Santa Rosa Public Safety Tax Citizens' Oversight Committee Cashing Out on School Violence
The 'Measure O' Committee and Santa Rosa City Schools Trustees appear to be in cahoots for 'nonprofit' funding
On April 10, 2024, the Public Safety and Prevention Tax Citizens' Oversight Committee (PSAP, formerly Measure O) held a special meeting to review the 2024-25 Proposed Budget. The Committee made a motion to make a recommendation to present the item to Council as referenced in the annual implementation plan.
Ms. Ellen Bailey is not only a current Committee Member for PSAP, but the former Gang Prevention Services Manager at City of Santa Rosa and President of Community Matters. Her website bio indicates that she is the former Chair of the Citizen Oversight Committee for Measure O, which is a Public Safety Tax Measure that funds the Youth Violence Prevention Partnership, as well as Police and Fire Department services.
It does not appear that Ms. Bailey has disclosed her reportable financial interests through submission of a statement of economic interest for any years served on City of Santa Rosa Committees, Commissions or Boards.
Per staff’s presentation:
Public Safety Special Tax funds are used for:
• Developing and implementing intervention programs: Safe Campus Intervention Program; Clean Slate Tattoo Removal Program; and a hospital-based intervention program
• Implementing the CHOICE Grant Program
• Implementing community awareness campaign and professional development for staff and community partners
• Facilitating the Policy and Operational teams
The 2023-2028 Violence Prevention Partnership Strategic Plan highlighted the strategic focus area #1 as ‘intervention’. This focus area included the launch of the Safe Schools Intervention Program. Responsible parties for implementation included: Sonoma County Office of Education, Santa Rosa City Schools, Roseland Charter Schools and City of Santa Rosa VPP in conjunction with Community Matters.
The ‘youth engagement’ segment of the plan included the Development of the Santa Rosa Teen Council model. Responsible parties for implementation included: the City of Santa Rosa VPP, other City departments, as they are identified, Community Matters, Chop’s Teen Club and Ms. Evette Minor.
On April 10, 2024, the CHOICE grant budget was recommended for Council approval in the amount of $800k.
The former CHOICE Cycle XI grantees included a $50k award for Programa Cosecha under the umbrella of Raizes Collective, founded by Executive Director Isabel Lopez.
While Programa Cosecha claims to be a student led and community supported after school art program, it appears to be a tool to indoctrinate youth with democratic ideologies such as fear of the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’.
Raizes’ Elevate Youth Program and North Bay Organizing Project’s Latino Student Congress intake form stated the following:
“Welcome ! Raizes Collective's Elevate Youth Program is Joining forces with North Bay Organizing Project's Latino Student Congress to build student power by way of the Safety and Belonging Campaign.
20 students, 7th - 12th grade, will be selected to participate in the student-led program, to strategize and advocate for safety & belonging in Santa Rosa City Schools.
If you desire to learn more about civic engagement, community resources, and public policy, we welcome you to apply! Thank you!”
Raizes Collective has regularly encouraged students to attend Santa Rosa City Schools Board Meetings to speak out against School Resource Officers (SRO’s on campus).
Executive Director Isabel Lopez shares a mortgage with Santa Rosa City Schools Trustee Alegria De La Cruz and Ms. De La Cruz’s spouse, Martin Zuniga.
Ms. De La Cruz is a former Board Member for Raizes Collective. Her spouse, Zuniga, is currently a paid artist through the organization.
On August 12, 2020, a “Maria Lopez” (Isabel Lopez) was arrested for drunk driving after her car plowed into a parked police car. CBS News Bay Area reported:
“The crash happened Wednesday at around 9 p.m. in the area of Cleveland Ave. and Ridgeway Ave. where police were assisting with traffic control during a fire, according to Santa Rosa police.
An officer had arrived at the scene and parked his marked vehicle with the patrol lights on. Moments later, a white Hyundai Accent smashed into the patrol car’s rear driver’s side quarter panel.
The officer was slightly injured and taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released.
The Hyundai’s driver was identified as 39-year-old Maria Lopez of Santa Rosa. Police said Lopez exhibited objective signs of intoxication and was determined to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
Lopez was arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail DUI causing injury. She was not injured.”
Ms. Lopez appeared to be sentenced with a felony and placed on formal probation. Is she the best advocate for student safety and anti-violence?
An additional CHOICE Cycle XI grantee included the Community Matters Safe School Ambassadors Program in the amount of $56,000.
As of December 13, 2023, the Santa Rosa City Schools Board approved additional contracts with Community Matters Safe Schools Ambassador Program.
The $43,200.00 contract for the 2023-24 School Year gave the following description of services:
The Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) program is an evidence-based program which harnesses the power that students have to prevent & stop bullying and mistreatment among other students on campus. This program is considered an SEL program with a student centered model.
Initially, Community Matters was the fiscal sponsor to the Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS) Made in Santa Rosa Education Foundation (MiSR). Although the MiSR Board is comprised of former/current SRCS & SCOE staff and board members, the district has refused to open these meetings to the public. There are no financials, agendas or minutes which have been made publicly accessible.
Ms. Lisa Alexander appears to be the current CEO. She has utilized the SRCS district office’s mailing address as the principal address for MiSR.
As the former Executive Assistant to the Board and Superintendent of SRCS, I requested for years to view the associated financials. On May 15, 2023, the federal tax exempt status was automatically revoked for not filing a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years.
NAACP Santa Rosa-Sonoma President Kirstyne Lange also serves alongside Ms. Bailey on the Community Matters Board. When I began questioning the NAACP and MiSR financials, she sent a blatant lie to my employer in an effort to get me fired. She claimed that I was removed from the 2022 Juneteenth Event at MLK Park, Santa Rosa. I sent her time/date stamped footage which confirmed that I was in Vallejo/Oakland on June 18, 2022, not in Santa Rosa.
She would not respond to my emails or phone calls whatsoever. Therefore, I confronted Ms. Lange at the 2023 Santa Rosa Juneeteenth Festival in person. Rather than speak with me, she began screaming for Santa Rosa Police Chief Cregan (see video). This was an odd reaction from a black woman who is supposedly terrified of the police.
The NAACP has recruited students to attend SRCS Board Meetings to speak against police on campus. On March 6, 2023, President Lange issued the following statement:
On behalf of the NAACP Santa Rosa – Sonoma branch, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the Montgomery High School and Santa Rosa City Schools Community; students especially.
I want to invite the community to pause and breathe. Our community is hurting.
There are a lot of details that may never be known due to the nature of what occurred but what we can control is what follows. We need to center the student voices as they continue to express what they need.
As I continue to process the situation alongside the community. I must share that this situation hits home. Throughout my 7th – 12th grade education I experienced officers on my Jr. High campus that allowed regular ICE raids, and some students returned later on in my high school journey with many others unknown. My high school had 11 school resource officers in addition to 5 security guards. We wore our ID cards on lanyards, had metal detector entry, and a police substation across the street. With all this at play, I learned three things:
Their presence on campus did not decrease the (threat of) violence.
As a campus ASB Leader/athlete/AP course student, I still had negative engagement.
The campus climate didn’t shift until the administration did. The more they responded to our needs and took accountability, the culture shifted.
Locally, I’m seeing loud, pro law enforcement voices push for more police in schools and also, what looks like a coordinated effort by law enforcement agencies to seize this moment to amplify their presence on campuses. Time and again, when there are difficult moments, fear can push us towards carceral systems that disproportionately harm students of color and do not make us safer. The data show us this. Police are not clinical social workers or mental health professionals. They are not restorative justice facilitators, nor do they provide trauma informed interventions to violence. Police do not provide anti racism and anti bias training. Police are not special education advocates, bilingual facilitators, nor do they have cultural competence training. These are the things needed on our campuses. Not more policing.
Students are the most important stakeholders in guiding what happens next. They know what is needed on their campuses. They must be an integral part of creating an intentional school community where everyone feels safe and seen.
Join me in the call to form a student advisory council where our youth will have the space to bring forth their concerns, ideas, and be the stewards of redirection. The way in which this student council is selected will be key to what they produce.
Kirstyne Lange,
President NAACP Santa Rosa – Sonoma County Branch
Just last week, a 14-year-old was arrested after stabbing another student during a fight at Elsie Allen High School.
As parents, staff and students cry for the return of police, how can we be assured that “community matters”? Based on the facts presented, it appears that some are willing to risk the lives of others in exchange for residual income.
“So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.” (Proverbs 1:19)