Placentia-Yorba Linda school board holds seven meetings in April on top management changes

 

The employment status of some of the top-level managers in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District was one agenda topic for seven trustee meetings scheduled last month, including three regular meetings and four special sessions.

And earlier this month, departure dates for two of the district's four assistant superintendents were listed on a personnel report approved 5-0 by trustees. Also, the newly hired superintendent began work two months before his originally scheduled start date.

At an April 28 special session, Alex Cherniss, who was hired to begin as superintendent July 1 on a 5-0 vote at a regular April 18 meeting, had his first day of work moved to May 1, also on a 5-0 vote.

The same meeting saw interim Superintendent Michael Matthews placed “on special assignment” from May 1 until his official resignation date June 30, on a 5-0 vote. The two votes came after trustees returned from a 15-minute closed-door session.

Cherniss was superintendent of the 11,000-student Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District since 2018. Previously, he led the 3,000-student San Marino Unified School District. The Palos Verdes district has 10 elementary, three intermediate and two high schools.

At an April 19 morning meeting, Rick Lopez, assistant superintendent for human resources, was reassigned “to new duties effective immediately.” Nancy Blade, one of two directors in the department, was named interim assistant superintendent “effective immediately.”

The vote on both actions was 3-0, after Leandra Blades, Todd Frazier and Shawn Youngblood returned from a 62-minute closed-door session. Marilyn Anderson and Carrie Buck were not present due to their participation in community events previously scheduled for that morning.

Lopez resigned his position effective June 30 and will start a similar job in the 6,370-student Claremont Unified School District July 1. The Claremont district is headed by Jim Elsasser, who was Placentia-Yorba Linda's superintendent for 18 months in 2021-22 before returning to the Claremont district he had served as superintendent for nearly nine years.

Also leaving the district is David Giordano, assistant superintendent for business services. His retirement is effective Sept. 30.

The four assistant superintendents were granted 5 percent pay hikes at the regular April 11 meeting. Annual salaries for Giordano; Lopez; Linda Adamson, who heads educational services; and Richard McAlindin, who heads executive services, were set at $218,340, retroactive to July 1, 2022 on a 5-0 vote.

The increases were a departure from a longtime district practice of granting all employees the same percentage salary increases. Trustees gave 7 percent hikes to all other certificated and classified employees on 5-0 votes at a March meeting.

Next scheduled meetings are June 6 for a public hearing on the budget and June 20, when instructional materials are up for adoption.

Yorba Linda to form Residents Committee on Housing to help prepare ballot measure to rezone properties to meet state housing mandate

 

Formation of a Residents Committee on Housing is a key component of a new plan to prepare a ballot measure to rezone enough land for Yorba Linda to meet a state requirement to provide opportunities for 2,415 housing units in the city's 2021-2029 General Plan Housing Element.

A previous rezoning bid failed miserably in November 2022, with 75% of ballots cast against the city's initial plan to meet the state mandate. A public vote on major changes to city zoning documents is required under an initiantive passed by a 299-vote margin in 2006.

The 2021-2029 housing plan was adopted by City Council members in February 2022 and “conditionally certified” by the state's Housing and Community Development department in April 2022. A successful second vote must be held in 2024 to maintain that certification.

Assembling and running a residents committee is the major element in a $50,000 contract with Irvine-based Tripepi Smith & Associates approved by the council at an April 18 meeting.

The committee will hold several meetings over the next few months to develop a revised housing plan with a goal to minimize negative impacts to the community while preserving state certification, Community Development Director David Brantley reported to the council.

Council members also have approved two contract extensions associated with preparing a revised housing element, with the aim of presenting the matter to voters in the November 2024 election.

An existing contract with Pasadena-based Karen Warner Associates has been extended to assist with plan revisions, including adjustments to the site inventory, changes to proposed densities on certain sites and the addition of one or more new sites, Brantley told the council.

The extension is based on “time and materials,” rather than a “set scope of work,” with an hourly rate of $215 for 150 hours and a “not to exceed” cost of $32,250, Brantley reported.

And an existing contract with Irvine-based T&B Planning has been amended to provide for additional technical studies that will be necessary because additional sites will be included in a revised inventory.

These studies will include traffic and noise analysis for a not-to-exceed cost of $128,040. Contract costs and others associated with the housing plan are to be covered from a $650,000 grant from state funds.

Brantley's report noted: “Obtaining and/or retaining state certification preserves local eligibility for numerous state funding programs, insulates the city from related legal challenges and prevents loss of local control due to other mechanisms in place to further the state's interest in solving the housing crisis.”

According to Brantley, such mechanisms include the “builder's remedy” that “allows developers to submit housing developments for 'by right' approval” in cities that don't have a certified housing plan, as well as “suspension of local planning and building permitting authority.”