The Pride flag took most of Wednesday night. Here is everything else the Sonoma Valley Unified School Board handled on October 8, including a few things worth your attention.
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Oct 9, 2026 · @Leigh Cavalier
This happens every month, and it is worth naming.
The flag question took the bulk of Wednesday night. Twenty-five speakers, ninety seconds each, an hour of deliberation, three motions. It is the thing people will remember, and we wrote about it separately.
Meanwhile the Board also heard that some elementary students are not getting into their school library every week. That a sensory room for special education students at Sassarini still does not exist. That there have been zero fights at the high school this year, down from sixteen two years ago. And it removed an item from its own agenda fifty-five seconds into the meeting without explaining why.
None of that got a headline. Some of it should have.
Some elementary students are not getting to the library
This came from the Superintendent, in his own update, under the district's own literacy priority.
"With our elementary libraries, we've talked a couple of times about staffing on that because we reduced staffing. So we are working right now to ensure that all of our elementary students are getting into the library once a week. Right now, there's a couple of places where that isn't happening, so we're looking to make that adjustment."
— Superintendent Jason Sutter
Read that again. The district reduced library staffing. Because of that reduction, there are elementary schools where students are not getting into the library weekly. The district is aware and says it is working on it.
Literacy is one of three stated district priorities this year. The others are attendance and building trust.
The same update included better news on literacy: SEAL Cycle 4 training for kindergarten through fifth grade teachers next week, and a planned meeting with the literacy program coordinator at the Sonoma County Office of Education about bringing science of reading training into the district.
But the library sentence is the one to hold onto. It is the district confirming, out loud, that a staffing cut is currently costing some children library time.
The special education move, five months in
Director of Special Education Troy Knox gave the first real update since the programs moved out of Prestwood. He asked for the item himself, and Trustee Guzman said he had requested the presentation because of how much concern families raised last year.
Where everyone landed. The Extensive Support Needs classes went to Sassarini. The ESN preschool program went to Flowery. The mild-to-moderate class moved from Sassarini to El Verano, and a second one was added there for kindergarten through second grade, so students needing more support get it earlier.
The numbers. Roughly 2.2 students per staff member in the ESN classrooms, which Knox said is comparable to the nonpublic school programs the district sometimes pays for. Ninety-four percent of that staff is district-hired, six percent contracted.
What is working. Knox credited the receiving schools repeatedly. General education teachers at both sites are showing up to IEP meetings and orienting families to their new campuses. One of the ESN classrooms at Sassarini won an attendance award. Parent feedback has been positive.
What is not. Two things.
The sensory room at Sassarini still does not exist. The space is identified but occupied, and the holdup is licensing for another program's move. In the meantime a conference room is being used as a temporary sensory room. When Trustee Lehman asked what the Board should be most aware of, Knox named this as the priority.
And elopement, students leaving campus, has happened this year. Trustee Ching asked about it directly, because families raised it as a concern before the move. Knox said staff have responded quickly, and that gates with push bars, which students could simply push open, were replaced the day of the meeting.
There is also no formal parent satisfaction survey for families of students with IEPs. Ching asked. Knox said feedback currently comes through the IEP process itself, and that a school-wide survey would be more appropriate for all new families.
Zero fights at the high school this year
This is the best news of the night and almost nobody heard it.
Police Chief Cutting pulled five years of campus numbers and read them into the record:
2022: three fights, one weapon, one drug possession
2023: seven fights, two weapons displayed
2024: sixteen fights, ten resulting in reports, two weapons charges
2025: eight fights, five reports, two weapons charges
2026: no fights, no reports
He said the number was so unusual he went looking for an explanation. Campuses normally mirror the community around them, and the community is not this peaceful.
His conclusion was that it is the staff.
"The school counselors, teachers administration are all working to mediate all those off-campus conflicts that are taking place, and they're doing a fantastic job. We don't have those happening on the campus. So without those teachers, counselors and all of the administrative staff and all the work they've been doing, we would have more circumstances on the campus because they are occurring off campus."
He went further: "Today's Dragon community is serving the micro model of what our entire community could be with shared goals and a positive structure like they have currently."
The adults at that school are absorbing conflict that starts somewhere else and keeping it off campus. That is what the number means.
Suspension and expulsion, and the word "may"
The Board took a first read of revised policy on student discipline and due process. Most of the changes come straight from the California School Boards Association and strengthen protections for foster youth, Native children, and students experiencing homelessness.
Two trustees pushed on something real.
Trustee Landry objected to how much of the policy says a student "may" be expelled rather than "shall." Her point was that discretion cuts both ways:
"It really leaves it up to the discretion of the people making the decision... We want everyone across the board as SVHS students to understand these things are a will expel, regardless of circumstances."
Trustee Ching asked why causing serious physical injury is not on the mandatory expulsion list when selling a firearm or committing sexual assault are. Staff explained that Education Code gives administrators room to consider other means of correction in injury cases. Ching asked whether the Board could add to the state's language.
She also asked why the "continuing danger" standard covers only physical safety.
"Why don't we consider emotional safety to the student? If somebody is harassing the student emotionally, like, why isn't that a consideration? Why is it just only if you, you know, hit me with a hammer with a baseball bat?"
Associate Superintendent Sanchez-Mosley said the language comes from Education Code, and agreed to take both questions to legal counsel and report back on where the Board has room to go further.
President Bell raised a recent incident where a student brought a knife to campus intending to use it in a possible altercation, and received a five-day suspension. He argued intent should matter:
"If you've got a student that brings a knife to school to say, I'm gonna use it. If this happens, I don't think that's not worthy of a five-day suspension. I think that should be an expulsion."
This is a first read, so nothing was adopted. It comes back.
A power pole, and an item that vanished
The pole. Sunday morning a power pole came down and took out all electricity to Sonoma Valley High School. Normally you call PG&E. In this case the pole sits on district property, which makes the repair the district's problem and the district's cost.
Four industrial generators were brought in, a fifth arrived Thursday, and the campus lost one day of instruction. Superintendent Sutter thanked the maintenance team and specifically praised how the high school communicated with families during the outage. The district is still working with PG&E on restoring normal power.
The item. The meeting was fifty-five seconds old when Trustee Lehman moved to approve the agenda "with one edit removing 13.3 from our agenda." It was seconded and approved. Nobody asked why.
Item 13.3 was the Unconditional Commitment Letter, packet pages 118 to 121. No reason was given, and it has not been rescheduled on the record.
We are going to write about that one on its own, because it deserves more than a paragraph.
What comes back, and when
The Board asked for several things to return to future agendas.
The student discipline matrix. Every trustee wanted this, and wanted it soon. This is the document that determines what actually happens to a student for a given offense. If you have ever wondered how discipline decisions get made in this district, this is the meeting to attend.
The cell phone policy. Goes back to the Board Policy committee. The dispute is over what "away" means. President Bell said he understood it to mean in a backpack, and that phones in pockets are still accessible and still distracting. Staff will gather input from the middle and high schools.
D and F rates. Trustee Ching asked for student performance data broken out by class, subject and grade level at the high school. Trustee Lehman agreed but ranked it below the discipline matrix.
Suspension and expulsion, for a second read, with answers from legal counsel on the questions above.
The Board also decided to hold fewer study sessions and move regular district business back into regular meetings. Trustee Ching made the case plainly: "we want to make it easier for the public to have access to those conversations." That is a small win for anyone who wants to watch this district work.
Why this matters
Every month this Board returns to a question it reopened itself, and the district's actual work gets whatever time is left over.
Wednesday night the Board also learned that a staffing cut is keeping some elementary students out of their library, that a sensory room promised to special education families still has not been built, and that the adults at the high school have driven campus violence to zero without anyone saying thank you in public.
That is not the fault of the students who keep showing up. They are defending something that was theirs, that they asked for, that their student body voted on. They did not put this back on the agenda. Three trustees did, for the fifth meeting running, and then had a few minutes left for a sensory room that still does not exist.
The next regular Board meeting is in November. Public comment is open to anyone, on any of it.
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Lo que la bandera enterró
La bandera del Orgullo ocupó casi toda la noche del miércoles. Esto es todo lo demás que la Mesa Directiva trató el 8 de octubre, incluyendo algunas cosas que merecen su atención.
Esto pasa cada mes, y vale la pena nombrarlo.
La pregunta de la bandera se llevó la mayor parte de la noche. Veinticinco personas hablaron, noventa segundos cada una, una hora de deliberación, tres mociones. Es lo que la gente va a recordar, y escribimos sobre eso por separado.
Mientras tanto, la Mesa también escuchó que algunos estudiantes de primaria no están entrando a la biblioteca de su escuela cada semana. Que un cuarto sensorial para estudiantes de educación especial en Sassarini todavía no existe. Que no ha habido ni una pelea en la preparatoria este año, comparado con dieciséis hace dos años. Y eliminó un punto de su propia agenda a los cincuenta y cinco segundos de empezar la reunión, sin explicar por qué.
Algunos estudiantes de primaria no están llegando a la biblioteca
Esto lo dijo el propio Superintendente, en su informe, bajo la prioridad de alfabetización del distrito.
"Con nuestras bibliotecas de primaria, hemos hablado un par de veces sobre el personal porque redujimos el personal. Así que estamos trabajando ahora mismo para asegurar que todos nuestros estudiantes de primaria entren a la biblioteca una vez por semana. En este momento hay un par de lugares donde eso no está sucediendo."
— Superintendente Jason Sutter
El distrito redujo el personal de bibliotecas. Por esa reducción, hay escuelas primarias donde los estudiantes no están entrando a la biblioteca cada semana. El distrito lo sabe y dice que está trabajando en ello.
La alfabetización es una de las tres prioridades declaradas del distrito este año. Las otras son la asistencia y construir confianza.
La mudanza de educación especial, cinco meses después
El Director de Educación Especial, Troy Knox, dio el primer informe real desde que los programas salieron de Prestwood.
Dónde quedó cada quien. Las clases de Necesidades de Apoyo Extensivo (ESN) fueron a Sassarini. El programa preescolar ESN fue a Flowery. La clase de apoyo leve a moderado se mudó de Sassarini a El Verano, y se agregó una segunda ahí para kínder a segundo grado.
Lo que está funcionando. Knox reconoció repetidamente a las escuelas que recibieron a los estudiantes. Maestros de educación general en ambos planteles están asistiendo a las reuniones de IEP y orientando a las familias. Los comentarios de los padres han sido positivos.
Lo que no. El cuarto sensorial en Sassarini todavía no existe. El espacio está identificado pero ocupado, y la demora es por la licencia de otro programa. Mientras tanto se usa una sala de conferencias como cuarto sensorial temporal. Cuando el fideicomisario Lehman preguntó qué debería preocuparle más a la Mesa, Knox nombró esto como la prioridad.
Y ha habido casos de estudiantes que salen del plantel sin permiso. La fideicomisaria Ching preguntó directamente, porque las familias lo habían planteado antes de la mudanza. Knox dijo que el personal ha respondido rápido, y que las rejas que los estudiantes podían simplemente empujar fueron reemplazadas el mismo día de la reunión.
Cero peleas en la preparatoria este año
Esta es la mejor noticia de la noche y casi nadie la escuchó.
El Jefe de Policía Cutting presentó cinco años de cifras del plantel:
2022: tres peleas, un arma, una posesión de drogas
2023: siete peleas, dos armas exhibidas
2024: dieciséis peleas, diez con reporte, dos cargos por armas
2025: ocho peleas, cinco reportes, dos cargos por armas
2026: ninguna pelea, ningún reporte
Dijo que la cifra era tan inusual que buscó una explicación. Su conclusión fue que es el personal.
"Los consejeros escolares, los maestros y la administración están trabajando para mediar todos esos conflictos que ocurren fuera del plantel, y están haciendo un trabajo fantástico."