Quick Take
A former Live Oak School District senior administrator who helped lead the district’s efforts to stabilize its finances urged board members Wednesday to investigate Superintendent Daisy Morales, saying he had been fired without warning amid the district’s deepening budget crisis.
A former Live Oak School District senior administrator who helped lead the district’s efforts to stabilize its finances urged board members Wednesday to investigate superintendent Daisy Morales, saying he had been fired without warning amid the district’s deepening budget crisis.
Hanwool Kim was hired as assistant superintendent of business services in November and was one of several people who helped lead the district’s plan to slash millions from its operating budget, including potentially laying off dozens of teachers and staff, in order to avoid a possible takeover by the state.
On Wednesday, Kim told the board that he had been fired on Tuesday without warning. He said district Superintendent Daisy Morales had fired him because he was “not a good fit.” Kim said he asked her for more clarification but that was all she told him.
He asked board members to formally review Morales for a potential termination.
“I’m personally not OK with that,” he said of his firing.
He told Lookout after the meeting that he was “shocked” when Morales fired him and said he has no idea why she did. Kim said he’s basing his request that the board review Morales for a potential termination solely on how she fired him. He said he thought they worked well together.
Morales declined to comment on Kim’s statements, saying it was a personnel matter.
Kim and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resource Heidi Winner Odom were in charge of drafting Live Oak School District’s budget stabilization process after the Santa Cruz County Office of Education warned in January that the district wouldn’t meet its financial obligations in the 2024-25 fiscal year and subsequent years.
Odom, a 30-year employee of the district, resigned last month, saying that she had planned to quietly retire but “prioritizing my mental and physical well-being as well as the needs of my family must now take precedence.” Her last day is June 30.
The board earlier this month passed its budget stabilization plan, which included a long list of cuts, such as seven elementary school teachers, a school psychologist, several recess coaches and reading/math instructional aides. The plan must still be approved by the County Office of Education.
The board spent almost two hours Wednesday evening in a closed session. When board members emerged, board president Kristin Pfotenhauer announced that they had approved the resignation of an employee. Board member Jeremy Ray later told Lookout that because it was a personnel issue he couldn’t say whose resignation they approved and couldn’t comment. Other board members or Morales couldn’t be reached after the meeting to discuss which employee had resigned.
Board members also approved several items Wednesday related to the district’s stabilization plan and finances. They included a second interim budget, audited financial statements and two more staff reductions the board had added to its stabilization plan last week. The new staff reductions include cutting one full-time director of curriculum and instruction and reducing one financial analyst position to part-time.
Ray warned that the district’s budget crisis could be even more severe than officials had initially expected. The state government, facing its own budget deficit, could end up allocating less money to the district than officials have been projecting since January, possibly requiring even deeper budget cuts, he said.
“We’re going to have some things tonight, like this report that was just given that would indicate that our financials are in a little bit better shape really than we thought they were,” he said. “But there’s a strong possibility that things could get further cut.”
Pfotenhauer introduced consultant Sara Perez — a retired chief business officer the district had hired to temporarily replace Kim — to give a presentation on the district’s budget.
Perez told the meeting she had not had much time to analyze the district’s financial situation. She noted that the district’s finances appeared to be in good condition when the board adopted a budget in July 2023. However, things dramatically changed in January, she said. Perez said she’s still looking into the fine details of what went wrong.
“I think we’ll be able to turn this ship around,” she said.
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