Ominous wording of agenda item adds support to superintendent
Many teachers and others had thought AUSD leader was being evaluated
It all started late last Friday, when the Antioch Unified School District posted a notice announcing a special board meeting would occur Monday with “superintendent performance evaluation” as one of the closed-session agenda items.
Because the agenda didn’t elaborate, some people interpreted it to mean district Superintendent Stephanie Anello would be evaluated that day, and a flurry of social media posts fueled that narrative.
By early Saturday, the teachers union had launched a petition expressing support for Anello, and by Monday almost 1,700 people had signed it. More than 260 residents also had sent in comments in advance of the meeting, which was scheduled to last only one hour because two trustees had to leave after that.
Newly elected school board President Ellie Householder, who has butted heads with Anello before, had added the agenda item to the special meeting, which originally was called for because of an unrelated litigation item. But instead of Anello’s actual evaluation, Householder said she intended to only discuss the process for evaluating her this coming summer.
“We’re just having a conversation about the eventual June evaluation,” said Householder, one of the two board members who had to leave Monday’s special meeting early.
“Quite frankly, I think it’s quite unfair to evaluate somebody when we are in a landscape the pandemic has provided. I was hoping to talk about this more in a closed session.”
Householder said she hoped the board would merely explore how to evaluate Anello in the absence of state testing, one of the usual measurements used.
“I understand how folks feel, and there’s a sense there’s something nefarious going on, but I can assure you this item was added just because it does take time and effort to make these
meetings and this was something I had already penciled out to talk about in January,” Householder later said, noting trustees had raised the subject in a previous meeting.
Anello called Householder’s explanation “somewhat disingenuous” because of the last-minute timing, after she had asked her not to put anything that isn’t urgent on the agenda with staffers leaving for winter break.
Noting the large number of comments on the item, trustee Gary Hack urged moving the entire evaluation discussion to the next regular meeting.
“I don’t think we should split it (the comments),” he said. “There is no urgency to deal with this today.”
Trustee Clyde Lewis, who had to leave the meeting early, also wanted to postpone the item and suggested residents’ concern resulted from “how the agenda item was framed.”
“Performance evaluation versus dialogue around the evaluation process,” he said. “I think that is where some of that anxiety is stemming from.”
“I would just say it’s the language, but at the end of the day this is just a title (for the agenda item),” Householder said, noting she didn’t want to move the agenda item after “all of the buildup and anticipation.”
“I don’t think this is good governance,” Householder added. “It’s just kicking it down the road. Let’s have 10 minutes of comments, go into closed session, then come back and then continue the rest of the comments.”
Before the board left for closed session, three of the public comments were read, all in support of Anello and criticizing Householder’s timing.
“She (Anello) is invested in her students and staff, she knows the district in and
“Quite frankly, I think it’s quite unfair to evaluate somebody when we are in a landscape the pandemic has provided. I was hoping to talk about this more in a closed session.” — Ellie Householder, newly appointed school board president
out,” Deb Hubbard wrote. “During this historic time of a global pandemic, there is no one else I’d rather have leading our district than Miss Anello.”
“To look at the supreme job that Miss Anello has done in this time of utter chaos is imperative,” teacher Lorena Bathey said. “She has navigated unprecedented waters in this pandemic with intelligence and forethought. … This is not business as usual and in no way should be graded in business-as-usual mindsets.”
The comments were followed by a short closed session to briefly discuss the evaluation process and unrelated litigation. When the trustees returned, they agreed to reschedule the evaluation process discussion to the next regular meeting. Also rescheduled was an item to discuss policy on student board members.
“We need to hear all of the comments, but to do so now doesn’t make any sense,” Hack said.
Householder said that though she appreciated the comments and agreed they needed to be read aloud, she thought “there was a little bit of a cart before the horse.”
“This was just going to be a midpoint check-in, which is a best practice in all other districts,” she said. “… I understand without context this is a little scary, but rest assured that the superintendent’s evaluation is going to be in June like it historically has been.”
The board’s next meeting will occur Jan. 13. The agenda will be available at antiochschools.net/board-meetings.