The year in education in Morgan Hill provided its own narrative that kept taxpayers, parents and even students scratching their heads, wondering if local elected trustees would ever be able to agree on what’s best for about 8,600 children who attend district schools.
Overshadowed at times were the announcements that four MHUSD schools received California Gold Ribbon Awards and one—Britton Middle School—earned the California School Boards Association’s Golden Bell Award.
Grade level reconfiguration
March 10 is when the battle lines began to form with Trustees Gino Borgioli (who earlier had called the superintendent a bully), Rick Badillo and David Gerard on one side—often challenging district norms and the status quo. Board President Benevento, retired teachers turned trustees Ron Woolf and Donna Ruebusch and Morgan Hill native Amy Porter-Jensen made up the other faction—routinely siding with district leadership initiatives.
Heated talk on the topic of Grade Level Configuration (GLR)—most notably moving sixth grade from elementary school into middle school—boiled up at a board meeting in March.
Three trustees (Borgioli, Badillo and Gerard) were befuddled that district staff didn’t tell them about the GLR committee that recommended the change, and members of the Hispanic community felt left out.
In August, despite pleas from parents opposing the move for various reasons, the board voted 4-3 to approve the GLR plan.
Trustee Area Map Elections
Also in early March, a heated debate over changing MHUSD’s board election system from its current at-large to a trustee area map election system ensued as a group of Hispanic residents, calling themselves the Community Action Coalition, threatened to sue the district. Their beef was the underrepresentation of Hispanics on the school board and their legal backing was the California Voters Right Act.
After weeks of discussion, public speaker comments rained down on the MHUSD’s board during its Aug. 4 meeting and fourth public hearing on the subject. After all was said by a vocal group of parents, the board voted unanimously to move forward with the change in format—and voted 5-2 the following month to approve seven distinct geographical areas to be represented by individual trustees.
‘Notegate’
After weeks of accusations of open meetings law violations and theories as to what was secretly shared between the superintendent and at least three board members at an Aug. 4 meeting, Betando publicly addressed the note-passing incident, referred to by some as “Notegate.”
“The note said, ‘Anybody can call for a question at any time,’” Betando revealed two weeks later.
At the earlier meeting, as Benevento walked over to Porter-Jensen and gave her the note, Gerard was enunciating his opposition to the district’s now-approved directive to move sixth grade classes into the middle school sites for the 2016-17 school year.
One member of the audience immediately shouted, “What did Benevento give to Porter-Jensen?” But no one on the dais answered that question. The board instead proceeded with the GLR debate that resulted in a 4-3 vote for approval.
The note remains at district headquarters for anyone to see upon request.
Recall movement
Spurred from the GLR controversy was the formation of a community group, calling themselves Parents For Positive Change, which turned to social media and other outlets to get its message across that something was wrong with MHUSD leadership.
Things got real Sept. 15 when Benevento was served by local resident Rob Guynn with recall paperwork. Guynn claimed in the “targeted recall” notice, “Benevento has given voters countless reasons to end his tenure as MHUSD Trustee.”
Benevento said overcrowding at the elementary schools, academic content changes, labs and better facilities at the middle schools, financial implications and staffing issues as well as the district staff recommendation factored into him voting in favor of the GLR move.
If successful, the cost of a special election, which would be paid for out of MHUSD’s general fund, was estimated at $500,000, according to staff at the county Registrar of Voters Office.
Trustee—not targeted by recall—resigns
In October, Porter-Jensen suddenly resigned one year before her term is set to expire.
Porter-Jensen, who was elected by voters in 2012, originally cited “personal reasons,” but later revealed that she had been “harassed” by recall movement leader Guynn, mostly through unwanted emails.
The drama was thick as Porter-Jensen resigned Oct. 28 after being granted a temporary restraining order against Guynn, who denied any wrongdoing and was never arrested or charged with a crime in the matter. However, Porter-Jensen failed to appear at a Nov. 17 court hearing to make the order permanent and it was thrown out by the judge.
About two weeks earlier, the school board denied the district’s request to take part in harassment litigation against the community activist.
In the board’s failed effort to appoint her replacement, the governing body could not come to a consensus on one of seven candidates who applied for the appointment, and refused to use a coin flip to break the 3-3 tie among its current six members. Additionally, the 3-3 split has left the governing body without a new board president and vice president for 2016.
A special election will likely take place in June.
Emails expose another trustee
In trying to figure out what exactly transpired between Guynn and Porter-Jensen, the Times, using a California Public Records request, uncovered something even more alarming in emails sent out by Gerard to select members of the public .
Gerard sent numerous emails to Guynn, as well as Borgioli and Badillo at times, with insulting remarks and satirical innuendoes about fellow board members and the superintendent.
In those emails, he referred to Benevento as “Bozo,” Betando as “Slimy Stevie,” and Porter-Jensen as “Bully PJ.” He describes some of his colleagues’ actions and physical appearance in offensive terms laced with derogatory innuendos. The emails describe one trustee’s movements as “elephantine lumbering” and another as wearing “slut shoes.”
In an Oct. 9 email titled “Do not forward,” Gerard concocts a phony “YAHOO NEWS” report centered around Betando and Benevento resigning and fleeing the country “in wake of an undercover investigation that has uncovered massive system-wide corruption.”
In December, Gerard was on the receiving end of calls for his resignation by members of the community and school faculty. Gerard has given no indication that he plans to resign.
“Please bring the school board back to focusing on the students and what is best for them because it is obvious to all the students that the main focus of the school board has not been on us.”
—Allison Ansbro, Sobrato High School senior
