Quick Take
Since his first day on the job July 1, new Live Oak School District superintendent Pat Sánchez has focused on rebuilding the district's finances and culture. In an interview with Lookout, he also talked about his vision for increasing enrollment.
New Live Oak School District Superintendent Pat Sánchez says he wants to work through problems with the district’s community members.
“It’s the only way you build trust,” he said, sitting in his office at the district campus.
The Live Oak governing board hired Sánchez, 57, at its June 12 meeting. The hiring followed a tumultuous time. After several months of a budget crisis, former superintendent Daisy Morales resigned in March. Her last day was June 30 and Sánchez started the day after.
Sánchez is coming into a district that experienced several months of tumultuous school board meetings, a series of resignations and a budget crisis which included layoffs of staff and teachers. In addition to Morales, the assistant superintendent of human resources resigned, and the assistant superintendent of business services told a public meeting that Morales had fired him without reason.
The initial term and contract for Sánchez is for only one year, starting July 1 and ending June 30, 2025, unless the board votes to extend the contract. If it’s not extended, the contract expires.
“I hope to be here at least three years, and maybe up to four years,” he said. “I’m fine to do a year first to prove it.”
Sanchez comes to Live Oak from Morgan Hill, where he was assistant superintendent of human resources at Morgan Hill Unified School District. He previously worked as a dean, principal, human resources director and served over a decade as a superintendent at districts in Colorado and California. Ten years ago, President Barack Obama awarded him the Latino Educator Champion of Change award. Sánchez has two children, ages 20 and 22, and is looking for housing in Santa Cruz.
In his first two weeks on the job, Sánchez said he’s focused on two major priorities: stabilizing the budget and improving the district’s culture and climate. He said he took the job because he believes he can successfully bring calm and stability in his first year.
He said the district’s finances are looking much better and the finance office is diligently following its stabilization plan and the County Office of Education’s recommendations.
After its most recent chief business officer left for another job following less than one month in the position, Sánchez said he’s determined to find a replacement who will last at least three years. He said he is reviewing a set of applicants this week, but he imagines it will take months until someone is hired.
In the meantime, he and the district are working with a finance consultant from Ryland Strategic Business Consulting. The consultant, Terri Ryland, is the founder and president of the firm and has worked with Sánchez at two prior districts.
He said Ryland will produce a public report looking at the district’s finances and issue recommendations. Ryland is also helping Sánchez look at how LOSD can reduce spending on contracts the district has with more than 100 consultants – a number Sánchez was surprised to see for the district’s size.
Many of the contracts are for work the district can do on its own with its own staff, he said, though some of the contracts are for work the district can’t itself do. Some of the contracts are cancellable; others are not.
Sánchez cited one $60,000 contract, saying it is work in-house staff could do.
“If I cancel it, I can bring back maybe two classified employees from full time who were reduced to .8 and can bring back to full time,” he said.
He said he hopes to finalize that work and bring it to the governing board for approval at a board meeting in August.
“I will have some good news,” he said. “I don’t know how big it will be.”
These past two weeks on the job, Sánchez said he has also started his work to rebuild trust in the district community. He’s met with district administrators, the outgoing superintendent, each board member, several custodial staff, maintenance team members and Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah.
“I can assure you that the relationship with the county will be much more collegial,” he said, speaking of disputes Morales had had with COE. “You’ll never see me write a nasty letter to the county.”
Sánchez said he has started a survey asking parents, staff and community members several questions: What’s working, what’s not working, what’s getting in the way and is there anything else I should know? He hopes to publish the results in the first or second week of August.
“The first thing that struck me so far, everyone is interested in improving the culture and climate,” he said. “I’ve found people to be very honest and open.”
Sánchez said he’ll publish his long-term goals for the year after meeting with the governing board in September, when he and board members will discuss them during a retreat.
Improving student outcomes is probably a higher priority than improving culture, but he added that culture is important to achieving that.
In 2023, students in the district scored 41.4 points below standard in mathematics and 7.8 points below standard in English, according to the California School Dashboard.
Sánchez wants to postpone discussions of closing schools and instead “have a good-faith effort” to increase enrollment, as declining enrollment has plagued most school districts. The district serves just under 1,600 students and he said he hopes each school can strive to add 10 to 25 students.
“A lot of districts are struggling,” he said. “I refuse to accept that we don’t have a chance to increase enrollment and improve customer confidence.”
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.