A surprising casualty of the unprecedented Bay Area housing market, Morgan Hill Unified School District Board President Tom Arnett resigned from his post and is moving to Southern California.
Arnett, 33, a 2002 Live Oak High School alumnus, announced his departure plans to fellow board colleagues and school district officials at a May 30 special meeting.
His resignation will be effective at the end of June. Arnett is about half way through his four-year term on the board.
“It’s something I really regret that I’m not able to finish that term and finish my service to the people who elected me to do so,” said Arnett, who first joined the board in a June 2016 at-large special election and then again in a November 2016 trustee area election. “I think I was able to leave a positive impact, but I do feel there’s so much more I’d like to stick around for.”
Arnett, the head of household for his family of five, said the housing market was the major factor in his family’s decision to move out of the same area he grew up in.
“My salary can’t keep up with Google, Facebook and Apple’s hiring,” said Arnett, an educational researcher with a national, nonprofit think tank called the Clayton Christensen Institute. “I really sympathize when teachers come to our district and talk about the challenges of living here on a teacher’s salary.”
Board Vice President Mary Patterson said district officials will seek advice from the Santa Clara County Office of Education as how to proceed in finding Arnett’s replacement. The board can appoint a new trustee or possibly place Arnett’s Trustee Area 5 seat, with two years left, on the upcoming Nov. 6 election ballot, where four other MHUSD board seats will be decided.
“Since the first time I ever met him on the campaign trail, I was thoroughly impressed with his thoughtful nature and willingness to hear all sides. He’s just genuinely kind and that is so lovely to have in a colleague,” Patterson said of Arnett. “The news is fresh and I’m still taken aback by the loss for the board and loss for the community. But hopefully this is an opportunity for other outstanding members of the community, like Tom, to step in.”
Trustee Gino Borgioli, who is recovering from full knee replacement surgery since being hit by a car about a month ago, was similarly impressed with Arnett’s tenure on the school board, especially since taking over as board president.
“He was just settling in to that in a pretty good way and I was pretty happy seeing him settle in so nicely,” said Borgioli of Arnett. “We still have a lot of things on our plate left going forward….I will miss him. I was terribly shocked.”
Arnett moved back to Morgan Hill five years ago in 2013. He has two children, ages 7 and 8, who attend Charter School of Morgan Hill, and the youngest, age 5, who was in the Transitional Kindergarten program at P.A. Walsh Elementary School.
“We’ve been trying to buy a home ever since we moved back. On two different occasions, we were close. Both times there were issues and challenges that came up and we had to back out. And both times were were anxious about the level of debt we were taking on,” Arnett explained.
The Bay Area housing market is among the most competitive in the entire country, with the median home sale price in Santa Clara County eclipsing $1 million.
Arnett, who will be moving closer to his wife Mary’s parents in Southern California, said he was simply priced out of the market. He had been renting a home in his designated trustee area.
“In the midst of that struggle (to find an affordable home), we came up with the opportunity to hopefully find a place in the town in Southern California where my wife grew up,” Arnett said.
The next two scheduled school board meetings, in which Arnett will participate, are June 5 and June 19. At that time, district leadership will review the board’s options for replacing Arnett.
“I didn’t expect how much I’d enjoy working with people in the community…and working together with others to do something that’s bigger than any of us,” said Arnett of his time on the board.
