MHUSD Board split on new trustee appointment

Instead of welcoming a new trustee to the dais Dec. 8, Morgan Hill Unified School District’s governing body could not come to a consensus on any one candidate to replace former Trustee Amy Porter-Jensen and refused to use a coin flip to break the 3-all tie among its current six members.
Since the board was unable to break the deadlock and has no plans to reconvene prior to the Dec. 29 deadline to make an appointment, a special election will be ordered and local voters will decide who their next trustee is, albeit at a considerable cost to the school district. The election is estimated to cost $58,500 to take place at the next established county election June 7, 2016 or a much costlier $413,811 standalone special election before then, according Anita Torres with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office.
“I’m very disappointed with the school district I grew up in, that they couldn’t find a consensus,” said resident Mary Anne Groen, one of two finalists from a field of seven candidates vying for a seat formerly held by Porter-Jensen, who resigned in late October with one year left on her term.
After eight rounds and nearly four hours of interviews and trustee discussion, the board remained split between Groen, Chief of Staff for the San Jose City Vice Mayor, and former administrator Adam Escoto.
“I wish we would have had resolution tonight,” said Escoto, who was supported by Trustees Rick Badillo, David Gerard and Gino Borgioli for his vast educational background that includes being a former assistant superintendent at a Palo Alto school district and experience in “building bridges” among those he has worked with.
However, Board President Bob Benevento repeatedly knocked Escoto for his educational resume, telling the packed-house audience that the district’s leadership “only needs one captain” and that from past experiences having a former administrator as a trustee was “a disruption” to the board.
On the contrary, Gerard wrote in an Oct. 11 email (one which The Times uncovered during a public records request) to a community activist that if Escoto was to get appointed to the board “I guarantee you we will have an education revolution here!!”
Benevento thought Groen offered “a fresh perspective” since she was not a former school employee nor board member such as other candidates Julie Zintsmaster and Peter Mandel. Also in support of Groen, who is a Live Oak High School alumna, were Vice President Ron Woolf and Trustee Donna Ruebusch.
Groen’s supporters on the board wanted to add a second woman’s voice to the board, considering five of the six remaining trustees are men, while the Escoto supporters wanted another representative from the Hispanic community to match the district’s more than 50 percent Hispanic student demographics.
The candidate pool of seven was reduced to two after the first three rounds with Charter School of Morgan Hill Board President Brian Sullivan receiving no votes and thus eliminated in round one. The other six candidates, which also included residents Tara Bevington and Angelica Diaz, received three apiece in the first round.
Even though Benevento instructed the trustees not to consult with one another on their selections throughout Tuesday night’s proceedings, the two opposing groups on the split board each voted identically to one another in all eight rounds. The trio of Badillo, Borgioli and Gerard chose Escoto, Bevington and Diaz in round one; Escoto and Bevington in round two; and Escoto through the final round and five tiebreaker rounds. Benevento, Woolf and Ruebusch selected Groen, Mandel and Zintsmaster, followed by Groen and Mandel, and finally Groen the rest of the way.
 “I think (the trustees’ votes) were already decided ahead of time,” said Groen after all efforts to avoid a special election were exhausted by the board.
Before the board deliberated in the third tiebreaker round, Assistant Superintendent Fawn Myers, who was in charge of escorting the candidates in and out of the board room, notified the trustees that Groen and Escoto agreed that they would “be willing to live with a coin flip if the board decides” to go that route.
However, the only thing the two opposing sides agreed upon was that a coin flip was not an option for them in deciding the appointment even though that meant the vacant seat would be left open until June and would drain $58,500 out of the district’s general fund.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Betando of how the appointment process ultimately ended. “I believed that we would be having a trustee take the oath of office tonight and be seated on the board.”