MHUSD Board President served with recall paperwork

Whispers around town of a possible recall movement against trustees on Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education got much louder Sept. 15 when President Bob Benevento was served with a document calling for his removal from the governing body.
Benevento was caught off guard minutes before Tuesday’s public session when local resident Rob Guynn handed him “a notice of intention to circulate recall petition.”
Guynn, who said he is just one member of a newly established group calling themselves Parents for Positive Change, claims in the “targeted recall” notice, “Benevento has given voters countless reasons to end his tenure as MHUSD Trustee.”
Benevento was appointed to the MHUSD board in 2011, then elected in 2012. His colleagues voted him president in 2015. Coincidentally, he finished second in a school board race after a previous board member resigned while facing a recall. His MHUSD seat expires in November 2016 when he can opt to seek re-election.
But Guynn wants him of out even sooner, charging that Benevento—as well as trustees Ron Woolf, Donna Ruebusch and Amy Porter-Jensen—do not listen to the public on key issues and instead do whatever is asked by Superintendent Steve Betando.
“Whatever the superintendent and (Benevento) decide, that’s how they make decisions,” said Guynn, noting he worked in education for more than 30 years and is currently on the school site council at El Toro Elementary School. He added his two children graduated from MHUSD schools. “They are not listening to the public. They are not listening to the public at all.”
In the recall notice, Guynn calls the board a “totalitarian vacuum that condescendingly rationalizes that they know best” and “is deaf to their constituents, making unilateral decisions affecting the welfare of our current and all future students.”
Benevento, who currently serves as the President of the Santa Clara County School Boards Association, replied, “That is not true.” His decision-making draws from his more than 40 years of public service in various capacities with public agencies, the chamber of commerce and other community, school and recreation committees, boards and clubs, he added.
“The public is much broader than just the 20 or so people attending the school board meetings with their own agenda,” Benevento added.
While Benevento has seven days to respond to the recall notice, Guynn’s group has a hard road ahead of them. They need 6,500 resident signatures in the next 120 days to initiate a recall election. If accomplished, the cost of the election will be paid for out of the district’s general fund.
“We think we can do it,” said Guynn, who accused Benevento of refusing to listen to and acting rude toward his fellow board members and violating the open meetings law.
“Allegations of Brown Act violations are not accurate or have been corrected,” Benevento responded.
Those alleged violations include:
—Passing of a handwritten note down the dais during an Aug. 4 public session. During the grade level reconfiguration debate with Trustee David Gerard speaking, the superintendent wrote, “Anybody can call for a question at any time,” on a piece of paper and slid it over to Benevento, who then showed the note to Woolf before he showed it to Porter-Jensen. An independent Brown Act expert from California Newspaper Publishers Association said this would not constitute a violation;
—Failing to report action out of closed session. The board corrected themselves by re-filing a lawsuit against the Santa Clara County Office of Education regarding the Voices-Morgan Hill charter school, after initially not announcing their closed-session vote to the public.
Efforts to fast-track the process of acquiring signatures have also begun with a “Bye Bye Bob: Recall Benevento” Facebook page created by parent Karen Fitch, who also was one of 10 signees on the notice of recall. Guynn said the group plans to post “Recall Benevento” signs in yards around town as well.
“If we can get rid of this person…and get one of our guys in there, the superintendent is going to pack his bags. He’s done,” Guynn said. “That’s who we really want to get, the superintendent.”
At the heart of the recall—and noted in the official document—is the board’s recent 4-3 vote to move sixth grade classes out of elementary school sites and into the middle schools. A dozen parents spoke in opposition at a school board meeting, but the board sided with district staff and a grade level reconfiguration committee’s recommendation.
“When I weigh decisions for the district, I am thinking about the entire student body (more than 8,400 students), not just a few,” said Benevento, who has been affiliated with Morgan Hill Pony Baseball for 25 years as a board member, executive officer and currently a sponsor.
Benevento detailed that when making a decision he weighs feedback from the community, the financial impact to the district, the impact on students, staff recommendations and his own research. Specifically, factoring into his support of the grade level reconfiguration were overcrowding at the elementary schools, academic content changes, labs and better facilities at the middle schools, financial implications and staff issues.
Conflict amongst certain board members, and at times involving the superintendent, have been made public at recent school board meetings. First-year trustees David Gerard and Gino Borgioli have regularly aligned with Trustee Rick Badillo, challenging district-recommended initiatives supported by Benevento, Ruebusch, Woolf and Porter-Jensen.
Community members have joined the fray as well at meetings, lashing out at the board and district on decisions regarding grade level reconfiguration, trustee area map selection for the new election system and charter schools.
Despite the conflict, Benevento said, “The school board has accomplished a lot over the last five years.”