Scotts Valley Times asked Scotts Valley Unified School District candidates Pat Adams, Lucía Rocha Nestler, Roger Snyder and Corey Warner to answer three questions. Two seats are open in the election on Nov. 8.
Are you satisfied with board policies of the last four years reflecting the wishes of the Scotts Valley community? Give examples.
Local school boards should make pertinent decisions for the students that live in their district, without wasting vital finances on what may not apply locally.
Distant government making rules for locals don’t even know who we serve.
Politics should not rule education, and children should never be pawns in the political machine.
For example, locally our only in-person school for months and months was Baymonte. Many parents un-enrolled their kids from public school and transferred because our local kids were not getting the quality education they deserve, and that our tax dollars were paying for.
As other districts began to reopen, our school board kept students at a distance, creating drastic learning loss, and mental/ emotional hardships for our kids.
The increase of counselors, and the increased attention to kids’ social emotional well being, in addition to suicide prevention has been received well and created a positive reaction by students and families.
However, I also think that for some time now, the community, parents in particular, have been trying to get a better response to bullying at school, and also actions in regards to diversity, equity and inclusivity in our schools, and that has appeared to be slower moving.
The Inclusion Counts Report that was conducted in the spring and shared in the summer, shows some incredible areas of growth and attention by the district which to many, has been slow going. I personally would have welcomed a school board policy in regards to DEI work and a grounding statement that could have supported a lot of the work to move forward. It still sometimes feels like DEI work is secondary to the goals of the district, and I think that really needs to change.
Since 2020, from our marginalized students to our mayor, we’ve heard the need to address racism and bullying issues in our schools. In response I helped the District address these concerns through unconscious bias training, a task force to update our curriculum to be more inclusive, and updated discipline policies to better protect victims while educating perpetrators with restorative justice practices leading to more severe consequences when necessary.
During the pandemic, as board president, I ensured that we followed ever-changing state requirements, but stayed true to our mission to keep our children safe and did our best to enable their academic success under the most trying circumstances.
During my six-year tenure on the board, we have updated numerous policies including: Bullying / Suicide Prevention and general school safety, as well as added new policies: for charter school / Covid mitigation plan and a comprehensive school improvement plan.
There is more work to be done but none of these changes were taken lightly. There is a lot of thought, input, discussion, and effort put into creating a new board policy and updating a current one. We look forward to finalizing our updated inclusion policy very soon!
How does teacher pay compare to other districts? What incentives can be offered to teachers to stay?
Pat Adams: Our teachers do not get paid as much as teachers who drive over the hill to work. We lose many good teachers every year because it makes more financial sense for their families than staying local.
Continuing education is a nice incentive for teachers, but even that incentive seems to wane over time. To really engage teachers in our community, we must make sure they can afford local housing. Affordable housing for teachers, police, firefighters, and other public servants makes the most sense, because we want good people to stay, not just train and move on because the paycheck is bigger.
Lucía Rocha Nestler: It is no secret that Scotts Valley teachers make considerably less income than teachers in the surrounding districts. For comparison, a new teacher to SVUSD with a credential, makes $46,910, versus a new teacher in San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District $54,750 or in Santa Cruz City Schools District $60,460, and the gap only increases with seniority (SV: $86,570, SLVUSD $105, 904 and SCCSD $113,206) those are drastic differences when you take into consideration that most credentialed teachers have more education beyond their BA/BS because they have had to attend a credentialing program.
In terms of incentives for teacher to stay, we really need to address the low teacher salary first and foremost. In addition to that, I think that supporting teachers with the tools and materials they need (so they do not have to spend additional funds of their own), lower class sizes and less additional, unpaid work hours.
Their working conditions need to be addressed so they are not having to spend any more time to plan and prep that is beyond their contracted time. And they need professional development around areas that can impact their teaching practice.
Roger Snyder: Teacher pay in our district is not competitive. This is because we are the 7th lowest funded unified district in the state, due to inequities in the state’s Local Control Funding Formula.
We offer one of the best benefits packages for our teachers compared to other local districts, but this is still not enough.
We passed a parcel tax in 2018 to increase teacher salaries, and will need to renew it in the next two years. In parallel, I have engaged with state and federal legislators to highlight our funding inequities, and serve in the California School Board Association to lobby Sacramento for full and fair funding.
Corey Warner: I have consistently voted for teacher raises. Unfortunately, our base salaries pale in comparison to other districts in our area because SVUSD is so underfunded, but we do provide an exceptional benefits package and bonuses whenever possible.
Employees are provided information about becoming homebuyers and I’d like to see the city set aside a percentage of low-income housing for qualified teachers.
Some people would prefer fewer teachers in exchange for bigger class sizes and higher salaries, but I don’t agree. I am committed to finding a fiscally responsible balance between class sizes, teacher salaries, and the overall budget.
Experts say the pandemic increased anxiety and depression 25% globally, and a Scotts Valley High School student killed himself this year, prompting calls to address racial bullying. What should the school board do?
Pat Adams: School board should acknowledge that constitutionally all are created equal, then extend that concept to teachers and counselors. Focusing on differences causes divisiveness, and eventual bullying. Teach that are all part of the human race, living in a great city, in a great state, in a great country, with equal opportunities.
We have to stop draconian policies that drive fear and anxiety. One parent shared with me that his son lost five friends in the last 2-3 years. Three took their own life. Three!
We have failed our kids, and it’s time for change. We can and must do better!
Lucía Rocha Nestler: I agree completely that the district needs to address racial and all types of bullying– especially in regards to diversity and inclusivity with race, learning differences and LGBQT+ issues.
The first thing that the district should have already done, is created a School Board policy denouncing any type of bullying, especially naming race, and LGBQT+. Similarly, the language of DEI should be included in the district core values for all kids in the district so that the grounding work will always be lead by that work.
In addition, the district’s guiding principles should be explicit in order to achieve the district mission and vision grounded in the Core Values to further articulate why we do what we do.
Roger Snyder: We’ve started the work to improve our District culture to be more inclusive and equitable for all students.
This work continues as the District has launched a new DEIB steering committee that includes district staff, teachers, parents, and board trustees.
This committee is implementing the recommendations of the Inclusion Counts Equity Report that was published this summer to improve every facet of our District, including hiring policies, curriculum, cultural awareness, professional development, student services and resources, and discipline policies.
I serve as one of the two trustees on this committee to help advance these efforts.
Corey Warner: Addressing bullying begins in the home. All families and our community at large have a responsibility to teach children how to be inclusive, kind, respectful, and compassionate.
Our district has implemented inclusion training for administration and staff, which I myself have participated in, while simultaneously updating our social studies curriculum. Our district’s progressive discipline approach was revamped and the school board is currently updating inclusion policies.
Change is hard and doesn’t happen overnight, but I am confident that we can work together to continue making our schools a safer and more inclusive space for all of our students and staff.
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- Pat Adams: www.PatriciaAdams.net and PatAdams@PatriciaAdams.net
- Lucía Rocha Nestler: https://lrn2111.wixsite.com/lucia and lucianestler@mac.com
- Roger Snyder: https://Snyder4schools.org
- Corey Warner: cwarner@scottsvalleyusd.org