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CORRECTION added July 8, 2011: Members of the Rohnert Park Cotati Educators Association who participate in the Kaiser Permanente health plan will begin paying a minimum of 15 percent of their premiums under a new contract with the Cotati-Rohnert Park School District, up from no contribution currently. An incorrect minimum contribution appeared in this story. Employees not in Kaiser already have been paying part of their health care costs.
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Cotati-Rohnert Park School District is taking "fresh start" to a new level in the 2011-12 school year as at least seven new hires have been made to fill key leadership positions in Sonoma County's third-largest school district.
Superintendent Barbara Vrankovich, assistant superintendent Gail Eagan and chief financial officer Wade Roach all served their last day Thursday, and four principals and assistant principals are also moving on.
"These were natural retirements and transitions they were going through," said Steve Herrington, Sonoma County Schools superintendent, who has been helping the district navigate deep budgetary problems.
"They will have a steep learning curve," he said. "I'm not concerned."
Incoming Superintendent Robert Haley takes over a district that in recent years has been hobbled by campus closures, declining enrollment and a bleak financial ledger that earned the district a spot on the state and county financial watch list.
Still, Haley is optimistic about his new gig and the team that earned school board approval this week.
"Our finances are starting to come in line. I think we are starting to get a handle on it," he said.
The school board on Tuesday approved a budget of about $44million, a deal that included significant concessions from employee unions. The package marks the first time in three years the district has OK'd a spending plan that does not include a structural deficit, according to Roach.
The deal was negotiated with the assistance of the California Public Employment Relations Board when the two sides hit an impasse in March. It cuts pay for teachers 4.5 percent to 5 percent through a combination of salary reductions and lost pay from six furlough days, said teachers union president Stacie McGwier. The deal also requires teachers pay 10 percent of health care premiums - up from no contribution currently.
"We don't love it, but we were both able to agree on it. We had enough time to talk with our members and share things that were out there for us," McGwier said.
About 90 percent of 240 to 260 members voted in favor of the deal, McGwier said.
McGwier also said teachers are looking at the new administrative lineup as a fresh start.
"People are looking at it as an opportunity to create new relationships or maybe bring back some ideas or energy to our district that has been hurting under this economy and declining enrollment," she said.
Down from its peak of about 8,300 students in 1999, the district has 5,900 students and expects to enroll 5,450 in the 2013-14 school year.
Haley, who resigned from the St. Helena Unified School District this year after five years as assistant superintendent and two years at the helm, said communication with staff and the community is a priority. His annual salary is $140,000.
Communication about the district and its programs will be a key in stemming the net loss of about 400 students a year who choose not to attend their local school, taking about $2 million in annual funding from the state with them, he said.
"We are definitely sending the message that we are not closing schools," he said.
"Our finances are starting to come in line," he said. "I think we are getting a handle on it."
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