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Unions and staff urge transparency after board stipend vote, call for accountability
Summary
Multiple staff letters and union representatives criticized the board’s recent stipend increase, alleged diversion of resources, questioned motivations of trustees, asked for a formal stipend policy tying compensation to performance, and asked for accountability and professional conduct from trustees.
Several union leaders and staff used the public-comment period to criticize the board’s recent decision to increase trustee stipends and to call for clearer rules tying compensation to duties and conduct. The CACA chapter 150 president, reading multiple letters from staff who could not attend, said employees feel unseen and that the stipend decision diverts resources from classroom needs; one letter said, "The $10,000 per month that you have allocated to yourself" and argued resources could instead buy supplies and projectors.
The AAA president addressed the board directly about professionalism and an alleged post-meeting confrontation involving Trustee Joan Gardner, saying the exchange crossed a line and asking that the incident be placed on the public record. The president urged a formal board policy on stipends that would set expectations for attendance, committee participation and conduct as conditions for receiving compensation. "Compensation should reflect commitment, accountability, and service," the union leader said.
Board members did not take immediate additional action in response to the public comments at this meeting; the public record reflects multiple written and read statements calling for transparency, accountability and reconsideration of the stipend policy. The letters included specific allegations and comparisons between trustee stipends and district staff pay and urged board members to consider redirecting portions of the increase toward school needs.
