06/08/2023
SUSD has a new superintendent, Michelle Rodriguez. We wanted to highlight a few items from a recent article about her.
> "At Pajaro Valley Unified, she helped create the Pajaro Valley Compact, a formal body of nonprofit partners with different strengths."
> “I know that there’s some contention between nonprofits (in Stockton.) One of the things that we’ll have to do is look at how do we actually leverage each other versus fighting against each other?”
> “When I think about nonprofits, something that they want is generally exactly based on what we want, which is what is best for children,” Rodriguez said.
We do not have additional details about her work with non-profits or the Greater Pajaro Valley Talent Compact at this time. However, we are concerned about rhetoric that does not see outside influence in our public education as an issue, but instead sees the infighting between the non-profits as a primary barrier to progress.
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New Stockton Unified superintendent talks budget, safety and priorities
by Ben Irwin
https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/education/2023/06/08/stockton-unified-new-superintendent-michelle-rodriguez-priorities/70299995007/
Stockton's new superintendent is less than a month from taking leadership of the district, which diverse student base, staff and community were key to Michelle Rodriguez accepting the top job.
Rodriguez was named new superintendent after the board hired her June 6 on a 4-2-1 vote. Trustee Alicia Rico abstained from voting, as she has done several times in the past, and trustees Cecilia Mendez and Ray Zulueta voted against hiring Rodriguez.
“Something I’m committed to is elevating the voices of students, making sure that we are collaborating with all parents, students, staff and community members,” said Rodriguez, 51, who addressed the board and community in both English and Spanish. “When it comes down to it, we all want the same thing: we want Stockton (Unified) to be the first choice and the best choice for our students.”
Rodriguez will start in Stockton on July 1. She’s currently wrapping up seven years as superintendent of Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Santa Cruz County.
“I love the (diversity in Stockton,) wouldn’t have been a part of the district without it," Rodriguez said. “When I look at the results of the superintendent search, they all talk about diversity, great staff, and how much people actually care about their community.”
Rodriguez will be paid $295,000 annually plus benefits, according to her first-year employment contract with Stockton Unified. Her performance will be reviewed at least once a year, no later than May 1; the board of trustees and Rodriguez will determine the benchmarks she will be evaluated on.
# # Second choice lands job on a split vote
Rodriguez was not the first superintendent to receive an offer from Stockton Unified during the search. Board President AngelAnn Flores said the first superintendent to receive an offer rejected it and withdrew their name.
The superintendent is the sole employee of the board of trustees — an effective working relationship between the board and superintendent will be paramount to having any kind of longevity in Stockton Unified’s next superintendent.
Mendez and Zulueta didn't publically say why they voted against hiring Rodriguez. The new superintendent though, won't let doubt stand between her and trying to unify the district as a whole.
“I believe that one of the jobs as a superintendent is to bring the board together,” Rodriguez told The Record. “They’re actually more alike than they are different. There needs to be some constant communication, collaboration and also some pivots that need to be made.”
Rodriguez is no stranger to politics on the school board. EdSource reported Rodriguez was fired from her Pajaro Valley post in 2021 on a 4-3 vote. Community backlash was swift, and within days, Rodriguez had her job back. Shortly after, the Pajaro board of trustees voted to replace their president and vice president.
Despite the turbulence, Rodriguez said Pajaro Valley had a “very cohesive board” during her tenure, a quality she hopes to bring to Stockton Unified.
“We (used to) have a pretty close 4-3 (split), and then I was able to really bring them together,” Rodriguez boasted.
# # Budget, staffing priorities are priorities for new superintendent
Rodriguez said the first order of business is to address Stockton Unified’s budget and Local Control Accountability Plan; both will go before the board in June −before her first day. Multiple government watchdogs and the San Joaquin County Office of Education have cited ‘serious’ technical budgeting concerns at Stockton Unified.
An October 2022 letter to SUSD from county Superintendent of Schools Troy Brown states he’d “lost confidence in the accuracy of the actual financial data and projections” of Stockton Unified’s budget because of technical errors. The budget has been ping-ponging by tens of millions in and out of deficit spending in the last year.
“(The budget and LCAP) are going to steer us for the entire year, so I need to get here before those happen so we can actually get ahold of that,” Rodriguez said. “I’m (already scheduled) to meet with the County Office of Education and really just dig into that work. Some of those things need to be expedited.”
Interim Chief Business Official Joann Juarez, the person overseeing the development of next year’s budget, submitted her resignation letter this spring. She’s one of many resignations that have Stockton Unified’s administration chalked full of “interim” titles. Rodriguez wants to fill out the staff while making sure people already in the system “are doing good work."
She plans to start on day one.
“I know there’s a lot of positions that need to be filled,” Rodriguez said. “Working with HR and current leadership, that’s what we’re going to start tackling right away … we need to make sure we have people in place so we can start school next year right for kids.”
# # Campus killing leads to campus security changes
Two Stockton Unified students have been killed on or near school campuses in a year’s time: Stagg freshman Alycia Reynaga in 2022 and Chavez senior Thai Khin in April are still fresh.
A Watsonville and Pajaro Valley local paper, The Pajaronian, reported Pajaro Valley Unified suffered the death of its own under Rodriguez’s leadership in 2021 when a student was stabbed to death on campus at Aptos High School. The district had removed police officers from campuses the year before; Rodriguez has since been named in a wrongful death lawsuit regarding the 2021 student death. Police officers returned to campuses after the student’s death.
Rodriguez said the 2021 killing at Aptos High School was gang-related and resulted in the school district and law enforcement paying more attention to curb gang activity.
“From that death, we actually made some really significant changes,” Rodriguez said. “When you look at student safety, a lot is actually linked to mental health supports and the social-emotional needs of students.”
The Pajaronian credits Rodriguez with the adoption of the Whole Child, Whole Family, Whole Community initiative, “an educational philosophy that combines academic learning with several other aspects such as socio-emotional health and physical well-being.”
# # Stockton schools will seek help from community partners, nonprofits
Rodriguez has a history of bringing in community partners and nonprofits to help meet student and district needs. At Pajaro Valley Unified, she helped create the Pajaro Valley Compact, a formal body of nonprofit partners with different strengths.
“I know that there’s some contention between nonprofits (in Stockton.) One of the things that we’ll have to do is look at how do we actually leverage each other versus fighting against each other?” Rodriguez said. “How do you not always have allocation of resources be the conversation? … There’s other ways to bring people in and have a level playing field without necessarily having to have competition.”
Rodriguez said there’s no infighting in the Pajaro Valley Compact: they all want the same thing.
“When I think about nonprofits, something that they want is generally exactly based on what we want, which is what is best for children,” Rodriguez said. “We want to do what’s best for children, what parents want and what our community wants.”
Michelle Rodriguez is Stockton Unified's next leader. She talked with The Record about her priorities and leading with a split board.
