Trustees became students at the April 8 meeting of the Pleasanton Unified School District board, with back-to-back workshops on ethics and finances.
“We believe in ongoing professional learning as a school district, and this is modeled by our Trustees, who are always willing and interested in learning together as a team,” Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi said.
Representatives of the Kingsley Bogard Law Firm led the five elected school board members through a detailed review of laws governing ethics and conflicts of interest. Attorney Mary Bogard cited a 1985 court case, in which it was established that conflict-of-interest laws are designed to halt not only impropriety, but also “the appearance of impropriety.”
Attorney Paul Gant reviewed specifics of the Political Reform Act, noting that the underlying principle is to ensure that “public officials are here to serve the public interest.”
Each year, school board members, district administrators, school principals and other designated staff members are required to file a form listing their income and assets, including gifts.
Gant said trustees are prohibited from accepting payments for giving a speech or writing an article.
There are exceptions, including returning the unused gift within 30 days; donating it to a non-profit 501(c)3 organization or paying fair market value for the item. The intent is to prevent decision-makers from being swayed by personal financial gain, either for themselves, their family members or their businesses.
The Board Handbook outlines the “Three D’s” for a public official who may be in a conflict of interest prior to a decision: Disclose by publicly announcing the specific financial interest that is the source of the disqualification; do not participate in the discussion or vote upon the issue; and depart, not only from the dais, but also the room during the discussion and vote.
The focus of the next workshop will be on the long-term debt of the district and how it is being managed.
Luz Cazares, deputy superintendent of business services, described the four kinds of long-term debt the school district currently has: general obligation bonds, certificates of participation, capital leases and other post-employment benefits.
As of the June 30, 2013 audit, the school district owed $65 million for general obligation bonds approved by voters in Measures A and B for school facility renovations and expansions. This year’s payment was $13 million.
Cazares explained that the county determines the tax rate based on assessed valuation and the debt payments due. Currently the district’s tax rate is $92 per $100,000 assessed valuation, placing it in the middle of the K-12 districts in the county.
The tax rate for the district is expected to drop to $69 next fiscal year, then to zero in 10 years, when the bonds are paid off, providing that the projection of 2-4% growth per year in assessed valuation holds true. According to Cazares, the district’s assessed valuation increased by 4% this year.
Certificates of participation were issued to finance additional high school classrooms, build a child care facility, acquire land for Thomas Hart Middle School and pay for the infrastructure for the Neal site. The district currently owes $17.5 million in this category.
Developer fees were used to pay for certificates of participation, with a special reserve set up for economic times when developer fees might not be available.
The smallest amount of long-term debt is in the capital lease category. The district owes $215,750 for lighting retrofits and heating/ventilation/air-conditioning at school sites.
This year’s payment was $143,908. The final payment will be made in the 2015-16 fiscal year, and then the money formerly budgeted for this purpose will be added to the fund for technology.
Cazares noted that because the district has been able to reduce the amount it pays for annual debt service, the savings have been set aside in a separate fund for technology. Trustee Chris Grant suggested that the board begin planning a long-term financial strategy not only for school facilities, but also for technology.
The final type of long-term debt is “other post-employment benefits,” meaning other than pensions.
The present value of future benefits is $41 million, with $17 million accrued actuarial liability. Government Accounting Standard Board Statement No. 45 now requires school districts to demonstrate how they will pay the accrued actuarial liability.
Pleasanton has set aside $2.4 million in a special reserve fund. The deputy superintendent said that she may bring a proposal to the board next fall to establish a trust fund to fulfill the obligations for other post-retirement benefits. That looks more feasible now that the economy is improving, she said, since trust funds cannot be tapped for other purposes. No action would be likely before 2015.
The school board has asked staff members to draft a request for proposal to accomplish two tasks: Identify, evaluate and acquire land for an additional elementary school, and explore the possibility of a sale or exchange of real property.
During the brief public comment section that preceded the workshops, two staff members repeated concerns they expressed at the March 11 board meeting.
Mary Snell, health clerk at Walnut Grove Elementary, and Linda Pipe, registrar at Amador Valley High, claimed their reputations have been damaged because they were inaccurately portrayed in an investigative report centered around allegations that then-Walnut Grove principal Jon Vranesh used derogatory language against female teachers and created a hostile work environment.
Vranesh denies allegations of wrongdoing.
Pipe and Snell acknowledged that the superintendent responded to them in writing by March 13, but the pair were not satisfied by Ahmadi’s invitation to review their personnel files and add any comments they wished to write out. Both sought apologies.
Walnut Grove parent Paige Wright-Henry also spoke to board members, asking them to consider a second investigation into the allegations at her children’s school, claiming that the last one was based on “unsubstantiated hearsay.”
Another speaker was Alex Sutton, president of the California School Employees Association, who invited board members to “sit down at the table to hear issues,” to make sure they were fully informed of what was happening in the school district.
Newport Academy received numerous state citations before closing Pleasanton clinicsApril 28, 2026 6:00 am