Embattled Gateway District Moves Forward Towards Filling Board And Superintendent Vacancies

This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the Gateway Unified School District Board. Find the series here.

2.16.23 4:51 pm: We have corrected the date of the next District Board meeting.

On February 15, after the recent resignation of Board President Cherill Clifford, Vice President Lindsi Haynes took charge of the Board’s meeting process for the first time, carefully steering the group forward through a complicated agenda that included both open and closed sessions and a number of business, legal, and academic issues.

She and the three other remaining members of Gateway’s Board voted unanimously on two key issues: how to begin the search for a new District Superintendent, and what timeline to use as they work to fill the Board vacancy left by Clifford’s unexpected resignation.

About one hundred staff, parents, and community members showed up to participate in the public meeting, which was held at Central Valley High School’s Talon Hall. Public comments throughout the evening made clear that the Board continues to face an uphill battle to regain the community’s trust.

Among the speakers was Mayor of the City of Shasta Lake and Central Valley High School graduate Greg Watkins, who emphasized the Board’s obligation to work as hard as they could for the teachers, the District, and the students. 

“Like the city,” he said, “you are required to follow the Brown Act and be transparent in your actions. As a new Board, you’re off to a rocky start but I trust that you will do better in the future.”

After several months of conflict-filled meetings that resulted in multiple legal warnings and actions against the Board, last night marked a notable change in the Board’s operational tone. That change was facilitated in part by the presence of the District’s new legal representative, Lindsay Moore of legal firm Kingsley Bogard, who repeatedly picked up a microphone to provide guidance to the Board or to respond to the audience in moments of uncertainty or confusion.

The four remaining Board members voted 4/0 to follow advice from Acting District Superintendent Steve Henson to begin advertising the open superintendent position in late February, with the goal of holding final interviews with candidates during a late April Board meeting. They also voted to release surveys on the superintendent selection process to both the community and staff members during the first three weeks of March. 

In a separate discussion, Board members also decided to follow current District policy for Board member appointment, including advertising the open Board position for ten business days and interviewing applicants at an upcoming Board meeting. They have sixty days from the date of Clifford’s resignation to fill the open Board seat, which represents the School District’s Area 2, known as the City of Shasta Lake area.

Tensions among Board members resurfaced temporarily during a discussion over whether or not to rescind a previous 3/2 vote to “bypass” a long-standing Board policy on District Superintendent recruitment and selection. That January Board vote led the grassroots Gateway Citizen’s Committee to file a lawsuit in hopes of having the court compel the Board to follow its publicly documented policy. 

According to Lindsi Haynes’ public comments, as well as statements by Gateway Citizen’s Committee representative Kay Kobe to Shasta Scout, that lawsuit is still pending after the judge requested additional documentation during a hearing last week.

Community concerns about the Board’s atypical approach to superintendent appointment came to a head last month after public records requests brought to light an inter-district email indicating that former Board President Clifford had unilaterally signed a contract to hire a new superintendent in late December.

According to that email, Clifford’s signed contract was with Bryan Caples, who was widely rumored to be the Board’s intended appointment and whose checkered work history and record of concerning statements about Native students concerns many.

During Wednesday night’s meeting, Board members voted 2/2 on whether to rescind the decision to “bypass” the policy. The stalemate leaves the Board policy “bypassed” for now but does not stop Board members from revising the policy and reinstating it later, the District’s attorney said.

But all four Board members did agree to work on revising the current Board policy on superintendent recruitment and selection, which was last updated in 2010. In order to do so, they intend to bring together a subcommittee that will include both Board and community members.

Newly-seated Board members Elias and Lindsi Haynes have faced significant public concerns after voting in lock-step with Clifford to terminate the District’s former superintendent without cause and to “bypass” the Board’s policy on recruitment. But on Wednesday night, both repeatedly emphasized that they intend to support an open and transparent Board decision-making process moving forward.

Speaking about the challenges she’s faced within the District as the mother of a Type 1 diabetic, Lindsi Haynes praised Gateway staff while seeking to reassure the public that she understands their concerns.

“I just want everybody to know . . . ” Haynes said, “transparency is a big deal. I’ve been the parent out in the audience and so I can imagine how frustrating it is when you’re not getting the answers and you come up and speak and ask a question and nobody responds back to you. But I think we all know that I’m definitely learning, with the Brown Act, there’s only so much we can do. But we want to be as transparent as possible and we want to involve everybody because Gateway is an amazing District.”  

Acting Superintendent Henson took time at the end of the meeting to thank Haynes for the time she’s put in on District matters since Clifford’s resignation, including, he said, three visits to the District office in the last two weeks to facilitate the Board’s forward progress.

Lindsi Haynes ducked her head in a brief show of emotion before responding, “Thank you. I’m not used to hearing good things from people here.”

The Board’s next meeting is currently scheduled for Wednesday, March 15.

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