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With the first day of school just around the corner, students, teachers, support staff and administrators are all getting set for a new academic year filled with some big changes and decisions that will affect the entire Pleasanton Unified School District.
However, Aug. 8 won’t just be the first day for families and faculty — it will also be the first chance for Maurice Ghysels to experience back-to-school day and meet with students across the city he grew up in as interim superintendent.
“I have an appropriate level of anxiety,” Ghysels said regarding the first day of school. “You got almost 14,000 kids, all of their families … it’s a lot of people. It’s a lot of interaction, it’s a lot of culture and politics.”
Apart from opening day jitters, Ghysels told the Weekly during a sit-down interview that he is ready to get to work on some big-ticket items at PUSD such as helping the district find a permanent superintendent, repairing relationships with families and faculty, and working with the community as the district continues to tackle ongoing budget challenges.
“Do I worry as much about outcomes like are we going to make it through this? No,” he said. “I have high hopes that we can pull (through this) together.”
Introducing the interim superintendent
Ghysels has had a long career in education that actually started right here in Pleasanton.
After his family moved to the city when he was 15 years old, Ghysels graduated from Amador Valley High School in 1974. He was originally planning on pursuing a career in economics but while he was in college, he decided to take on a substituting job at Foothill High School so he could make some extra money.
It was there that he fell in love with teaching and he decided to pursue it as a career. Before long, he accepted a job at Amador.
He said he loved his teaching job and had no intention of becoming an administrator until he eventually was persuaded to do so.
Since then Ghysels has gone on to become the Mountain View Whisman School District superintendent from 2005 to 2010; the Menlo Park City School District superintendent from 2011 to 2016; and the chief innovations officer in the Ravenswood City School District from 2017 to 2018.
While he formally retired from public employment in 2018, that did not stop Ghysels from continuing to contribute to the education world. He founded the Ghysels Group, which works with school districts on strategic planning, management and leadership change, and organizational development. He has continued to “keep his chops up”, as he said, while working with other districts.
So when he heard that PUSD was searching for an interim superintendent following the news that superintendent David Haglund was retiring at the end of June, Ghysels thought it would be a good idea to end his career the same way he started — being a substitute.
“I started as a substitute teacher and now, I’m ending as a substitute superintendent,” he said. “It’s just truly an honor.”
However, some community members have taken to social media over the past few months to criticize the district’s move to appoint Ghysels, who might not be as familiar with some of the current issues the district is facing.
One such resident is Kathleen Ruegsegger, a former school board member who pointed out how the district posted a job opening on EDJOIN, a recruitment site for educators, for the interim position. The job opening was posted on May 24 and was closed on June 5.
This was after Haglund first announced that he will be moving back to Southern California in order to be closer to family back in late April.
“I have never seen an interim superintendent position listed this way, and I do not know how many people applied or were ultimately interviewed,” Ruegsegger said. “It does seem like this selection was preordained … Ultimately, I do not know this gentleman.”
Others had also asked why didn’t the district appoint deputy superintendent Ed Diolazo as the new superintendent in accordance with the district’s succession plan in the case Haglund left the district. But as PUSD Board President Mary Jo Carreon previously explained that the district needed Diolazo in other departments and she believed the community deserved to be a part of the conversation in hiring its new superintendent.
That’s why the board decided to hire Ghysels — and so far, Carreon said it is encouraging to see him beginning to build relationships and foster culture with staff and other educational partners throughout the district so that he can better understand the issues the district is facing.
Challenges facing the district
One of the main issues Ghysels will have to quickly catch up on this school year is the budget deficit that the district has been trying to tackle over the past year.
“After two fiscal years of declining revenues, the state faces significant challenges that will directly impact public education funding,” according to the 2024-25 PUSD annual budget report. “The proposed 2024-25 budget meets the required 3% reserves for economic uncertainties for 2024-25 but will not meet those requirements for 2025-26 and 2026-27 as required by the state for a positive certification.”
The recently approved budget also had to take into account the new collective bargaining agreement between the district and the Association of Pleasanton Teachers, which included raises and better benefits for teachers that also increased the district’s expenditures.
That’s why since January, the district has been in discussions with the board regarding layoffs, reductions and any right-sizing it could do to save money over the next few years. This included a reduction in force process that was initiated in February where the district eliminated temporary positions and reduced its staff by about 57 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions for this new school year.
“All reductions/right sizing and changes for the 2024/25 school year are in the implementation process,” PUSD assistant superintendent of business services Ahmad Sheikholeslami told the Weekly. “We have also made further reductions in non-staffing costs to reduce our expenditures.
According to the 2024-25 budget report, six FTE positions were cut from management, 12.54 positions were cut from classified staff and 38.57 certificated positions were cut.
He added that the final number of reductions will be known during the first interim budget update later this year.
“This board is committed to being open and transparent throughout this difficult process,” Carreon said.
However, Ruegsegger said that the district needs to prioritize cutting management positions rather than certificated positions, which typically include teachers, so that the public can see it is putting its students and faculty before district staff.
“I think the amount of staff at the district office needs to be looked at, particularly with a tighter budget,” she said. “Rebuilding trust already is a big order, but it will be most important to carry any improvements made through to the new superintendent.”
While Ghysels called out the declining enrollment, low cost-of-living adjustments from the state, depleting COVID relief funds and the overall discrepancy between how much employees are making and how much it costs to live in the Bay Area, he also said the only way he and the district will be able to address these budget issues is by listening to the community.
“I’ve been here for three weeks and I’m not going to come in with a bunch of top-down decrees,” he said. “I want to go back to the culture of building relationships, building trust, cohesion, working on this together, being transparent. And that’s going to take some time.”
One thing that PUSD is currently doing in the spirit of working together to address these budget issues is continuing to work with the district’s Budget Advisory Committee to plan for future reductions and rightsizing in the 2025-26 budget that will be necessary in order for the district to remain fiscally solvent.
“This dynamic committee is made up of Pleasanton community members, parents/guardians and PUSD certificated and classified staff,” Carreon said. “I am planning for either a special board meeting or town hall to discuss these budget reductions so our community can be well informed and provide input as well.”
Sheikholeslami said the committee’s next meeting will be scheduled for Aug. 13 where it will begin analyzing data and finalize a framework to evaluate reductions and revenue options.
Ghysels also said it is important to remember that due to inflation, people like PUSD teachers are not making enough money to survive and said they need to continue to pay teachers well in order to retain them, which is why he also wants to address another main issue at the district level: rebuilding the district’s relationship with faculty and the community.
“I have often spoken about the lack of trust, communication, and how decisions are made which is affecting teachers, students, and parents,” Ruegsegger said. “While it is a tall order for an interim, Dr. Ghysels needs to be highly visible to these groups. He needs to listen to those willing to speak. Being on social media is nice, but it is insufficient for our community.”
Ghysels said teachers are who make the biggest impact on the students’ education and lives, which is why he wants to address the contentious negotiations between the district and the APT last year, which resulted in the threat of a strike, so that the entire community can begin to heal and move forward in a more positive direction.
“APT is looking forward to working with Maurice Ghysels to foster solutions that will best serve our students, teachers and staff,” APT President Evan Branning told the Weekly.
Looking ahead to the future
Ghysels said his main goal is to set up Pleasanton with the permanent superintendent it deserves and because he came on as an interim, he believes he is in the best position to do so because he isn’t doing this job for money, he is doing it for the district.
Carreon also said finding the district’s new leader will be the school board’s most important job this school year and that they are taking the responsibility very seriously.
But finding that new superintendent will take some time.
In June, the Board of Trustees approved a contract with a search firm that will begin gathering input from the community in the next couple of months in order to create what’s known as a leadership profile, which basically outlines the desired characteristics of what the community wants in the future superintendent.
A subcommittee made up of Carreon and Board Vice President Justin Brown has been working with the search firm to address any issues leading up to the engagement efforts, which is set to continue until Oct. 10, which is when the board will vote to approve the leadership profile before continuing with the search process.
“Our subcommittee has met over the summer and in a few weeks will begin the process of listening to what our community wants in our next superintendent,” Carreon said. “I encourage everyone to look for upcoming announcements of when/where to attend these important meetings. After listening to community input we will decide the next steps.”
Ghysels will also be a part of the district’s ongoing discussion regarding Measure I and Measure I1 projects that have been underway for quite some time now, which are either set to be completed or will begin construction during this next year.
“We are very excited to have foundational work underway for the design and planning process for the Amador and Foothill performing arts centers and gyms as well as our expansion at elementary schools to support our youngest learners in early education and transitional kindergarten,” Carreon said.
She was referring to the facility renovation plans that were part of the $390 million Measure I bond, which plan to build completely new theaters and athletic facilities at both high schools.
According to Sheikholeslami, the district has issued a request for proposal for the designing of both projects and is working with three firms who will compete to win the design build competition. He said the district is planning to select the firms that will create the design for each project by the fourth quarter of the year.
As for the elementary school expansion projects that Carreon mentioned, Sheikholeslami said the design of the new three-classroom transitional kindergarten complex at Donlon Elementary School is complete. He also said the design for similar transitional kindergarten complexes at Fairlands Elementary School — which will have four new classrooms and at Walnut Grove Elementary School — which will have three new classrooms — are also complete.
The project designs for Donlon and Fairlands have been submitted to the Division of the State Architect for plan review and permit and the district expects construction for both projects to begin in the first quarter of this school year. Sheikholeslami said the design for Walnut Grove will be complete in the first quarter of 2025 and construction will be set to begin in the second half of 2025.
Over at Pleasanton Middle School, Sheikholeslami said the construction of the new asphalt play surface is currently underway and will be completed in August. The project consists of new basketball courts, futsal courts, pickleball courts and four square courts.
The design to create a new synthetic field and track at PMS will be completed toward the end of the year with construction set to begin in the second quarter of the school year.
Another big Measure I project is to tear down the existing Village High School and old district offices at Bernal Avenue in order to build the Educational Options Center. Sheikholeslami said the district has issued a request for qualifications for the design of the new building that will act as a replacement for Village as well as a home for the district’s other services like the Pleasanton Virtual Academy.
Over the summer, temporary classrooms for Village students and staff were constructed so that folks can begin occupying them this year.
He said a design build competition is expected to be complete toward the end of 2024 with a firm selected and design beginning in 2025.
As for projects that were part of the 2016 Measure I1 bond, Sheikholeslami said the district is finishing up the last three fire alarm upgrade projects at Foothill, Amador and Hart Middle School, which he said should be completed by September or October. He also said heating, ventilation and air conditioning replacements for PMS will be completed in August and later in the fall the district will work on replacing the systems at the gym in Harvest Park Middle School.
And while all of this might seem a lot for an interim superintendent who hasn’t been around for any of these past discussions, Ghysels said he will do his best to work alongside the community to do what’s necessary for PUSD during his time at the helm.
“I’ll do what it takes to keep the ship going smoothly and with steadiness,” he said. “And along the way, use it as a reason to build a stronger culture, a more positive culture, trust and relationships.”
“According to the 2024-25 budget report, six FTE positions were cut from management, 12.54 positions were cut from classified staff and 38.57 certificated positions were cut.” This absolutely tells the story of PUSD’s trust and financial problems: more personnel were cut away from students than management positions. Kids (should) come first.