Trustee Jose Flores of the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District board has resigned for “personal reasons,” Superintendent Ruben Zepeda confirmed.
Flores’ position as a trustee had been preventing his wife from applying for a lead preschool teacher position that opened in the district mid-year, said Board President Jennifer Colby.
“It’s not a bad reflection of the district or anything. It’s just that his spouse has not been able to get a promotion because that would be a conflict of interest,” Colby said. “It’s not a guarantee that she would get that position but he would want her to have the opportunity to apply.”
The board will have 60 days, or until Jan. 24, to fill the open position either by special election or by an application and interview process, Colby said. In a small communities such as the Aromas and San Juan Bautista areas, there have been previous occasions when trustees were married to people working in the school district, Colby said.
“You can have a spouse working in the district apparently, but ever since he came on the board she’s been unable to take a promotion because that would be a conflict of interest,” Colby said.
Flores’ wife, Maria, is a teacher at the district’s Tom Connolly “Mi Escuelita” Preschool.
“I had noticed that there was a challenge in retaining master teachers at the preschool,” Flores said. “And that has been an on-going issue for the time I’ve been on the board.”
Flores and his wife wanted more stability for students at the preschool so they made the decision to have Flores resign so his wife could apply for the position, he said.
“My wife she is qualified, actually, to be a master teacher,” Flores said. “But myself being on the board — it was considered a conflict of interest.”
The superintendent and board president received a letter announcing Flores’ resignation just before Thanksgiving.
“He basically said he resigned but he thanked the school district employees and the board and the community for their support and didn’t really go into any specific reasons,” Zepeda said.
Board trustees already had a budget study session planned for 6 p.m. Dec. 3 at San Juan School, but now they’ve added an item to discuss and vote on how to fill the vacancy. Candidates could interview for the position at a public meeting, or the district could hold a special election that could cost between $6,000 and $7,000, Zepeda said.
“We could ask for a special election but, of course, that costs money and it’s perfectly appropriate to have a process where the people apply,” Colby said. “In fact, I think it’s more rigorous than an election.”
For more information on the board position, call the district office at (831) 623-4500 or attend the meeting at San Juan School at 100 Nyland Drive in San Juan Bautista.
