The Santa Barbara Unified School District board met for about 90 minutes in closed session Tuesday night to discuss “goals” for embattled Superintendent Hilda Maldonado.
The board did not report out of the meeting — but logistically couldn’t have anyway — because there was a separate meeting going in the district boardroom at the same time.
The board took no formal action through a vote, although sources told Noozhawk that the board members talked about crafting a letter of communication to respond to the concerns of teachers.
The state’s open meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, states that elected officials can meet in private to “consider the appointment, employment, evaluation of performance, discipline, or dismissal of a public employee or to hear complaints or charges brought against the employee by another person or employee.”
The Brown Act also states that the public is entitled to copies of contracts, settlement agreements and other documents approved by the public body.
The five-member board of trustees, including board president Rose Munoz and members Laura Capps, Wendy Sims-Moten, Kate Ford and Virginia Alvarez, has stood in support of Maldonado.
While the board members were meeting, Maldonado was in a separate meeting facilitiated by the district about the issue of placing honors and college prep students in the same classroom for English courses. The meeting, titled “Learning More About Leveling Up,” included high school principals, staff, students and others.
The district, for unknown reasons, scheduled both meetings at overlapping times.
Maldonado has been facing a wave of scrutiny from teachers across several campuses.
A week ago, about 50 teachers protested in front of the district headquarters calling attention to more than 15 department heads and administrators who have quit or retired since Maldonado was hired. They also want the board to respond to the Santa Barbara Teachers Association’s perception survey from last November, which showed widespread dissatisfaction with Maldonado’s performance.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
