FUHSD Superintendent Graham Clark and the Board of Trustees hosted a series of information sessions on the transition to By-Trustee-Area elections throughout February. The meetings were organized by FUHSD’s Community Trustee Area Districting, or CTAD Committee, and took place at MVHS and Lynbrook High School, along with separate Zoom public hearings for those unable to attend in person.
These information sessions are the latest part of a process of community outreach and education that FUHSD has been conducting since the Board’s decision in March 7, 2023 to transition from At-Large to By-Trustee-Area elections. In At-Large elections, board members are selected through district-wide voting, whereas by Fall 2024, each trustee will be elected from a different trustee area.
Clark opened the Feb. 12 MVHS information session by providing community members with an overview of the transition to By-Trustee-Area elections. Clark and FUHSD Consultant Melisa Wonch discussed the background behind the Board’s decision and FUHSD’s current timeline while addressing misconceptions. The presentation was followed by a Q&A with Trustees Rosa Kim and Jeff Moe, Clark and Wonch.
FUHSD currently expects the transition to By-Trustee-Area elections to be completed by April 24, 2024, when the Board of Trustees will approve the final map for trustee areas. That map will then be implemented in Nov. 2024 for the Board’s election.
FUSHD formed CTAD through a community application in the fall of 2023 to enable strong community outreach and help with the process of developing draft maps for the Board to consider. Clark says the purpose behind CTAD was for a representative group of people to connect to various groups across FUHSD, which the members accomplish in a variety of ways, including by coming to these informational meetings.
Wonch adds that oftentimes, CTAD members’ efforts to help the community aren’t immediately visible because direct outreach is only one part of their job.
“CTAD members aren’t there to represent a particular part of the district — while we did pick a diverse group across the district, they’re not required to do an X amount of outreach in certain areas,” Wonch said. “Sometimes they’re putting together powerpoints or helping us connect with a certain group. Folks are doing things — it might just be behind the scenes because we need a variety of skill sets to make this transition happen.”
Despite this, some FUHSD community members are discontent with how the transition has proceeded so far — namely, in Cupertino and other parts of southern FUHSD. At the MVHS session, parents expressed dissatisfaction with what they saw as a rushed timeline and their fear that MVHS would close. Parents were especially concerned that the decision to close a school only requires three out of five trustees to agree, not a unanimous decision.
Board of Trustees President Jeff Moe acknowledges that there have been rumors circulating on social media and amongst community members of closing a school in southern FUHSD and opening a school in northern Sunnyvale. However, he emphasizes that he and the Board believe these changes are impossible.
“I can assure you that zero of the school board members would vote to close any school,” Moe said. “Why you would want to close a school is usually for financial reasons, and we just don’t have that issue. We have a plan and our finances are in good shape. I can’t imagine any board member, even if you had one from Mars, suggesting that we should close any of our schools.”
Moe also says given that building a school is such a costly and weighty decision for FUHSD, any action by the district would require community approval. In other words, as long as parents from southern FUHSD aren’t interested in building a new school in northern FUHSD, it is very unlikely to happen.
A current process Clark says has been beneficial and will remain is the rotating of different Board members across various schools each year. FUHSD Trustee Rosa Kim, who was assigned to MVHS during the 2022-23 school year and is currently assigned to Fremont High School, agrees with the efficacy of this method and likewise its continuation.
“I really love MVHS because I learned a lot about it last year,” Kim said. “All five school board members rotate and learn more about each school to connect to each school. We want to know all our schools and all perspectives. Likewise, this transition to By-Trustee-Area elections is to help us make better decisions.”
However, community members at the MVHS session were skeptical that the Board would be able to preserve a holistic focus after transitioning without fragmenting its interests. Many parents who addressed Trustees Kim and Moe were concerned that electing trustees from separate districts would divide the Board’s interests, making it possible for MVHS or another school in southern FUHSD to close in the future after current trustees’ terms end and new trustees are elected.
In particular, a community member who identified himself as Jason highlighted the doubt and confusion expressed by most of the community members in attendance. He believes that throughout the outreach process, FUHSD has faced a lack of alignment with the community, which he believes should have been established before the Board decided to make the transition, let alone began the process.
“Now that we’re being presented with options that are, ‘Hey, pick which map,’ it feels a little bit to me like a false choice,” Jason said. “I’ve been in a lot of sales presentations, and one of the ways you can tell you’re in a sales presentation is that they only tell you the upside. Here I heard a lot of positives about what By-Trustee-Area elections would get us, but I’m old enough to know there are always two sides to a story, so what’s the downside? I feel like I’m being pitched, not educated.”
Clark says FUHSD has recognized the danger of FUHSD becoming divided and will be working to ensure future Trustees continue to serve the district as a whole. However, he adds that delaying the transition process could result in serious consequences.
For the most part, FUHSD’s actions have been proactive to avoid a potential violation of the California Voting Rights Act, abbreviated as the CVRA. Clark says that if the transition process were to pause, FUHSD would most likely receive a letter from a prospective plaintiff about a violation of CVRA. At that point, FUHSD would not only have to pay a fine, but the transition process would need to be expedited. In addition, Clark says there are long standing equity issues amongst different groups within FUHSD that need to be addressed.
“I think there is a lot of dissension in our community about some people feeling that they are not represented, and it’s a large group of people,” Clark said. “The idea is that having trustee areas is better than At-Large elections, and I would say you’re correct that they both have pros and cons. What I will say is, we could do more outreach, and that is what we’re trying to do.”
As of now, the maps of the trustee areas are in the process of being completed, and FUHSD encourages participation from the community members. The first round of feedback for draft maps is currently closed, but a second round was released on March 13, and both Clark and Wonch emphasize that community feedback is incredibly valuable. On Wednesday, March 24, CTAD will present its first recommendation to the Board on the second set of draft maps.
Wonch adds that the district hopes to address the feedback they have heard from parents throughout the transition process. The best way to do that is for parents to be vocal about their perspectives on the draft maps so that the final versions are ones the entire community is satisfied with.
“I just want to let you know that I hear you — we hear you,” Wonch said. “You’re not happy about the process and the way that the process started, and I want to recognize that. But the feedback on the way the lines are drawn at this point is really important and hearing from the community is really important. I just want to make sure you are taking some of this feedback and applying it to the maps, checking whether they make sense for the reasons you are providing.”
