THE MONEY TRAIL

School district's new HR officer has a full agenda – and a familiar name

Saramento City Unified School District hired a new chief human resources officer with a prominent last name to replace the still-employed but reassigned Robert Garcia.

The district created a new position for Garcia, who made $148,114 up until July 1, when he was reclassified as an elementary principal on special assignment making $105,875, officials said.

Garcia's new central office position comes as the district waits to learn whether it will face midyear budget cuts. District spokesman Gabe Ross said that over the past few years, the district has made drastic cuts to the central office.

Garcia is working on developing a principal leadership academy, developing a new principal hiring process and providing support to the district's behavior hearing office at the district's office, Serna Center.

Meanwhile, the district named Jess Serna to Garcia's previous post. The brother of former Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna Jr., whom the district office is named after, Jess Serna will make $148,114. He was most recently senior executive director of employee and labor relations at San Juan Unified School District.

Serna is the uncle of Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna. He has also served as Stockton Unified's chief labor negotiator.

"He has a wealth of knowledge of schools and education and this community," Ross said. "He really is a firm believer of working collaboratively."

Serna's first priority was to address the district's still-tentative school calendar, which was being challenged by the Sacramento City Teachers Association.

SCTA said the revised calendar – which converted some shortened school days to full days and made many of them faculty workdays without students – was not in the best interest of teachers, students and parents.

The new calendar doesn't change anything for students, but would restore some shortened days for teachers.

"Both sides have agreed to put this matter behind us so we can focus all of our collective energy on teaching and learning," Superintendent Jonathan Raymond wrote in an open letter to staff. "Our kids deserve it."

SCTA members are voting on the new calendar and will have results in a week or so.

Serna will likely address SCTA's ongoing grievance filed over class sizes in second and third grades. Last year, SCTA and the district reached a deal where each teacher contributed $950 a year in salary in order to keep class sizes in K-3 grades at 25 students to one teacher.

SCTA President Scott Smith told The Bee in August that since class sizes increased in second and third grades, teachers should be reimbursed.

In the meantime, SCTA is undergoing internal turmoil after its May election was challenged. This is the second time in 18 months that its elections have been challenged, although this time the California Teachers Association board upheld the challenge, SCTA Second Vice President Erik Knudson said.

The current board will all run again, he said.

– Melody Gutierrez

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