It was the end of an era last week as three School Board
trustees with a combined 19 years experience between them completed
their terms of service to the Morgan Hill School District.
It was the end of an era last week as three School Board trustees with a combined 19 years experience between them completed their terms of service to the Morgan Hill School District.
The Nov. 15 regular School Board meeting was the last for Board President George Panos and Trustees Jan Masuda and Del Foster. Panos was elected in November 2000; Masuda and Foster were elected in November 1996 and re-elected four years later.
Former Trustee Tom Kinoshita, who served since 1994, resigned in March. The remaining two years of his term will be filled by board appointee Don Moody.
Moody and newly elected Trustees Kathy Sullivan, Peter Mandel and Julia Hover-Smoot will be sworn in Dec. 6. Panos, Masuda and Foster were recognized by the board with resolutions Nov. 15.
Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said the outgoing trustees have much to be proud of.
“These trustees should be very proud of the focus the board has maintained over the years,” she said Wednesday. “They have maintained the focus of the district on continuing improvement in student learning in their years of service.
“And we know that their focus was based on their belief in the importance of student improvement. Because of that focus, we have seen an increase in our student enrollment. Despite all the opportunities to be distracted, these trustees maintained their focus on student achievement.”
Some of the opportunities for distraction McKennan refers to include the myriad of difficulties the board faced in building the new Sobrato High School, which opened in August on Burnett Avenue: a controversial choice of site for the school; a lawsuit filed by the City of San Jose against the district due in part to the fact that the land donated to the district by the Sobrato family was located in San Jose and the greenbelt area; another public controversy over attendance boundaries; and a lawsuit filed against the district by former construction management firm Jacobs Facilities, Inc.
Other notable ‘distractions’ include: a report by Comite citing the district’s non-compliance with requirements for its English language learner students; controversial elementary school boundary changes for the opening of the new Barrett Elementary in 2001 following a year in which students attended a ‘mini-Barrett’ on the campus of Paradise Valley Elementary; an audit report showing inflated costs for Jacobs’ construction of Barrett Elementary; public controversies over the possible elimination of advanced classes and the possible creation of high school ‘clusters’; an audit by a state agency citing ‘ordinary negligence’ in construction practices; and calls for the board to remove McKennan.
A very public distraction the four outgoing trustees faced near the end of their terms was a recall effort by CARE, or Community Association for Responsible Education. CARE sought to recall all four trustees, but the group had difficulties getting the required paperwork together, and ceased its efforts after the resignation of Kinoshita and the announcement by the remaining three that they would not be seeking re-election.
During their time in office, trustees were able to lead the district to growth, both physically and academically. They and fellow board members made it possible to move the ninth graders back into the high schools, after 25 years in the middle schools, and opened a second high school. They oversaw the opening of Barrett Elementary School to relieve overcrowding and handling the increasing population.
While they served, the three outgoing trustees saw Live Oak High go successfully through the accreditation process and increase the number of students it graduates each year.
The trustees were also at the helm as elementary schools in the district increased their Academic Performance Index scores, maintained a successful fourth through sixth grade music program and instituted focused reading and math programs.
During the Nov. 15 meeting, Panos summed up much of the accomplishments of the board and read resolutions passed by the remaining five trustees for Masuda and then for Foster, lauding their service to the district and listing the various committees each had served on while on the board.
The resolution recognizing Panos was read by Trustee Shellé Thomas, who is the board vice president.
Masuda thanked the community for “the opportunity to serve our children for the last eight years.”
“Four years ago, I made a pact with my family that this will be my last term,” she said. “I have learned many lessons … including the importance of holding firm to your values … that it is important to listen to those who have a voice … the importance of kindness and decency.”
Foster said he chose to run initially to try to correct a specific problem.
“When I decided to run, it was because there was something I perceived as a problem with the high school,” he said. “I was a member of the last ninth grade class in 1979. At that time, my oldest daughter was in preschool. I had the idea we would get this done in four years and I would be done … I had not intended upon running for the second four years, but I wanted to make sure the high school was done.”
Ninth grade students in the district were housed at the two middle schools since 1979, until this August, when Sobrato opened with ninth and 10th grade students, and Live Oak High returned to a 9-12 configuration.
Panos told those attending the meeting that, despite the challenges, he still believes in public service. He also said he wanted to set the record straight about the recall effort, saying he never made an agreement not to run for re-election in return for CARE dropping the recall effort, as some have suggested. He said he also made a promise to his family that he would not run again.
There are still some loose ends remaining for the new board, Panos said.
“Some things we did not complete on my watch,” he said. “Sobrato’s completion, the completion of the Live Oak renovations, the elementary boundaries set in a fair manner, the element of full community involvement in the search for a new superintendent, Coyote Valley … the better marketing of our district to those not in our schools; these I leave to others.”
