SCOE Board President Partnered With Wife's Nonprofit to Implement YouthTruth Survey Driving Local Control and Accountability Plan for Sonoma County School Districts
YouthTruth survey data becomes the property of Bill Gates' Center for Effective Philanthropy as an initiative of the Sonoma County Community Foundation
Sonoma County Office of Education Board Trustees Herman Hernandez & Lisa Wittke Schaffner appeared to middleman deals through their associated nonprofits which are detrimental to the taxpayers, students and parents.
Per the Sonoma County Community Foundation’s website:
In January of 2021, the California-based national nonprofit YouthTruth administered surveys across 56 schools from 10 Sonoma County school districts. The effort resulted in hearing from nearly 30,000 student, parent and guardian, and school staff community members on topics like, academic challenge, school culture, emotional and mental health.
In a two-part event series held April 9, 2021 and April 16, 2021 leaders from youth-focused community organizations were invited to explore the data behind these themes, viewed through an equity lens with a special focus on the effects of local environmental disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic on community well-being.
The survey is one of the many initiatives of the Foundation.
According to a Press Democrat article from January 25, 2022:
Launched this month, the three-year effort aims to give schools and community partners a deeper and wider understanding that can spur new action to aid students and help funnel resources to groups doing that work.
With more than 130 elementary, middle and high schools participating, officials at the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE), the Community Foundation of Sonoma County and the Career Technical Education (CTE) Foundation of Sonoma County are hoping to see a higher level of response than in any year since the survey was first used five years ago. Schools distributed links to surveys for students, parents and staff at the beginning of the year. Responses will be received through Friday, Jan. 28.
Jessica Progulske, who works as a college and career readiness official in SCOE’s educational support services department, said she knows it’s far from an easy year to ask students, staff or families to take time to fill out the surveys.
But, “my plea is, we do it because of everything, not in spite of everything,” she said. “It matters more now because of what we’re facing. It’s even more helpful and important that we pay attention to community voice now.”
Schools across the nation have relied on the YouthTruth survey, developed by a San-Francisco-based nonprofit, since it was launched in 2008. Locally, use began in 2017, spurred by a partnership between the Community Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The two foundations reached out to other funders and investors, including the CTE Foundation, with the idea of implementing more student voices into local efforts to support education.
The 2023-24 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) for Santa Rosa City Schools stated the following:
The YouthTruth annual survey for students, staff and families for elementary, middle and high schools is supported partly by the Sonoma County Office of Education with partial funding from the Center for Effective Philanthropy. The survey is an annual, anonymous survey for students in grades 3-12.
The LCAP describes the goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support student outcomes that address local and state priorities.
On May 18, 2021, the Community Foundation issued a grant to the Career Technical Education Foundation (CTE) Sonoma County to support YouthTruth Expansion & Community Engagement. Similar grants were disbursed for the Survey throughout the previous and coming years.
During this time, SCOE Trustee Lisa Wittke Schaffner actively served on the CTE Foundation Board of Directors.
Ms. Wittke Schaffner served on the SCOE board alongside Mr. Herman Hernandez. Mr. Hernandez’s spouse, Ariana Diaz De Leon, was employed as the Senior Community Impact Officer at Community Foundation Sonoma County from April 2020 - January 2022. She was eventually promoted to Program Director and resigned from the organization in December 2022.
The YouthTruth Survey was born out of a conversation between the Center for Effective Philanthropy and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2008. The Survey disclaimer states that YouthTruth owns all of the data upon finalizing the contract.
Per the YouthTruth website:
That was the question Fay Twersky, then of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, put to Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) in 2007. The Gates Foundation had used CEP’s Grantee Perception Report (GPR) to hear from the nonprofits it funded, but Fay wanted CEP to go a step further in gathering feedback.
That simple question led to a conversation, and a lot of research, that resulted in CEP launching YouthTruth in 2008.
At that time, youth perception data was not widely recognized for its value in driving inclusive change processes, nor was it understood to to be the leading indicator of academic outcomes that research has now established it to be. Asking students to assess their school experience was a radical idea. Phil and Fay (now president of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation) co-founded YouthTruth with Valerie Threlfall, YouthTruth’s founding director (now Executive Director of Listen4Good), working closely with a number of CEP staff.
YouthTruth is based on the simple but powerful premise that when you get timely feedback from those you’re trying to serve, and really listen to that feedback to make changes, you get better. As Fay often says, it’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do, as the three YouthTruth co-founders explained in this 2013 Stanford Social Innovation Review article.
SCOE Trustee Hernandez was recently fined $1,600 for failing to disclose his reportable financial interests to the Sonoma County Office of Education for the past five years. The FPPC only enforces stipulations for the previous five years. However, Mr. Hernandez failed to disclose financial interests for the past ten years.
He failed to disclose his position with Santa Rosa City School’s Made in Santa Rosa Education Foundation (MiSR). The Made in Santa Rosa Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to provide equitable opportunities that enrich programs, resources and support for the K-8 Santa Rosa City Schools.
The MiSR Foundation website indicates that they are partnered with SCOE.
The Santa Rosa City Schools District is the largest within Sonoma County and often leads initiatives and programs to be implemented by neighboring districts.
Ms. Wittke-Schaffner also failed to disclose her reportable financial interests to the FPPC.
The Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission (the “Division”) received my sworn complaint. Since receipt, the Division opened a case, initiated an investigation, and came to a resolution. This resolution will be submitted for consideration by the Commission at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, October 17, 2024, at 10 a.m.
Per the Executive Staff Report to be presented at the Commission Hearing:
In the Matter of Lisa Schaffner; FPPC No. 23/217. Staff: Marissa Corona, Senior Commission Counsel and Kristin Hamilton, Special Investigator. Lisa Schaffner, a Board Member for the Sonoma County Office of Education, failed to timely report sources of income on the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Annual and Leaving Office Statements of Economic Interest, in violation of Government Code Sections 87300 and 87302, subdivision (b) (5 counts). Total Penalty: $1,000 (Tier One).
Per SCOE's website:
Sonoma County CTE Fund has been established at Community Foundation Sonoma County to support local CTE programs. This fund supports programs that are aligned with the region’s economic development needs. It secures and grants funding to explore innovative CTE structures, models, and strategies that prepare students for the 21st century. Resources are directed toward results-oriented programs that develop new pathways for challenging programs of study, leading to post-secondary and career success for students.
Established in 2012, the CTE Fund raised over $1,000,000 in its first two years of operation. It has awarded grants to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs in five Sonoma County high schools.
Per the Community Foundation’s website:
The surveys were distributed among 130 school sites across Sonoma County as part of a newly expanded, three-year commitment to support schools using YouthTruth, which began its work with local schools in 2017. The expanded effort is a partnership including the Sonoma County Office of Education, Community Foundation Sonoma County and the Career Technical Education Foundation of Sonoma County.
Although each individual school site’s data is proprietary and shared at that site’s discretion, the overall aggregate data is public and is viewable at sonomacf.org/youthtruth. The data can be filtered by factors including grade level, gender identity, race or ethnicity, and English learner status.
Mr. Hernandez served as Chair to SCOE’s Business and Personnel Services Standing Committee.
On 10/18/2022, the Committee was presented with the 2022-23 1st Quarter Purchase Order Report. $272,000.00 was allocated to Center for Effective Philanthropy for distribution of the YouthTruth survey. Ms. Wittke was the only other Voting Member present for this meeting.
On March 15, 2022, the Committee was to approve Budget Revisions. The Committee recommended approval of the Budget Revisions greater than $100,000, between February 7, 2022 and March 6, 2022. Mr. Hernandez & Ms. Wittke were the only Voting Members present.
Deputy Superintendent, Educational Services Jennie Snyder spoke to the various Educational Support Services budgets and the services provided. The Universal TK ramp up, YouthTruth survey implementation, and continued pandemic supports were discussed.
With a multitude of financial omissions and conflicts of interest, does the Sonoma County Office of Education serve our community, or the corporate ‘philanthropists’ striving to indoctrinate our youth?
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” - Malcolm X