New Interim Superintendent, Responsible Governance

New Interim Superintendent Appointed

Last night, we appointed Dr. Doug Kimberly as our interim superintendent. He is a seasoned professional with decades of experience. His calm and steady hand is exactly what this district needs to get us through the transition to appointing a new long-term superintendent.

Responsible and Transparent Government

Imagine you run a business. Your top executive announces his intent to resign the morning after you give him a retroactive pay increase.

You would evaluate what went wrong and how this could be avoided in the future. You would tap the brakes, slow down, and ensure that future actions would be more carefully considered.

You would reflect on the root causes and implement guardrails to avoid similar outcomes and future losses.

This is why I voted no on the executive-level pay raises approved by the board last night. My vote had nothing to do with performance, but with process, responsible financial management, and my fiduciary obligation to the District.

While the retroactive increase to our outgoing superintendent was rescinded, there are currently no guardrails in place to avoid a similar situation in the future.

Negotiations

The District’s last best and final offer was made on January 24, 2023. The offer is a 10% salary increase over 2 years (6% raise effective July 1, 2022 and 4% raise effective July 1, 2023). Included in this offer is also the largest benefits increase in the history of the District, which entails over a 50% increase to the district’s family benefits contributions totaling an additional $2,000 (single)/$3,000 (single + 1), and $4,000 (family). All told, the district’s offer comprises an annual ongoing increase in total compensation of approximately $12,500,000. Due to bargaining rules, I will not say more, but I will provide you with the budget analysis showing what is projected to happen to our district’s finances if the district’s offer is accepted (first image), versus the PVFA proposal (second image). You can review the full documents here.

PVPUSD offer budget impact

PVFA proposal budget impact

Curriculum

I voted no on the curriculum adoptions last night for reasons similar to my vote on pay increases. In March, we agreed as a Board to implement new policy and process to meaningfully engage parents in the curriculum adoption process. We have not yet done that.

As always, this is just one lady’s opinion. I don’t speak for the Board and no one speaks for me.