Traci Miller was out of town at her daughter’s wedding last July when she got the call asking her to take over San Joaquin County’s notoriously troubled school district, Stockton Unified.
Two grand jury reports had chronicled lawbreaking, incompetence, secrecy, suits, countersuits, tabloid-TV squabbling, missing records, missing money, and even potential insolvency.
“I remember flying back and saying (to myself), ‘You’re going to take this on, what is my message going to be?’” Miller said.
And what she hit on was, “If anyone in this organization has done anything illegal, or anything wrong, we’re going to deal with that, and we’re not going to be afraid of what we find.”
The FBI was—and still is—investigating, as are other agencies.
The stakes are not just education for 37,000 students at 54 schools but whether the corruption will spread to Stockton city and San Joaquin County government. Trust me, the same grifters infesting the school district have a beachhead there, too.
Miller, a career Stockton Unified educator, has been interim superintendent since Aug. 1, almost five months. How goes the house cleaning?
“It’s a little bit like a twisted knot,” Miller said. “It’s going to take a while to untwist this knot, but we are making great progress.”
It’s only fair to note that the checkered 6-1 incumbent board majority held sway until November’s election. Voters elected a 4-3 reformer majority, but new trustees did not take office until Dec. 13. The old board constrained Miller until six weeks ago.
She still took steps.
Bad budgeting had run the district into the red. Millions were unaccounted for. Nobody was tracking project cost overruns. An office that got the school district grants was closed, because free money, meh.
Department heads weren’t told their budgets, causing chaos. An $8 million dollar fiasco involving a sketchy company’s ultraviolet air filters ensued when trustees suspiciously ignored bid selections. There was even evidence the district paid six figures to at least one outfit and got no services or products, nothing, in return.
Like, here … here’s six figures.
Layoffs, cuts to student programs, even insolvency loomed, the Grand Jury warned. Meanwhile, the fishy CBO pulled up stakes and left shortly after Miller took office, leaving the business office in disarray.
To top it off, Stockton Unified’s financial software, alone among county school districts’, is incompatible with the software at the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE), making Stockton Unified a Bermuda Triangle for financial accountability.
On it, said Miller.
She hired the school business experts of Ryland and Associates and appointed a trustworthy interim CBO. Both are working to clarify murky records and ensure better budgets.
The County SJCOE, a watchdog that has growled at Stockton Unified for years, wagged its tail at the first fiscal report Miller’s people sent its way. The Office even lauded Miller and the interim CBO for “the good work they are doing.”
“The interim CBO is doing an outstanding job,” Miller added. “But what she walked into is not something she can fix overnight.”
As for missing money, Uncle Sam sent Stockton Unified $241 million in emergency pandemic relief money. The previous administration failed to account for that money, a red flag the size of Ohio.
Miller proposed a public study session where board and public could pool knowledge, ask questions, and demand answers. The session was held Tuesday night. Leaders could not account for most of the money but vowed to get to the bottom of it.
“Every dollar will be accounted for,” Miller said.
A state audit underway may find answers. If nothing else, a public airing is a welcome 180 from the previous board which refused to discuss the Grand Jury report at a town hall and instead announced there would be no more town halls.
Next up: cost overruns.
“Any change orders (the bureaucratic paperwork for additional work on projects) or cost overruns, we are bringing these items to the boards as they come,” Miller said.
The Grant Development Office will be reinstated, Miller said.
Department heads know their budgets.
Miller’s comment on the air filter scandal: “No comment.”
My comment: If anybody’s going to perp walk over chicanery at Stockton Unified, it’ll be the jokers behind the air filter deal.
As for the six figures handed to a company for nothing, “This is a part of that twisted knot,” Miller said. “There are things we are uncovering.”
Last but not least, the incompatible financial software. “I am happy to report that was one of the first things that our CBO addressed. We are moving to a new system so our school district will be compatible with other systems and with the county office of education.”
It will take a year or two, Miller said.
Alleged scams involved not just cash but jobs. Under the old regime, many senior staffers quit or were fired. It is widely believed competent people were elbowed out, new positions created, or job descriptions dumbed down so friends and relatives could be hired.
Whatever the case, the Grand Jury found many new hires lacked “institutional knowledge” (translation: “didn’t know squat”) and many were poorly trained.
Miller ordered creation of “playbooks” for certain positions so replacement staffers get a leg up. She ordered training. The board, too, will attend a workshop on school governance.
As for cronyism, “This board and I are going to have to look at the positions that were brought in. Where’s the data to justify? There is a re-assessment.”
Miller has failed to fill some key positions. Perhaps the most important is personnel chief. The job, properly called Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, involves 1,500 employees, from whistleblowers to employees alleging harassment and other serious complaints which could lead to lawsuits if neglected.
Yet the position has for months been filled by an interim staffer.
This is bad for the organization and bad optics.. Many district employees believe the last HR chief enabled Old-School corruption.
“Again, public distrust, public perception,” acknowledged Miler, who said she’s frustrated. Schools have a “hiring season” outside of which potential hires are under contract to other employers, she said.
“We have posted to find a permanent assistant superintendent of HR … Again, anyone who is currently an assistant supe anywhere in California, they are under contract. But we will be filling that position.”
For its part, the board fired (actually, voted not to renew the contract of) Jack Lipton, the district’s questionable general counsel. Lipton came in with the suspect executive team that generated the investigations. It is right that he left with it.
What about the superintendent’s job? Miller is an interim, too. “I am happy to sit in this chair as long as the board believes in my ability to be the interim superintendent.”
At least one investigation reportedly will produce results “within weeks.” More will likely follow in 2023. May the culprits get cells with ultraviolet air filters.
Until then, “I need people praying for (my) wisdom and discernment, that I’m doing the right thing,” Miller said. “I want the public to know they have a Superintendent that is deeply committed—and is losing sleep at night—and wants to cure these areas that have caused public distrust.”
Fitzgerald’s column runs on Wednesdays. Phone (209) 687-9585. On Twitter and Instagram as Stocktonopolis. Email: mfitzgeraldstockton@gmail.com.
Multiple SUSD staff(a few that I know personally who lost more thn sleep) have emailed Miller stating that the Director of the Family Resource Center has violated Miller’s Purple Line which includes social media use. Her response to each email? First Amendment. This means that one individual is exempt from the Purple Line on social media while the remaining SUSD staff’s First Amendment is infringed by it. Quite the “L” for Stocktonopolis not to hold Miller to account for this. Having said this, as a man of faith I do sincerely pray for wisdom and discernment for all SUSD leadership to govern with the new board voters has entrusted them with.
Don’t lose faith Benjamin. Blake Hunter is correct in advising everyone to reach out to the SJCOE, the Grand Jury and credible media outlets. I have absolute confidence in Ms. Miller. She has been responsive to my concerns and I do believe she is doing the right thing. My greatest concern are the vial media attacks against President Flores and other newly elected board members alleging “ties to sex predators”. Such baseless claims endanger their safety in jeopardy from conspiracy theorist may perceive this as a literal call-to-arms. If an online rumor of a child sex-trafficking ring can result in an armed gunman storming a Washington pizzeria, it is not inconceivable that a similar response might play-out at the next SUSD board meeting.
Once again Mike Fitzgerald hits one out of the park. As a retired teacher I feel reassured by Ms. Miller’s dedication and willingness to take on this mess of a district. Thanks for including the full text of the deeply disturbing “Lack of Going Concern” letter from the County Office of Education. That document provides important context. Excellent reporting.
Anthony Silva is a major ringleader of these dire situations and backdoor, illegal financial dealings. The audit on February 14th needs to reveal this. He was a major factor and pusher of Alliance/IAQ air filters being installed around the district because he received kickbacks!!! It’s all there, investigate his financials and you’ll see large sums of money being deposited into his accounts or major purchases he’s made in the last couple of years (houses, cars, etc) when he doesn’t have a real job or reall income. These are trademarks of a money launderer at the very least or a major player in a larger corrupt ring that rivals the cartels. How does Anthony Sivla survive with no job? His tentacles are embedded deep into SUSD and they need to be cut off. He needs to be punished to the full extent of the law.
I believe Dr. Miller is caught up in a tough situation, the keyboard warriors are taking cheap shots at her. I worked with her 9 years ago. She was was an awesome supervisor, she knew our work was alot and she did help us when she could. Do not think she’s soft, she is anything but that. The administrators she worked were for the most part gaslighters and I even got out. Teachers are very supportive of her, that should say something. By the way in the late eighties the district faced being taken over by the state. We also went through the voucher system threat. I cannot even count the superintendents I worked under from 1986-2018. Julie Penn should have retained her interim Supervisor position I believe she would’ve helped turn this around but administration downtown shit on her and she retired.