WATSONVILLE – The Pajaro Valley Unified Board of Trustees is set to meet at 3 p.m. today discuss rescinding the termination of former Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez.
“I won’t be invited to the meeting. At this point I will be watching streaming with everybody else,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll be available if they ask me to join.”
The board fired her Wednesday during the closed session of a regular meeting in a 4-3 vote. The action, which was effective immediately, was announced briefly at the end of the meeting, shortly before adjournment.
The termination caught Rodriguez off guard. To this day, she still has not been offered an explanation behind the decision.
“I had no idea that conversation was going to occur. I received no forewarning,” she said. “In fact, to date I have not received any information or reasoning from any of the four board members who voted such.”
The action itself, as well as the lack of transparency surrounding the move, sparked outrage among the community. The board met again on Friday in a special meeting to appoint an interim superintendent but did not achieve that action.
More than 200 public comments were submitted, a majority of which were in support for the former superintendent. They also demanded the reason behind the termination be made public and that the former superintendent be reinstated immediately. One such comment included a petition which advocated for both of those demands and threatened the recall of the four trustees that voted her out if the demands were not met.
However, there is a chance that the superintendent could be reinstated, depending on how Sunday evening’s vote goes. After nearly four-and-a-half hours of public comment on Friday, Trustee Jennifer Schacher offered a public apology over the action and motioned to have it rescinded.
“I’ve always found Trustee Schacher to be a kind and caring person,” Rodriguez said. “I was appreciative and glad that she did so.”
While the board was unable to vote on the motion, as it was not on the agenda for the night, which would be a violation of the Brown Act, they did manage to make it a possibility. The vote to appoint an interim superintendent was tabled and the board elected to reconvene Sunday to vote on rescinding Rodriguez’s termination.
In the event the board votes to rescind the termination, Rodriguez fully intends on returning to her former position. For her it’s not about holding grudges but keeping the interest of the nearly 20,000 students she serves at the forefront.
“I’ve told people as long as I can continue to do the good work, we have started the last four-and-a-half years, I am equally committed to the students. And community,” she said. “I want to see that work through.”
The board also has two other items on the agenda which may pique the interest of viewers. The first is a discussion over who will be the legal counsel for the PVUSD Board of Trustees. That was another issue that sparked heated discourse between board members Friday night.
Board President Georgia Acosta brought unfamiliar legal representation to Friday’s meeting, which didn’t sit well with other trustees.
Matt Juhl-Darlington, the lawyer present for Friday’s meeting, is not the official legal counsel for the board, according to Trustee Kim DeSerpa. However, Acosta said she had the right under the bylaws to bring representation for the board president.
The agenda item for Sunday appears to be in place to clarify that discrepancy and set a specific lawyer as the board’s legal counsel for all matters.
The other agenda item is the determination of board officers. There is no detailed description of the agenda item other than, “The Board of Trustees will consider Board Officers.”
The description is open ended and leaves many questions. One such question is whether or not the board could see a reconstruction of its hierarchy after recent events.
Sunday’s meeting will occur at 3 p.m. virtually. It can be viewed on the PVUSD Streaming YouTube Channel. Sentinel reporter Ryan Stuart will also be covering the event live on Twitter. He can be followed at @reportedbyryan.
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