Quick Take
Patrick Sánchez, 57, will start serving as Live Oak School District superintendent on July 1. The governing board, with member Jeremy Ray absent, voted unanimously both to approve Sánchez's one-year contract and to move forward in placing a $45 million workforce housing development bond measure on the November ballot.
Live Oak School District has a new superintendent.
Patrick Sánchez, 57, the current assistant superintendent of human resources at Morgan Hill Unified School District, will start at the Live Oak district on July 1. The governing board, with member Jeremy Ray absent, voted unanimously Wednesday to approve his one-year contract.
Minutes after his hiring, Sánchez told Lookout that he’s looking forward to moving to the area and said he hopes he can provide calm to the district.
“I believe that I have skills that could offer some calm, and bring people together around what’s important for kids,” he said. “It starts with culture and climate, and without solid culture and climate, it’s tough to implement strategy. It’s been my experience. So that’s my goal.”
His appointment comes as staff, teachers and parents have expressed a deep lack of trust in district leadership following a tumultuous budget crisis this spring, which included layoffs of staff and teachers and a series of resignations. Weeks into the budget crisis, the assistant superintendent of human resources resigned, and Superintendent Daisy Morales resigned in March shortly after the assistant superintendent of business services told a public meeting that she fired him without reason.
Considering the challenges of those few months, parents and teachers have been concerned that the district set a goal of having a new superintendent in place the day after Morales’ final day on June 30. Some said they felt the district should move more slowly to ensure the next superintendent would serve the district well and for an extended period.
Additionally, during Wednesday’s board meeting, board members Marlize Velasco and Tammy Summers said they received numerous emails from community members expressing concerns both about media reports about Sánchez and about a Colorado petition that had asked for his resignation from a position there.
The board members noted an April 2016 petition organized by parents, staff and community members, asking for Sánchez’s resignation from the Adams County School District 14 in suburban Denver. The petition demanded a public hearing to “review lack of transparency in hiring and firing administrative and executive level positions.”
That petition came two years after former President Barack Obama recognized Sánchez with the Latino Educator Champion of Change award for his work in that district.
From Adams County, he moved on to Newark Unified School District, located north of San Jose. The East Bay Times reported about his hiring at the Newark Unified district in May 2016, and three years later, it wrote about his resignation from the position, saying his tenure was “tumultuous” at times. In his time there, a fired principal sued him and the district, and advocates pushed for a recall of the school district board, saying it failed to oversee him and advocates called him an “irresponsible superintendent,” according to the article.
Board member Summers asked board president Kristin Pfotenhauer to comment on those news articles and the petition. Pfotenhauer said, in both cases, terminated employees led attacks against Sánchez, but based on documents provided to the board those employees had been fired for legitimate reasons. She said one of the terminated employees lost their teaching credential. She added that Sánchez provided the public with legal documents to show what had happened.
Pfotenhauer said the board hired Sánchez for his directness and his experience. She said out of all the candidates, he had the most years serving as superintendent.
“We felt like he had strong leadership skills, he was clear and seemed very upfront and forward about information, he seemed extremely transparent,” she said. “He has a history in low-income schools and in schools with a lot of [English language] learners of raising academic achievement.”
On Tuesday, Lauren Pomrantz, the teachers union co-president, told Lookout that the superintendent candidates had qualities that could benefit the district.
“We are still trying to understand the board’s process in selecting the candidate that they did,” she said. “I will be meeting with the new superintendent and a board member on Thursday of this week.”
Also Wednesday, the board unanimously approved a resolution to place a $45 million workforce housing development bond measure on the November ballot. During a brief discussion of the resolution before the vote, Pfotenhauer and Summers said they felt this was the right time to place it on the ballot.
For several years, the district has explored building a workforce housing project to include up to 60 or 70 units for teachers and staff. The high cost of living and housing in Santa Cruz County has caused several districts to experience high turnover rates as the teachers and staff seek higher-paying jobs in other districts, industries or counties. Live Oak officials hope that by building its own housing and offering below-market rental rates the district can attract and keep more teachers and staff.
Pfotenhauer added that if the measure is successful, the board could still decide not to move forward with the housing. For example, she said, if the district can’t pin down a property to develop or if construction costs increase too much, the district could decide not to use any approved funding.
Pfotenhauer said the district is looking into a property in Live Oak that it could potentially use for the project and therefore avoid using the district-owned Capitola Road property rented out by Senior Network Services and Community Bridges – both local organizations serving older adults.
Chief business officer turnover continues
The board also approved the consent agenda, which included hires as well as separations.
The district’s recently hired chief business officer was among the separations – her last day will be June 30 – making her the third to leave that role at the district this year.
Pfotenhauer told Lookout via email that Angela Rodriguez worked for the district for less than a month.
“She had applied for other positions [while] she applied for ours,” Pfotenhauer wrote. “She was offered a position in Gonzales which is an easier commute for her.”
Pfotenhauer said the district has since opened the position for applicants and the incoming superintendent will hire that candidate.
In March, the prior chief business officer, Hanwool Kim, said during a board meeting that Morales terminated him without reason. Kim was hired in October, after the prior chief business officer, Alison Warner, announced her departure and return to Soquel Union Elementary School District. She joined Live Oak School District in late 2021.
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