The West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) board will convene for a special meeting March 16 at 6 p.m. over Zoom to address the question of identity that rises in the wake of its divided March 10 vote to consolidate Analy and El Molino High Schools, shifting student populations to different campuses this coming fall.
The agenda and Zoom link information is available here: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36030891&MID=6171
The agenda states Superintendent Toni Beal will seek approval for the rebranding of Analy High and Laguna High School in the 2021-22 school year, to present the identity of one merged student population of a single comprehensive high school and for the continuation high school’s new horizons in location and approach to education.
“The district is committed to creating a unified community through this consolidation process and not an environment where one school community is absorbed by another,” the agenda item regarding Analy said.
As the Analy and El Molino student bodies will soon share a home in Sebastopol, the agenda said, “We believe this change will help unify both school communities around a new district wide identity.”
Meanwhile, the district’s continuation high school will soon move to the El Molino campus along with the district office, away from its namesake, the Laguna de Santa Rosa. According to its respective agenda item, Laguna “is also changing their approach to alternative education and is requesting a rebranding as a way to mark this new focus.”
New school, new leadership
Last, the Director of Human Resources Mia Del Prete will lead a discussion on selecting a principal for the consolidated west county high school.
“Our goal is to unite our two communities together in a consolidated high school, and so we want to have both communities involved in choosing the new leader of that high school,” Superintendent Toni Beal said in a phone call.
Appointing either current El Molino Principal Matthew Dunkle or Analy Principal Shauna Ferdinandson wouldn’t honor that, she said. “We had conversations with them about the fact that there would only be one principal for our consolidated school and that both of them were welcome to apply for that principal position,” Beal said.
As certificated staff, both received a preliminary notice of possible release before the March 15 layoff notice deadline, but their notices include the possibility of being reassigned to another district position, like vice principal or priority in the hiring process for a teacher, according to Beal.
The superintendent said the vice principals would remain on staff. One Analy vice principal has resigned for other opportunities, but Analy Vice Principal Erin Elliot intends to stay and the district has asked that El Molino Vice Principal Dani Barese stay on as well, she said.
However, the district will be hiring for a third vice principal position. Meanwhile, Laguna Principal Allie Greene will remain, seeking a rebranding to “unite around a new vision and a new name for the continuation high school,” with other Laguna staff, Beal said.
The district is setting an “aggressive schedule” beginning with the process opening March 17, “so the new principal can be an active part of the transition,” the agenda said. The goal is to have the principal selected by March 31, so they can be approved by the board on April 14.
According to the agenda, the vetting process includes a “paper screening committee” of Beal, El Molino Vice Principal Dani Barese, an Analy Vice Principal, Erin Elliott, and four teachers, two from both Analy and two from El Molino. The nine-member committee will also include one classified staff person from each of the two schools.
Then, the first interview committee will include 15 members, consisting of Beal, Barese, Elliot, four teachers, two guidance counselors, two classified staff, two community members and two students, half of all from the Analy community and the other half from El Molino community, the agenda said.
The second interview committee will be made up of Beal, Del Prete, Laguna Principal Allie Greene and two trustees slated to meet April 9 so far, though “location and time will be determined at a later date,” the agenda said.
Del Prete seeks the board’s choice of trustees for the second interview committee while site administrators and union heads will collaborate with her to select the other committee members, according to the agenda.
