After a year of contentious talks, Shoreline Unified School District’s board of trustees is on the brink of a decision on whether its members will continue to receive district-funded health benefits, with a vote coming potentially next month.
“It will be a difficult decision,” said longtime trustee Jim Lino. “It will be a decision that affects our fellow board members.”
At the district’s regular board meeting last Thursday, trustees reviewed potential revisions to board policy that would end benefits for newly elected trustees who join the board after Nov. 1. The meeting also covered a number of other district updates, including additional policy revisions and approval of a contract for a consultant who will help the district find a new superintendent.
To date, board policy has entitled trustees to voluntarily take the same individual coverage given to full-time employees, at a cost of more than $8,000 per trustee. The revision proposed last week would remove that option, but some argued that the policy’s language should end benefits for all elected trustees—including re-elected incumbents. The point was articulated most vocally by outgoing trustee Monique Moretti, whose seat remains without a candidate.
“Personally, I think it’s come to the point where we as a board need to take a vote and make a decision,” said Ms. Moretti, who represents Dillon Beach and Bodega Bay.
She directed the district’s business manager, Bruce Abbott, to draft a more stringent version. Yet it is unclear whether the board will approve the revisions next month or hold a third round of talks on the policy.
The prohibition would most immediately affect Clarette McDonald, one of three trustees who still take benefits and who will reclaim her seat in November since she is running unopposed. (Another trustee who collects benefits, Kegan Stedwell, is resigning and Avito Miranda, who will take her seat, opposes the benefits.)
Many in Shoreline’s community have long called for the board to give up its benefits, which this year cost the district around $25,000—roughly the same amount that the district will save by halving the hours of West Marin School’s groundskeeper, Ernesto Orozco. Opponents have criticized trustees for taking the package when the district has had to incentivize retirements to prevent mass layoffs.
But some have argued that cutting benefits would dissuade lower-income residents in the district from running.
“I don’t agree to make the change,” said Ms. Healy, whose term expires in December of 2017. “I think it should be ‘newly’.”
Ms. Healy highlighted the district’s inability to field a candidate to fill Ms. Moretti’s seat as potential proof that benefits should be kept to entice new trustees. She advised Mr. Abbott to bring both versions of the revised policy to next month’s meeting.
Shortly after finishing a lengthy discussion on the benefits policy, the board debated another policy about the procedure for requesting items to be added to agendas for future board meetings. Trustees revised the policy to state that item requests should be made “within a reasonable period of time,” altered from the current language that requires requests to be submitted in writing at least a week prior to the board meeting.
Some in Shoreline have been vexed in their recent attempts to request items, such as discussions on the health benefits and on establishing a single, static meeting location to serve as a hub for the district’s large, two-county area. Requests have, on a few occasions, been denied due to the one-week time restriction and, as a result, have bred distrust in a community already wary of board transparency. Following Thursday’s meeting, some argued that the revised language is too vague.
“I think having language that is open to interpretation leaves the district vulnerable to litigation,” Laurie Monserrat, who parents a nephew at West Marin School, wrote in an email to the Light earlier this week. “I suggest they follow the lead of other school districts and let the public know exactly when we need to request items be placed on the agenda for that to happen.”
Ms. Monserrat noted Sausalito Marin City School District’s board policy, which sets a one-week time limit for requests. But interim Superintendent Nancy Neu, who has worked for several districts in Marin County, stressed that one week would not be a practical time for the district to organize its meeting agenda. She, along with Ms. Manning-Sartori, supported the change to “reasonable.”
“In all my years, that would be crazy,” Ms. Neu said, referring to item requests made a week in advance. “But at the same time, [trustees] are here to serve your constituents.”
On Thursday, the district officially launched its search for a new superintendent by hiring consultant Scott Mahoney for $6,500 plus travel time. Mr. Mahoney contracted with the district last summer to find a replacement for superintendent Tom Stubbs, but his services were ended abruptly when the board extended a one-year contract following community outcry. Mr. Stubbs resigned this past June after the board declined to offer him a two-year extension.