The Stockton Unified School District Board of Trustees elected a new president at its meeting Tuesday.
Area 7 Trustee Kennetha Stevens takes over as president of the district’s Board of Trustees, taking over after AngelAnn Flores completed her often-embattled one-year term.
Tuesday’s regularly-scheduled vote to select the next president took place at the SUSD board meeting, with Flores moving one and the remaining members of the group known as “The Reformers” essentially moving up a rung in board leadership. Sofia Colon moved up from clerk to vice president, and Donald Donair joined leadership at the clerk.
Stevens, who has served on the board since 2022, previously served as the Board vice president. Area 7 encompasses John Adams, Hong Kingston, Kennedy, Kohl Open, Pulliam, and Flora Arca Mata elementary schools, as well as Stagg High School, Pacific Law Academy, and the Walton Special Center.
The new Board president, whose term expires in 2026, takes the reins at a tumultuous time for the board and the district. San Joaquin County Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on the home of Flores on Nov. 14 to look for alleged misuse of a district credit card. Flores has stated repeatedly that she only used the card for district business, that she has nothing to hide, and that the district didn’t provide clear guidelines on the use of district-issued credit cards.
The warrant, issued Nov. 9 by San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Richard Mallet, also alleges failure to produce government documents, witness intimidation, and Brown Act Violations. SUSD Chief Business Officer Joann Juarez has also stated all board members appear to have “questionable expenditures, including Flores.”
If that weren’t enough to keep Stevens’s plate full, the district is still grappling with the February state-issued Financial Crisis and Management Assistance team report that found sufficient evidence of fraud, misappropriation of funds and assets, or other illegal fiscal practices.
Flores, in her second term of representing Area 2, was elected to her second and final term in 2022. She spent much of her first term as the lone dissenter against a six-person supermajority, but ran on an unofficial reform slate along with board newcomers Stevens, Colon and Donaire. After their victories, she was selected as board president and has been under attack from opposing individuals and groups. There was an effort to recall Flores in June, but it was abandoned in June.
I suspect this was a group decision which Flores likely supported. She will continue her pursuit to hold those accountable for the corruption at SUSD. In the meantime, 209 Times is already attacking President Stevens. The school board is still in good hands.