Rocklin school board candidates reflect division. Time to return the focus to education

An ideological divide separates the six candidates vying for three Rocklin Unified school board seats this fall. Three right-wing candidates who oppose public health measures indicate that they will would use their board positions to pursue a political agenda. Three reform-minded candidates say they will attempt to return the focus of the board to the academic and emotional well-being of Rocklin students, where it should be.

Since the start of the pandemic, Rocklin Unified School District board members have catered to a small but vocal minority of parents and community members who flouted vaccine and mask rules. In June 2021, the district formally urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to lift a classroom mask mandate. In March, the board approved a contract for legal services with Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a nonprofit law firm that believes “America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles” and that “traditional family structure” and “religious freedoms” are being eroded. The district is also a plaintiff in litigation over Newsom’s use of his emergency powers during the pandemic.

District parents Jen Brookover and Michelle Sutherland, who are running for the board, reject putting politics over the needs of students. They feel their roles as board members are best spent supporting teachers and students and providing district families with the best educational experience possible. Also echoing this sentiment is incumbent Rick Miller, who is often the sole voice of reason on the school board.

Brookover, a longtime educator and counselor, is an advocate for student mental health. She wants the district to hire social workers and additional full-time counselors to help students who are struggling. She also wants to restore civility at school board meetings, which she says should begin by modeling good behavior.

Sutherland, a Rocklin native who narrowly lost a bid for the school board in 2020, works with special-needs students as a behavior analyst for Roseville Joint Union High School District. She is a volunteer with the city of Rocklin and the Placer County Library Advisory Board, and she leads a local parent-teacher council.

Sutherland’s agenda would include enhancing technology and arts education in the classroom, adding resources for special education and bringing a collaborative, community-oriented approach to the board.

Miller, who was elected to the school board in 2018, is a longtime educator who previously worked at the U.S. Department of Education and as a deputy state superintendent of schools. He believes his colleagues on the board have used their elected positions for inappropriate political purposes.

“What I found most objectionable over the last couple of years are multiple votes we’ve taken to literally break the law,” Miller said. “That was deeply, deeply concerning to me. At the end of the day, when we raise our hand and take an oath to the Constitution, it actually has to mean something.”

Incumbents Tiffany Saathoff and Dereck Counter are largely responsible for bringing politics into Rocklin’s school board chambers. Saathoff is a pastor at Destiny, a Rocklin megachurch with a disturbing record of homophobia and transphobia. Also running on a right-wing platform is Kari Hamilton, a district parent who frequently comments at board meetings to lament a curriculum that “talks about ... a whole gamut of critical-race-theory-type stuff.”

Hamilton, Counter and Saathoff did not respond to numerous requests to meet with The Bee’s Editorial Board.

Miller said all current and aspiring elected officials should face questions about their records.

“When you have a local official position, you have a responsibility to try to represent the community,” Miller said. “You need to understand how the community feels. At the end of the day, what most parents care about in Rocklin is a good education for their kids, not a partisan school board.”

Rocklin Unified students and families deserve leaders who will prioritize the success and well-being of students. Miller, Sutherland and Brookover are up to the job.