Fired Sonoma Valley Schools Superintendent Hired for Newly Created, Short Lived 'Equity' Role with City of Santa Rosa to Direct PG&E and ARPA Childcare Funds
Sonoma Valley Superintendent Shiels was fired by the district & hired by the City of Santa Rosa to provide 'equitable' input for ARPA and PG&E fund disbursements
As cited from a November 2020 article in The Sonoma Index-Tribune, Sonoma Valley Superintendent Socorro Shiels was abruptly dismissed by the Sonoma Valley Unified School Board through a unanimous closed session vote.
“The dismissal of Shiels, whose contract paid her $203,751 a year, plus a $400 monthly vehicle allowance, is effective immediately, said board President John Kelly. Her contract had been set to expire at the end of June, and she will be paid the balance of the contract, per the agreement.
Shiels was not fired “for cause,” Kelly said Wednesday. Rather, she “was released pursuant to the ’termination without cause’ clause of her contract.” He stressed that the board “thanked her for her long record of public service, with essentially her entire adult life devoted to education.
Shiels, 49, was hired in May of 2018 as superintendent of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District following an extensive search that drew 30 candidates from four states.
Before coming to Sonoma, Shiels worked for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, a state agency that advises districts under a new state accountability system. She served as the agency’s education director, working with volunteer districts with the goal of improving community engagement, decision-making and student success.
From 2012 to 2016, Shiels was superintendent of Santa Rosa City Schools, the county’s largest district with more than 16,000 students across 25 school sites. During that time she presided over two successful bond measures and earned praise from the district’s leadership at her time of departure. Her time in Santa Rosa was marked by strained relationships with teachers, which one union official said stemmed from a top-down leadership style.
On October 21, 2020, the City of Santa Rosa posted a job opening for a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and EEO Officer position.
As referenced from Transparent California, this appeared to be a newly created role which was filled by Ms. Socorro Shiels.
Per City of Santa Rosa Council Meeting Minutes dated November 30, 2021:
At the October 26, 2021 study session, the Council received a presentation on potential programs using $34.4 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and the remaining $7 million of PG&E settlement funds. The Council provided feedback to staff to either return with more information, or to find ways to redirect funding to projects initially not receiving funding. Ms. Shiels was amongst the staff recruited to develop a revised spending plan.
To move forward with a spending plan, the staff working group reviewing these programs assembled lists of programs that seemed to have Council support to move forward, which are shown below. The program costs shown below reflect their total cost including third-party administration of the program. At $24,990,000 in proposed program expenditures, $9,287,436 would be available for additional programming.
The Council requested additional information on several programs, relative to who would be served and how the program would be administered. Ms. Shiels specific focus regarded the allocation of children and childcare support programs.
Staff’s presentation at the November 30, 2021 Santa Rosa City Council Meeting requested $1,575,000 ($1.5M of program funds; $75k Admin cost) to establish a children’s savings account (initially proposed as “Baby Bonds” Program).
The City would partner with First 5 Sonoma County to expand existing state programs.
While employed with the City of Santa Rosa, the City confirmed that she was not listed as a designated filer within the conflict of interest code. Therefore, she did not complete a statement of economic interest (Form 700) to disclose her reportable financial interest.
Ms. Shiels served as a First 5 Commissioner while developing the Strategic Plan 2021-2025. While developing the Plan, she was a part of the Strategic Planning Design & Strategic Planning Advisory teams.
Ms. Ana Lugo, Equity First Consulting was selected as the strategic planning consultant by the First 5 Commission.
The Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy Final Draft (March 2021) cited the following in the footnotes:
“Lugo, A. & Shiels, S. (2021). Diversity, Equity, and Belonging (DEB) Brief: Analysis of the Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy, Equity First Consulting”
According to Ms. Shiels’ resume, she was hired as the Lead Associate for Equity First Consulting beginning December 2020, one month after being fired from Sonoma Valley Unified.
As included in Staff’s presentation from the November 30, 2021 Council Meeting, $10M was requested as a donation from ARPA funds to Boys/Girls Club for their construction of a clubhouse facility in Roseland.
While the Boys and Girls Club monies were awarded, an ongoing lawsuit alleging that the Sonoma Boys & Girls Club covered up the former athletic director’s child sex assault for years was brought to light in The Sonoma Index-Tribune.
“The August lawsuit seeks damages related to 11 complaints dating back to 2006, including negligence, gender violence, sex slavery and torture. It includes allegations against 100 former club employees, at both the Sonoma Valley and Petaluma Boys & Girls Club, the latter of which closed in 2017 and re-opened under the Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma-Marin, which is also named in the suit.
Victims, parents, employees and community members alerted club officials to Kilgore’s inappropriate behaviors multiple times, as detailed in the suit, but he was allowed to continue working with children unrestricted.”
Santa Rosa City Councilmember & CA D2 Candidate Chris Rogers appeared to serve as the Sonoma-Marin Boys & Girls Club Director of Community Engagement through December 2020. As someone who does not appear to have any background working with children, it is unclear as to why or when he was officially hired. He omitted this position entirely from his LinkedIn profile.
On December 2, 2020, an email was exchanged between Sonoma Valley Unified Board Trustee John Kelly and Sonoma Valley Boys & Girls Club Director Cary Snowden.
“Great email. Hang in there John. As I said, let me know if I or BGC can help in anyway as you navigate all this. Take care, Cary"
Ms. Snowden appeared to have been forwarded an email by Mr. Kelly which stated the following:
"Dear Members of the SVUSD Community, We as a Board have scheduled a special meeting for this Friday, December 4, 2020. The meeting is a procedural step done as part of a process to keep our community informed. We reiterate our confidence in our Associate Superintendents, our District Office staff, our senior site staff, and all the hardworking employees of our District. We value your contributions to the well-being of our Valley, and we support the continued execution of existing policy by all departments. The mere calling of such a meeting, especially given the nature of the item agendized (Public Employee Discipline, Dismissal, and Release), can cause consternation and concern. Please know that we as a Board will continue to take the necessary and appropriate steps to ensure the District operates with fidelity to the law, and in the pursuit of the public interest. Beyond that, there is nothing more we can say at this time. We hope you all had the best possible Thanksgiving given the pandemic we find in our midst. We look forward to the Holidays to come, and to celebrate them as best we all can, despite the shared hurdles we 9 continue to confront together.
Sincerely,
John Kelly & Melanie Blake
On Behalf of the SVUSD Board of Trustees
Please find attached the Special Board Meeting agenda/packet."
What topics were being discussed in closed session on this date, and why was Ms. Snowden privy to information concerning the discipline/dismissal of a SVUSD employee? She is not a district staff member, and sharing confidential board information with a private citizen violates the district's board policy, as well as the Brown Act.
Mr. Kelly was previously employed as the Special Projects Manager for the Sonoma Valley Unified School District as the allegations of sexual abuse at Sonoma Valley Boys & Girls Club were brought forward to the district.
The former Human Resources Director for the Sonoma Valley Boys & Girls Club became a whistleblower in the Kilgore case. They forwarded me the following email regarding an NDA offered by Ms. Snowden:
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley (“Club”) revokes its March 28, 2018 offer of a separation agreement to you because of your mischaracterization of the offer as an offer of money in exchange for silence regarding the Kilgore matter, as you claimed in your April 2, 2018 email. In order to honor the spirit of the Club’s offer of a separation agreement, the Club offers the attached separation agreement to you on the terms set forth therein, and draws your attention to the following terms of that agreement and the Club’s position regarding the confidential personnel information you obtained about the Club’s employees in your capacity as the Club’s director of human resources:
1. Section 5 of the enclosed separation agreement requests you agree to continue to maintain the confidential and proprietary information of the Company in accordance with applicable law.
2. In order to avoid any mischaracterization of Section 5’s agreement regarding “applicable law,” we have included the following clarifying parenthetical in Section 5: “(and, consistent with such applicable state and federal law, Employee may disclose confidential and proprietary information of the Company only: (a) to the extent necessary to comply with any law, court order or subpoena; or (b) in connection with any discovery request to which a response is required by law).” Also, we have clarified that confidential and proprietary information includes personnel information.
3. As the Club’s counsel explained during our meeting with you on March 28, (in your capacity as the Club’s director of human resources) you have an obligation under applicable law not to disclose confidential information in an employee’s personnel file, which includes the personnel file information you turned over to the Club’s attorneys in connection with the Club’s investigation of the Kilgore matter.
The NDA claimed that any information regarding the child molester (Kilgore) was ‘proprietary’ and not to be released publicly.
The former HR Director and his spouse informed me that the John Does were forced to testify to the school board regarding the abuse they experienced prior to development of the NDA.
Measure I, Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax, has officially been added to the ballot for the November 5, 2024 General Election. The Initiative designates the First 5 Sonoma County Commission (“Commission”) as the Administering Agency, subject to change by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
While Santa Rosa Councilmember Rogers boasts his support for this measure, how can the public rest assured that these ‘equitable’ monies are not being utilized to silence child victims of sexual assault? As racism was declared a public health crisis by both the City of Santa Rosa and County of Sonoma, is this the true meaning of ‘equity’?
“The person who tells lies gets caught; the person who spreads rumors is ruined.”
-Proverbs 19:9