Petaluma school board draws a crowded race

The Nov. 6 ballot has seven candidates listed for Petaluma's school board race - three incumbents and four challengers, but only six are actively campaigning.

The incumbents are three attorneys running on a slate: Mike Baddeley, Phoebe Ellis and board president Sheri Chlebowski.

“We work really well together,” said Baddeley, 63. “We currently have a high-functioning board.”

The challengers are retired English teacher Mady Cloud, academic counselor Joanna Paun, nonprofit communications director Caitlin Quinn and Kimy Ruiz Seitz. She's the mother of Lulabel Seitz, the Petaluma High School valedictorian whose mic was cut at the June 2 commencement after she deviated from her script to talk about an alleged on-campus sexual assault.

The incumbents boasted about a pair of bonds passed in 2014 that totaled $68 million, facility upgrades, and the rollout of iPads for more than 7,400 students in the district.

Most of the challengers say the district needs to progress in other ways, including increased pay for teachers and better awareness and compliance of Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools.

Title IX became a point of contention for Seitz, who's no longer campaigning for a school board seat, according to her daughter.

Seitz, who did not return messages, initially filed to run as an alternative to the three incumbents, but as soon as she saw three other challengers emerge, she ended her campaign, her daughter said. She still remains on the ballot, though. If she does get elected, she is allowed to resign if she chooses to, according to the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters.

“I just think the three new candidates are the change Petaluma City Schools needs,” said Lulabel Seitz, now a freshman at Stanford University.

Chlebowski said the district complies with Title IX. Attorneys advise the board, and the California School Board Association monitors districts, she said.

“There have been some cases that have drawn public scrutiny but knowing the confidential facts and outcomes I feel that our staff has done a good job,” said Chlebowski, a former policy officer and attorney who has three kids in the district.

Caitlin Quinn, 25, the youngest candidate, works as the communications coordinator at Verity, a rape crisis center. She's running on a progressive platform, including adding ethnic studies as a high school requirement, restorative justice practices and educating students of their legal rights.

If elected, she said would like to implement after-school workshops for students to learn their rights. Through her work on the Youth Commission with the city of Petaluma, Quinn said she learned many students don't know who their Title IX officer is to report incidents.

“I think we're probably a hostile front on all of those things right now,” she said.

Joanna Paun, 40, is a former Title IX officer and counselor at Kenilworth Junior High. She shares similar views as Quinn on expanding education for students' rights.

Paun said she was fired by Kenilworth principal Bennett Holley in March, and she was only told she was not “a good fit.” A popular counselor at the school, many families vocalized their support for Paun when she went to the school board to try and retain her job.

“Still to this day I do not know why I was not invited back,” said Paun, who's now a counselor at St. Vincent de Paul High School.

She's running because she believes the district needs change, including more diversity on the staff and the board - Paun is black and the five-member board is all white. She also supports increased teacher pay.

“I just feel like our teachers, we need to take care of them,” Paun said.

Mady Cloud, 69, retired three years ago as a Casa Grande High School English teacher. She has two grown children who went to Petaluma schools.

Cloud said there's a rift between teachers and the administration that began with the 2008 recession. Salaries haven't increased enough, while the cost of living has grown exponentially, Cloud said.

“I don't think that teachers feel they have a voice,” she said.

Phoebe Ellis, 49, has three kids, and two are still in the district. She agreed relations have gotten contentious between the teachers' union and the district, and if re-elected, she hopes to continue working on that relationship. She supports teacher professional development opportunities, facilities maintenance and more classroom support.

“We really do value all of our staff here at Petaluma schools,” she said.

Baddeley, an attorney who has served on the board since 2010 and had four kids graduate from the district, said teacher contract negotiations are an ongoing process, and the board mainly serves as a middleman allocating state funding.

“Sometimes there's frustrations,” he said. “Some of it's misplaced, to be honest.”

The board oversees a $74 million budget, and the incumbents say, like other area districts, the Petaluma school district doesn't receive adequate state funding.

“I will continue to work on pressing our next governor, via our representatives, to take a fresh look at the (Local Control Funding Formula) and the way our district receives funding,” Chlebowski said.

Another key issue in the district is technology.

Cloud said as a former English teacher, it's difficult for students to write a paper on an iPad, which has no keyboard. Paun noted her daughter couldn't research Malcolm X on her iPad because it was blocked, and she felt it wasn't equitable for students who don't have internet access at home.

Baddeley admitted the iPad rollout had “some wrinkles” that still need to be ironed out, including different tiers of internet filters.

You can reach Staff Writer Susan Minichiello at 707-521-5216.