STOCKTON, Calif. — The Stockton Unified School District’s Board of Trustees approved a response to the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury’s scathing report on the district after nearly two months.
Of the 26 recommendations in the report, the district says it has already implemented 12, will implement two more on time, will implement eight with an extended deadline, and will not implement four.
The grand jury report, released in June, alleged poor business practices, an inadequate duty of care, and a lack of transparency at Stockton’s largest school district pushing it toward a predicted $30 million budget shortfall by the fiscal year 2024-2025.
SUSD was required to submit a response to the grand jury’s 26 recommendations and 27 findings by Sept. 15. The school district approved its response, drafted by Board President Cecilia Mendez, weeks ahead of schedule at the Aug. 23 board meeting.
The recommendations the district will not implement include developing and implementing a policy to require the Facilities and Planning Departments to submit all construction change orders to the Board for review and approval.
The grand jury said in its report this recommendation was made because some construction projects are subject to change from the time they are approved by the school board and the time construction is completed.
According to the grand jury, these changes, which sometimes include adding costs, are not brought to the board before being approved by district officials.
In one case, the grand jury found a project at Franklin High School had an overrun of around $6 million after the board already approved the construction project. The addition to the project's total cost was not brought to the board for approval.
The school district countered in its response, saying the policy would be neither warranted nor reasonable.
“The Board, however, agrees that construction change orders must be approved by the Board in order to be enforceable. But there is no legal basis for all construction change orders to be submitted 'under one standard agenda heading,' and indeed, there are good reasons to do otherwise,” the response says.
The district also said it will not comply with a recommendation calling for a board resolution requiring a request for proposal process for all legal services used by the district.
The district’s response says such a resolution is unnecessary, adding school districts are not legally required to use a request for proposal process when hiring legal services.
A request for proposals process requires those wishing to provide services to the district to submit an application. Those applications are analyzed by staff members who recommend which applicants are most suitable for the work.
Another recommendation grand jurors made was for the school district to require the consideration of staff recommendations and scoring before voting on requests for proposals.
The recommendation stemmed from the district’s selection of a vendor for virus-killing air filters to be installed in district classrooms. Despite scoring the lowest on a staff-analyzed list of possible vendors, IAQ was chosen as the district’s supplier.
Less than a year after its selection as the district's vendor, IAQ was no longer registered to do business in California -- meaning over 1,000 air filter units could not be installed before the 2022-2023 school year, an ABC10 report found.
The district said the recommendation was also unwarranted and unnecessary.
“The Board routinely considers staff recommendations and scoring prior to voting on vendors’ proposals,” the response says. “Nevertheless, during this calendar year, the District will be implementing new policies and procedures pertaining to purchasing and procurement.”
The district's board also refuted the report's recommendation that certified Spanish translators are not, but should be, utilized to translate public board meetings.
"Although its translators are not necessarily certified, such as through the American Translators Association, the District retains the services of dedicated, competent, and professional translators to work at Board meetings," the response says.
Other recommendations the district says have already been implemented range from requiring training for administrators on requests for proposals, to implementing budgets addressing projected deficit spending.
In eight cases, the district said it will implement recommendations, but with an extended deadline ranging from a few more days to a few more months.
The school district’s response stated two of the remaining 26 recommendations will be implemented on time.
In light of the school board's approval of the response, Interim Superintendent Dr. Traci Miller says she hopes to hear more recommendations for the district from community members by holding meetings in different areas of the district.
The meetings will allow Dr. Miller and district administrators to have a dialogue with community members about potential issues and solutions for the district.
“I will be hosting meetings with the public called Community Conversations. I am anticipating having fruitful discussions on matters of the school district," Dr. Miller said in a statement. "I plan to host at the school district and in each of the 7 areas of the district. I am willing to put in the work to make improvements where needed."
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