end of May, Beal said. Families have been invited to give feedback and ideas through an online survey.

Another committee is taking stock of the historical artifacts at both El Molino and Analy, with a goal to preserve and incorporate them as both campuses transform in the coming years.

Both Noe and Beal emphasized that the board and district staff are exploring ways to make the two campuses available to students who attend the new consolidated school. Students learning on the Sebastopol campus could still access opportunities on the Forestville campus, which boasts a vineyard and brand-new performing arts center. Both schools’ athletic facilities may also be put to use.

“I get that it’s really hard,” Noe said. “Our goal is still to maintain use of the campus and have all the history and awards that we’ve won remain there.“

The board used a letter sent to its families and staff, and even families in its feeder elementary districts, to try to further explain its consolidation decision and to clarify aspects of the plans, including the continued use of both campuses.

The group from El Molino that plans to mount a legal challenge responded three days later with its own letter, arguing that the school district failed to follow best practices in its decision-making process.

Using a fund set up through El Molino Boosters, the Community Alliance for Responsible Rural Education had raised nearly $62,000 by Friday. The money will fund the legal fees associated with the planned lawsuit, said Jessalee Mills, an El Molino alumna who is helping spearhead the effort.

The group plans to announce the details of its strategy in the coming week, Mills said.

“If our plan works, I think it will probably stall (consolidation),” she said. “We’re definitely pulling out all the stops possible.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kaylee Tornay at 707-521-5250 or kaylee.tornay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ka_tornay.