Trustee Bell's May 4 Office Hours: An Advocate for Librarians He Already Voted to Cut

At his May 4, 2026 public office hours session at Sassarini Elementary School, SVUSD Board President David Bell told constituents he is "an advocate for librarians" and named Sassarini librarian Danielle Smith specifically as someone he values. Three months earlier, in February 2026, Bell voted with the board majority to authorize the layoff actions that pink-slipped Smith and her colleagues. The pink slips are not yet final. The 2026-27 budget vote, which follows the June 18 LCAP adoption, will determine whether those positions are eliminated or rescinded. Bell's May 4 statement of advocacy comes during the only remaining window when board action could still save the positions he is praising. There is no public record of him advocating at the board level over the three months between his vote and his statement.

The meeting opened with Bell telling SSA founder Leigh Cavalier, in front of CSEA President John Gray: "I will not answer any questions from you because you're disrespectful." Gray witnessed the statement. Substantive questions came from Gray, from El Verano parent Elizabeth (whose child has special needs, and who joined later), and from Sassarini fourth grade teacher Maggie Jansen Pat (who joined later still). Cavalier observed and recorded.

The Librarian Contradiction

When Gray pushed back on the librarian cuts, saying librarians get kids excited about reading and cutting them is detrimental to the district's literacy goals, Bell questioned how often kids are in the library, then said: "If we want to keep librarians, hey, I'm okay with that." The conditional sentiment has not been backed by a vote.

When Maggie joined, she explained that under reduced staffing, students will have no library access for two and a half of their five school days. Three librarian tech positions are being eliminated. Bell asked: "Is it a positive or negative if no techs are in the library?" Twice in the meeting he questioned whether library staffing matters at all. He then said the goal is "highly qualified people in just the right job," a framing that implies the staff he voted to pink-slip in February are not the right people in the right job.

Bell repeatedly cited Mississippi as a literacy model, the sixth time SSA has documented him doing so at office hours, without addressing that Mississippi's gains came from sustained financial investment in intervention infrastructure. SVUSD's trajectory is the opposite: cutting instructional staff while invoking Mississippi as the playbook. At one point Bell said directly: do not talk budget deficits. He said this while proposing additional hires. Refusing to connect literacy outcomes to budget while simultaneously proposing new programming is not a coherent governance posture.

Elizabeth: "Tough Titties"

Elizabeth asked Bell why he voted for the third charter when he is now proposing cuts at El Verano. Bell did not directly answer, citing per-pupil funding figures. Elizabeth pushed back, noting Bell gave away the campus for free, and asked why families enrolling at MacArthur Park did not enroll at the two existing charter options.

Bell did not answer. He demanded: "Tell me who we're firing at El Verano. Name them." When Elizabeth said she had read about pink slips at El Verano, Bell said the district has declining enrollment and "you have to rightsize." Three months earlier, Bell voted to approve MacArthur Park Charter, which will enroll over 200 students inside SVUSD facilities, abandoning the rightsizing logic the moment he voted to add charter capacity that draws ADA dollars away from remaining district students.

Pressed again, Bell said: "I believe in choice." When Elizabeth pointed out parents already had two charter options, Bell said: "I'm not here to debate." When she pressed: "Why did you take money from the public schools and give it to the charter?" Bell's response, on the record: "Tough titties if you don't want to go to the charter."

That phrase, said by an elected school board president to the parent of a special needs child whose campus is losing staff because of a charter that same trustee approved, is now part of the public record of his tenure.

A Pattern of Refusing to Engage

When Maggie raised her question, Elizabeth attempted to re-engage in support. Bell turned to her and said she was being rude. This is the same response pattern Bell used on Leigh Cavalier at the start of the meeting, and the same pattern documented across multiple prior office hours meetings over the past year. Constituents ask substantive questions. Bell labels them rude or disrespectful. He uses that label as grounds for not answering.

When Maggie asked for more conversation between teachers and the board, Bell's solution was that more teachers should attend board meetings. Maggie, a single mother with two children, explained she does not have the bandwidth for evening meetings. She offered a counter-proposal: trustees should come to schools at lunchtime to talk with teachers. Bell's closing response: "Everyone has their motivations in this business. They must come to the board meetings."

The complaint that the board does not engage stakeholders has been raised at every SVUSD board meeting SSA has documented over Bell's eighteen-month tenure. Stakeholder engagement is not optional under California law. Education Code Section 52060 and following sections require meaningful consultation with parents, teachers, students, and the broader community in the development of the LCAP.

What the Pink Slips Mean and What the June Vote Will Decide

The February 2026 board action authorized layoff notices to specific positions, including the three librarian techs and seven special education instructional assistants. Pink slips are notices of potential layoff, not final terminations. Classified employees have rescission rights, and the board can rescind layoff notices before the budget is adopted. Final layoffs are confirmed alongside the 2026-27 budget the board adopts in June, after LCAP adoption on June 18. Danielle Smith's position is not yet eliminated. Public pressure between now and that vote is meaningful, not symbolic.

The 2026-27 LCAP draft has documented structural defects detailed in SSA's LCAP analysis: blank dollar fields across multiple contributing actions, an 11.24 percentage point gap on the Minimum Proportionality Percentage (3.593% committed against the legally required 14.833%), prior-year expenditures reported as $0 against millions planned, and the dissolution of the Wellness and Inclusion department.

The next forty-two days are the window for public pressure on the board. Constituents should submit comments by June 3 and attend the June 11 public hearing. For accountability questions to send directly to trustees, Superintendent Sutter, or Sonoma County Superintendent Dr. Amie Carter, see SSA's LCAP Responsibility Hierarchy and Accountability Questions document.