Local School Board Formalizes Hiring of Superintendent

• Sizable Pay Increase for Top Job and Budget Cut Specifics Dominate Meeting

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The board of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District unanimously voted to appoint Tim Cuneo as permanent superintendent at its Feb. 19 meeting in Santa Monica. The vote took place during an emotionally charged session that included public comment from numerous parents, students, teachers, school nurses and concerned residents who had rallied in an attempt to avert the district’s first round of budget induced layoffs.
Cuneo was appointed interim superintendent in July of 2008, after the abrupt departure of Superintendent Dianne Talarico the previous month. Cuneo was initially expected to stay only until a permanent replacement could be found. The board instead decided to negotiate a permanent arrangement with Cuneo, who had received praise for his handling of several district issues, including the special education controversy, rather than attempt to start over with a new candidate.
Cuneo’s official appointment had been expected to take place at the Feb. 5 board meeting in Malibu. It was delayed because the contract was not yet ready. When the contract was finally released, it raised concerns with some community members when it was revealed to contain a nearly 35 percent pay increase over that of the previous superintendent.
“So why wasn’t the proposed contract posted online?” wrote Jim Jaffe, in a letter to the Malibu Surfside News. “Is there something about the $270,400 annual package ($220,000 salary; $38,400 for housing; and $12,000 for auto and cell phone) that the Board might find difficult justifying during hard times? What are the implications of the timing of this action when the district is currently in sensitive bargaining negotiations with both employee unions?”
The district confirms that Cuneo’s contract consists of an agreement to employ for a term starting Feb. 1, 2009 and ending July 31, 2011, and includes a package consisting of $220,000 per year, in addition to “standard fringe benefits” for health and welfare, disability insurance, vacation, sick and personal leave time, an automobile and phone allowance of $1000 per month and housing allowance of $3200 month.
“I don’t like what I see tonight,” Santa Monica resident Richard MacKinnon told the board at the start of the meeting. “I don’t enjoy that a general discussion of the budget comes after the action items, if you may or may not fire people, after you may or may not hire the superintendent, after you may or may not consider his contract in light of the dismissals that are coming on. That’s not the way to do it. I think the process has gone wrong. I think it’s a pity. What are you going to do to insist to keep the cuts away from the kids, from the instruction, the schools, and make the process conform to that desire rather than other way around?”
“People will talk about tough times, we’ll continue to talk about those tonight,” board President Ralph Mechur said, defending the district’s salary agreement with Cuneo. “In some sense it’s ‘oh well, it’s tough times.’ We have to do our work; we have to do good work. We have to be careful, we have to be really careful about the decisions we make. One of the most important decisions we can make is in having a superintendent who will guide us through these tough times.”
The board, which received harsh criticism from the teachers union for excluding them from the decision-making process when Talarico was selected as superintendent in 2006, promised transparency and a higher degree of community input when it began the search for a replacement for Talarico last year. Mechur explained the board’s rational in moving forward with Cuneo’s appointment without continuing the search for an outside candidate as “the decision we had to make when Mr. Cuneo was brought on as interim superintendent was whether the intention was to move forward with a process which would have been open, more a public process, for finding a permanent superintendent and that would have taken through the remainder of this year.”
Mechur described Cuneo as someone “who has gotten to know the community, is respected by the community, someone who has brought the district back together, and will provide a foundation to move ahead in these difficult times.”
Board member Ben Allen expressed enthusiasm for Cuneo’s appointment but recommended that the board make important documents like the superintendent’s contract available to the public in advance in the interest of transparency.
“We were in trouble when [Cuneo] came on board,” board member Maria Leon Vazquez said, adding that she has seen four superintendents come and go during her time on the board of education. “It’s been a long two years. I don’t know if there’s anyone else out there who could have hit the ground running.”
“[Cuneo] is willing to listen, adjust, work collaboratively. He’s someone who can lead,” Board member Oscar de la Torre said, describing the superintendent’s pay package as something that “keeps our district competitive.”
“I think someone who works hard deserves to receive compensation that matches their effort,” de la Torre added.
“I’ve never been in a community that was so supportive,” Cuneo said, thanking the board. “These are the times that schools have never faced. I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure we meet the needs of every child the best we can with the resources we have,” he said.
The community, exhibiting the kind of support the new superintendent applauded, turned out in force to speak out for two district elementary school music teachers, two nurses and three intervention councilors whose jobs are on the line. Speakers lined up to argue against the layoff recommendation. Parents of music students and those with children who have health concerns spoke out, so did many district nurses and music teachers. Many said they had learned about the agenda item only that day and had rushed to the meeting to protest the layoffs.
District staff advised the board to cut the seven positions in advance of the district March 15 budget deadline, warning “a layoff could be given and later rescinded, but not after March 15,” and called the layoffs “prudent.” Not one speaker during public comments appeared to share that view.
“In our district we’ve had a collaborative model for a long time, and we’d like to keep it that way,” Harry Keily, the president of the Santa Monica Malibu Teachers Association, said. “The priorities need to be kids, teachers, classrooms. Those who have the most should make the first sacrifices. Cuts need to come from the top. We don’t believe these proposed cuts reflect the core values of the district.”
“The district has an obligation to provide for the welfare of both students and staff,” Malibu High School nurse Ellen Relles, who has been with the district for 35 years, reminded the board. She stated that the layoffs would mean a loss of 10 nursing hours a week. “That is a negative impact to every school in the district,” she said.
“I don’t feel comfortable [voting],” Leon Vazquez said, when the issue was discussed by the board, “We haven’t had the discussion [about the budget]. This piece comes before the discussion. $600,000 [for the seven positions] is nothing. We can find it somewhere else.”
“I’m unable to support this,” board member Jose Escarce said, echoing Leon Vazquez. “I need a better understanding.” The rest of the board agreed.
Vice President Barry Snell called for transparency. “This is not the way we should be going about this,” he said, adding that he recognized that district cuts “will be severe.”
De la Torre suggested the board look into a pay freeze for district employees receiving in excess of $100,000 or $150,000 to help offset the deficit and avert layoffs.
The board scheduled a budget workshop for March 4 to discuss their options, and agreed unanimously to table the proposed layoffs until the March 5 meeting in Malibu.