Community Gripes At HUSD Appointment

Community Photo Submissions Now Open!

Every story for the Hayward Herald includes some kind of photograph of Hayward at the top. There’s so much to this city that I think it’s important to show off the sides—good and bad—that not everyone gets to see. We’ve shown off graffiti, trees, cars, buildings, and events but I’m only one person living in one part of Hayward. What do you see every day? What part of Hayward do you want to show off?

With those questions in mind, we’re opening up community submissions for story photographs. They don’t have to be about anything in particular, they just have to be of Hayward. We have a handy form you can fill out and submit photos. We’ll put them on a story with credit to you and even a little description.

We look forward to showing of your slice of Hayward to the rest of the community! If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to us at haywardherald@protonmail.com

Community Defends Campus Safety Officers

During the March 26th HUSD Board of Trustees meeting, the community spoke in defense of several Campus Safety Officers whose jobs are being cut. For those who are unaware, HUSD recently approved $54,000,000 in one-time and ongoing budget cuts in order to fend off fiscal insolvency. A bit part of that plan involved cuts to staff and teachers, including Campus Safety Officers (CSOs).

The Campus Safety Officers are security personnel which work for HUSD. They are not sworn officers or associated with the Hayward Police Department—though they do have police-style insignias on their uniforms. They also are not Community Safety Officers, which are non-sworn members of the Hayward Police Department. According to one teacher at HUSD, CSOs stop fights, bond with students, and provide general security on school sites.

According to the approved Fiscal Solvency Plan, only one FTE Campus Safety Officer was slated to be cut—out of a total of 31.58 FTE—for a savings of around $86,000. However, according to comments from members of the public, multiple Campus Safety Officers—most of whom appeared to be women—were being cut from multiple campuses.

The most vocal support, however, came in the form of CSOs at Hayward High School. Three CSOs, students, and parents showed up to voice their support for the CSOs. “We already know we have a lot of incidents at Hayward High,” one speaker said. Especially concerning to speakers was that many women CSOs were being cut. This may have to do with them being the most recent hires—many contracts stipulate that the most recent hires are laid off first—but no specific explanation was given.

Trustee Sara Prada spoke in support of the CSOs and urged the District Staff to explore ways to maintain CSOs in line with the community priority around Safety that was highlighted during the community engagement process informing the budget cuts.

Superintendent Contract Process Invites Criticism

After former Superintendent Reimann stepped down at the end of February, the HUSD Board of Trustees announced, after a closed session meeting, that they would be appointing Chien Wu-Fernandez. This move was supported by the Hayward Education Association (HEA) and some members of the community, however there have been some who have criticized the Board for not conducting an open search.

The Board announced the details of the new Superintendent contract, which included a salary of $333,000 per year as well as a $5,000 per year longevity enhancement, bringing the total to $338,000. The sudden appointment, lack of public discussion, and salary increase over the former Superintendent brought concerns from the community and labor partners.

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Deisy Bates, President of AEOTE, expressed concern about the salary increase. “For us, it hurts when we see some increases or some raises, per se.” During the budget cuts, AEOTE members at the District Office saw some of the heaviest cuts. This was in line with the Board’s direction to keep cuts as far from the classroom as possible.

Araceli Orozco, a frequent public commenter and district parent, expressed criticism of Wu-Fernandez as a candidate for Superintendent. However, as the item was supposed to be about the contract itself, President Bufete interjected and cut off the comment. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo explained to the public in plain language. “The comments are to be directed to the topic,” he said, “which is the contract, not the person the contract is with.”

Orozco then focused on an alleged $15,000 increase in salary from the former Superintendent. Mercedes Faraj, HEA President, also explained the issue with the optics of any salary increase. “People have lost their jobs,” she said. “People have lost part of their pay. People have lost their stipends… We need to make sure the optics are considered from this side of the podium.”

From there, multiple other members of the community expressed concern about the contract and the choice of Wu-Fernandez. One commenter said that Southgate only has one functioning bathroom and that the District can’t afford to cover the portable toilets and was angry that the new Superintendent was receiving a raise. Some also took issue with appointing someone from within to clean house. “She was part of all that mess,” one commenter said. “The Board constantly say they care about our families, our staff,” another commenter said. “But this decision… this decision says you actually don’t.”

Legal Confusion On Closed Session

Initially, the Board of Trustees was not going to comment publicly on the contract. Trustee Oquenda said that the legal advice was that the Board should not comment on it because it was discussed in Closed Session, but the public should be allowed to comment. “We would not be able to make comments as a Board in public about it,” she said.

However, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo—perhaps reacting to the public hostility—asked if it was possible to explain things a little more. “I think it’s helpful, just for the benefit of the public,” he said, “and we can explain why we’re breaking the tradition of what the public is used to in this process.”

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President Bufete insisted that it was a done deal. “This item was discussed in closed session by the Board,” he said. “And that’s why we’re not having an open discussion here.” However, nobody ever explained why they discussed it in Closed Session in the first place—a practice that the HUSD Board seems to frequently rely on to the frustration of the public.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo asked if the attorney could be consulted on the matter. Trustee Oquenda agreed, saying she was concerned about misinformation being included in the public record unchallenged. President Bufete then adjourned the meeting for a time to consult with the attorney.

Strong Board Support Of Wu-Fernandez

When the meeting reopened, President Bufete said that they would discuss the item in open session after all. Trustee Rawdon opened the discussion with vocal support of Wu-Fernandez as a Superintendent. “I do it, at the core,” he said, “because I believe in this person being our next Superintendent.”

Regarding the salary, Trustee Rawdon insisted it was parity and would actually accrue savings. “Her salary merely supplants what we were already paying the previous Superintendent. She will not be doing her previous job so there’s a cost savings there.” However, that would only be true if they left Wu-Fernandez’s previous position vacant and did not allocate funding to it going forward.

Trustee Rawdon also said that a full search was too much. “I just could not fathom the idea of putting us through that on top of everything else,” he said. “And be another year before we had another Superintendent in house and another year after that… so that the Superintendent can know the lay of the land. This was the most prudent decision this Board could make.”

President Bufete then clarified that the salary difference between former Superintendent Reimann and Superintendent Wu-Fernandez was $12,000.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said he would be supporting the contract because he wasn’t sure that HUSD is marketable to good outside Superintendents. “I look around and I see neighboring districts that do not have a history of chasing out Superintendents, that have better performance numbers, that have better budgets, that have a better relationship with our labor partners. And that falls on the Board. That does not fall on our labor partners or our community.” He continued, “I ask myself, ‘Do I feel that this was the moment to go out and do a search? Are we marketable?’ We can’t even get people to run for the Board.”

Beyond the concern of finding good candidates, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo also said that the Board can hold Wu-Fernandez accountable. “The role of the board is to hold the Superintendent accountable.” He said the Board has plans to create a work plan for the Superintendent. He seemed to feel that Wu-Fernandez would be different from past relationships with the Superintendent and Board. “A district that, time and time again, has seen shortcomings in holding Superintendents accountable,” he said.

The only voice of dissent came from Trustee Sara Prada. “There was not a process followed,” she said. “In fact it was really hard to get the Board to even slow down, to stop, think, and breathe.” She then started discussing issues with how the contract that was discussed in Closed Session was different from the final contract, and alluded to issues around a consultant being treated disrespectfully.

However, at that President Bufete intervened. “That was a closed session matter,” he said, “ and you’re speaking about closed session right now. So I’d be very careful about revealing what happened during closed session.”

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Trustee Prada then returned to the matter at hand and insisted that the process could have been handled better to the benefit of Wu-Fernandez. She said that the opaque process, conducted entirely in closed session, brings backlash directly to Wu-Fernandez when she didn’t have anything to do with it. “It doesn’t give Chien a fair start because there was no process by the Board.” She also understood the community’s reaction to the process. “There shouldn’t be shock that people are questioning that this person came from the Executive Cabinet,” she said, “when not only the SIR report but FCMAT says that the Executive Cabinet is responsible for some of the broken systems that we see.”

Trustee Oquenda refuted the idea that there wasn’t a process. “There was a process,” she said. “Perhaps someone on the Board don’t like it, but there was a process.” The process included three Closed Sessions with extended legal guidance and a consultant. “We didn’t even entertain other candidates,” she said. “Not any other name was considered because we really only had two options as a board.” They could appoint, “Which is our right as a Board to do,” she said, or do a search. “For us it was a no-brainer and that is a process.”

Regarding the pay increase, Trustee Oquenda explained that part of the difference is because of an experience difference. Superintendent Reimann had no prior Superintendent experience—Wu-Fernandez was interim for a year—and also had not worked at the District before—Wu-Fernandez has worked in the District for many years. “We have to give her a little more money,” Trustee Oquenda said. “She’s one of our highest paid employees because she’s been with us for so long and she’s done such excellent work.”

Trustee Oquenda said she understood the optics and that there could be furlough days to more than make up for any pay increase. But at the end, she stressed that it had been a thoughtful process. “I just want to again assure the community that we have done our best to follow a thoughtful conscientious process,” she said.

President Bufete agreed with previous comments from Trustees and added that appointing a Superintendent quickly was actually in line with the FCMT recommendations. “What did the reports tell us we need to do? Install systems. Who installs systems? Our leadership does that.” He continued, “I think it’s really important for us to move in a way where we are addressing these issues right away.”

When President Bufete called the vote, only Trustee Prada voted against the contract.