Santa Rosa school district approves 18% pay increase for superintendent

FORWARD NOTE: Written by Ever Flores:

This week our anger is especially acute as Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education voted to approve an absolutely shocking $35,000 raise for the superintendent, when Santa Rosa teachers had to battle to the brink of a strike for a mere 7% raise over two years. These are sad times indeed!

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The Santa Rosa school board on Wednesday night approved a substantial pay increase — albeit smaller than proposed two months ago — for the superintendent, following a backlash from upset teachers and public outcry.

The school board voted 6-to-1 to boost Superintendent Diann Kitamura’s salary by about 18% over two years during an emotionally charged meeting, in which tears were shed and several in the crowd shouted “shame.” Her four assistant superintendents also received generous salary hikes.

“This has been a difficult and lengthy process,” said Jenni Klose, the school board president who discussed pay and gender gaps during the hourslong session.

Kitamura, who has led Sonoma County’s largest school district with 16,000 students more than three years, earns an annual salary of $200,000, which is right at the state average. Starting July 1, she’ll make $218,000. A year later, her salary will jump to $235,000 annually.

In April, the district initially proposed a nearly 29% pay hike for the superintendent, which would have increased Kitamura’s salary to $257,094. That angered teachers after months of tense pay negotiations between their union and the school district.

Klose and several other trustees Wednesday apologized for the initial 1% pay raise offered to the teachers’ union at the start of pay negotiations last school year. Many teachers called that offer “a slap in the face” compared with the district’s initial offer to Kitamura.

Critics say it isn’t fair for Santa Rosa City Schools administrators to receive a larger raise than teachers who received a 7% salary hike over the next two years. Following the outcry from teachers, school employees and city residents, Klose decided to postpone the vote last month to gather additional feedback and salary data.

Klose, the longest serving Santa Rosa school trustee with six years on the board, disclosed at the meeting that when Kitamura was hired in February 2016 other trustees at the time hoped she would take a smaller salary than other finalists for the job.

The superintendent’s salary boost — her first on the job — was meant to correct the pay injustice and keep the position competitive for future candidates, she said.

“Even though this is a female-dominated profession, there is still a huge gender gap in the pay. There also is a gap in respect to superintendents of color and white superintendents, and this board has made very clear that it has a strong commitment to equity,” Klose said.

Trustee Omar Medina, who has a background in labor unions and community organizing, was the sole no vote for Kitamura’s raise. During the meeting, he told the board by phone there were many layers to the issue but he ultimately went with his gut feeling.

Assistant superintendents Stacy Spector, Steve Mizera, Anna Guzman and Rick Edson, whose title was changed to deputy superintendent, will get their salaries bumped up next month, too. They each made $155,140 a year.

Spector will now earn $159,794, while Mizera and Guzman will earn $166,186 and $169,510, respectively. Edson will see his salary increase to $175,000. Their workloads got heavier after another assistant superintendent left last year and wasn’t replaced, district officials said.

Will Lyon, president of the Santa Rosa Teachers Association, said in an interview he expected the raises to pass, but the union would remember the pay increase amounts when it comes time for the next teacher pay negotiation sessions in January 2021.

“It feels to the teachers like you want us to work for the least amount that you can get from us,” Lyon said during the meeting.

Several teachers spoke out against the superintendent pay raise, saying they felt undervalued. The crowd shouted “shame” several times after the board voted to approve the superintendent’s salary increase.

Trustee Ed Sheffield acknowledged he received hundreds of messages in the last two months since the district proposed a raise for Kitamura. He acknowledged the optics were bad and said the state needed to better fund public schools.

You can reach Staff Writer Susan Minichiello at 707-521-5216 or susan.minichiello@pressdemocrat.com.