Crabtree leaves VUSD Board seat vacant: What’s next?

Effective October 1, 2021, Mr. John L. Crabtree [Trustee Area 4] resigned from Visalia Unified School District’s [VUSD] Board of Education, leaving a vacant seat in the board room.

As a board member of eight years, Crabtree was the second-longest serving member of the VUSD Board.

Crabtree was elected to represent the largest area in the district [Trustee Area 4] in 2013. He was re-elected in 2018 and was set to serve until December 2022.

There was an attempt to recall Crabtree from the board during the summer of 2020. The attempt was unsuccessful, as 2,411 signatures were needed from the residents of Area 4 to even start the process. The petition had close to no signatures.

Crabtree continued to serve on the VUSD Board up until his official registration date [October 1, 2021]. He had announced his resignation at the board meeting on September 28.

According to Education Code, the board must provisionally appoint or hold a special election to fill Crabtree’s seat within 60 days of the resignation.

The board will choose a replacement on November 2. If they fail to appoint a member to the empty seat in time, a special election must be held.

A special election would cost VUSD a large sum of $16,000-$20,000. Residents of Trustee Area 4 would not vote until April 2022.

Tim Hire is the County Superintendent of Schools. He runs the Tulare County Office of Education, which provides fiscal oversight for Tulare County’s schools. They also provide education for Severely Handicapped students and offer school districts training and support.

His responsibilities include assisting school districts when needed, working with state agencies, signing district and vendor contracts, and advocating for the best interest of students.

He states, “The appointment process is used on a regular basis. It is a good process and is financially smart for the board to go that route. Special Elections are very expensive.”

Due to the heavy expense of an election, the board has decided to go ahead with a provisional appointment.

Filling a board seat in the middle of a term is a major occurrence. The process is extensive, as there are many steps the board must take.

Mr. Juan Guerrero represents Trustee Area 2. He also serves as the President of the Board. He says, “We’ve actually done this before, I believe it was in 2004, or 2005, it was in that school year around that time. We had a board member resign at that time.”

The process must be public. Guerrero says, “We announced our intention to appoint a board member [2004-2005], then we contacted the newspapers. We have a board policy that basically states that we’re going to make this public.”

There are minimum eligibility requirements to apply to be a board member. They are as follows:

• The applicant must be at least 18 years of age.
• The applicant must be a citizen of California.
• The applicant must be a resident of Trustee Area 4.
• The applicant must be a registered voter.
• The applicant must not be disqualified from holding a civil office.

Mr. Doug Cardoza is VUSD’s Interim Superintendent. His job is to work with district staff and departments to ensure schools function well and that students have opportunities to be successful.

In the process of replacing Mr. Crabtree, he helps the board to establish a timeline and ensures that everything is transparent as possible.

Cardoza reports, “There are no discussions that can happen in closed sessions about different individuals that are applying. So the board will interview each one of those in public. So people in our community can come and sit in the audience and watch. And listen.”

The Board of Education manages things like curriculum, textbooks, extracurricular activities, and facilities.

They also make sure that district policies are up to date with California education laws.

“When something comes to us that we have to take action, there’ll be a motion, there’ll be a second. And then what happens is we take a vote. There are seven members, but it takes four votes to pass something,” Guerrero states.

As the Board President, Guerrero has additional duties that help board processes run smoothly.

He says, “The Board President basically facilitates the meeting [bi-weekly board meetings] and makes sure that all the other board members are treated the same, and that they all have a voice, and that they all participate in our governance.”

The vacant seat on the board has created an obstacle for board processes.

Cardoza states, “It’s difficult in the sense that if we vote on something, we only have six members. We had a situation at the board meeting the other night [October 12, 2021] where we had a three to three vote. So then there’s no action that can be taken in that situation.”

“Right now there are six of us, we have a board vacancy. So we’d like to fill that vacancy so that we can get back to having a seven-member board,” Guerrero expresses.

It’s important that the selected canidate understands what it means to be a board member and to represent Trustee Area 4, “Whoever is elected should be able to express the opinions of people that live in that area [Area 4],” Guerrero says.

Cardoza states, “It needs to be someone that’s a part of that Trustee Area boundary [Area 4], and so that they can give voice, they understand the demographics and understand the wants and needs of that area.”

He adds, “In board meetings, we want someone that listens, we want someone that speaks up, says what they believe understands the values and the culture of our district, as well as the values and the culture of the people that live in that in that area that they’ll be representing [Area 4].”

The new member is also hoped to be focused on students and a true part of the community.

“We have different backgrounds, but I think the common denominators that are, is that you have children or grandchildren, or that you’ve had some involvement with our schools,” Guerrero says.

He feels that this is “something that’s very unique in a school board member.” Being a board member is different than being a city councilperson.

Cardoza expresses, “We want someone that’s really focused on kids, someone that is a part of our community.”

The process to fill the fourth seat on the board is very extensive and requires the board’s full attention for the next couple of weeks.

To put it simply, the board has decided to go with a provisional appointment to avoid a costly special election. They are currently in the application process.

There are applications for the position available at the district office. Applications are due by 4:00 PM PST on October 22.

On October 26, the screening committee will post a list of applicants. The applicants will be invited to interview for the position.

The board will then interview said applicants and then select the new member on November 2 in the L.J Williams Theater. The selected candidate will then be sworn in immediately. The community is invited and encouraged to attend the meeting.

You can watch Board meetings live here: https://www.vusd.org/Page/18833

You can watch the recordings here: https://www.youtube.com/c/VisaliaUnifiedSchoolDistrict

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