Merced schools says no evidence was offered of open meetings violations cited by grand jury
Merced school officials met the deadline to respond to a scathing grand jury report that concluded the district had “lost respect and trust from some of those they serve” by not adhering to open meetings rules and conducting some business improperly through text and email exchanges.
In its response, the district agreed with six of the 10 findings, and said 10 of the 11 recommendations already have been implemented.
Most notably, the district in a letter signed by the new school superintendent said it disagreed with the finding of violations of the Brown Act, the state law that sets out rules for open meetings conducted by public officials.
Merced City School District superintendent Julianna Stocking, who started the day after the grand jury report was released over the summer, told The Sun-Star that the district took every finding and recommendation seriously. She said the focus is now on moving forward and addressing the issues, adding that there was definitely some lessons learned.
She also told The Sun-Star that the district never received evidence from the court or anyone of emails or text messages from board members that would have constituted a violation of the Brown Act.
“We did not receive any evidence of that other than the overall report,” Stocking said. “So we’re basically going by what the grand jury report provided to us, and then what our legal counsel looked at, and then found to be substantiated, found to be unsubstantiated or found to be partially substantiated. We then put some practices into place.”
The letter from the district to Merced Superior Court Judge Steven K. Slocum says that board “is unaware of the existence of any such confirmed instances and received no demands to cease and desist such alleged behavior under the Government Code. The Board is committed to adhering to the Brown Act both in and out of the board room.”
It’s unclear if or how the judge might react to the district’s denial of Brown Act violations or exactly what evidence was relied upon by the civil grand jury to come to that conclusion. The court did not respond to questions from The Sun-star about possible next steps.
Stocking said she’s unsure if there is a next step following the district’s response.
The district says that any issues cited in the report that might have been a problem, such as improperly posting agendas or meeting minutes, have been corrected.
The civil grand jury investigation was sparked by complaints received by the grand jury against the school board that originated from the unauthorized release of a “Stakeholder Input Report” for the Merced City School District, which was compiled by the recruitment firm McPherson & Jacobson. The firm was hired by the district to aide in the search for a new superintendent candidate, but the firm was fired when the school board deemed the report submitted by McPherson & Jacobson was not a high-level report.
The majority of the board felt the report contained unvetted claims from anonymous sources. The board voted not to accept the report and fired McPherson & Jacobson in September 2023.
The investigation by the Merced County Civil Grand Jury produced a report released June 30 entitled, “Merced City School District-Our Students Deserve More.” In addition to state law violations, the report also says that the district failed to adhere to its own norms and procedures outlined in the district’s Governance Team Handbook.
The district also disagreed that it violated the state education code by not having board meetings available to the public, saying that “board meeting minutes are available upon request to members of the public and as of August 27, all board meeting minutes are up to date and approved by the board.”
The board also disagreed with the finding that the district doesn’t have written procedures for individuals filing complaints, including which form to complete and who to file it with.
The district stated it does have written procedures for filing complaints. The district did recognize that the complaint forms and the process may be confusing.
“As part of the District’s website redesign, the District will include additional information on the various complaint processes and the appropriate forms for each,” the district wrote in its response.
The board did agree with grand jury findings that the district didn’t post video links to the district website and the board failed to approve board minutes for multiple meetings. It says there was a backlog of unapproved minutes due to the district being short staffed and that all board meeting minutes are up to date and approved by the board as of Aug. 27.
The grand jury report also stated the board fails to follow the guidelines set forth in both their MCSD Governance Team Handbook and their MCSD Board of Education Protocols.
The board disagreed in its response, stating the board relies on the handbook and protocols to ensure, “the board maintains its commitment to learning and achieving for all students.”
The board says it has also worked to update the handbook and protocols and the board approved the updated MCSD Handbook on Aug. 27.
As for the 11 recommendations for the district and board in the grand jury report, the district stated in the response it has already implemented the suggestions, including regularly reviewing the MCSD Governance Team Handbook, regularly reviewing MCSD Board of Education Protocols prior to each meeting, attending Brown Act training at least once a year and making board minutes available.
The recommendation of creating and providing an employee handbook for certified or classified employees is the one recommendation the district and board said it would not implement because it believed it was unwarranted.
“The applicable memoranda with District labor partners, Board Policies, and employee notices, effectively communicate the rules and standards governing employees,” the district wrote in the response.
“We appreciate that this process has provided us an opportunity to provide clarification in some areas and opportunities for refinement in others,” the district stated. “The Board looks forward to shifting focus back to the mission and vision of the District and its support of the important work of educating students.”
