Fresno school board gives superintendent a positive job review, but not everyone agrees

After over three hours in closed session Wednesday evening, the Fresno Unified School Board handed Superintendent Bob Nelson a positive evaluation.

Trustees voted 5-1 in support of the positive evaluation, with Trustee Terry Slatic casting the lone “no” vote.

The board did not discuss the vote or Nelson’s job performance during the open meeting.

Nelson has been the superintendent of California’s third-largest school district since 2017.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve,” Nelson said following Wednesday’s vote.

The positive review comes during a coronavirus pandemic that has upended the last three school years, a point Nelson also made.

During public comments, some members of the public criticized Nelson’s leadership and the district’s low reading and mathematics scores compared to other major school districts.

In 2019, the last year the Smarter Balanced Assessment System test was offered, 24.63% of FUSD students met the state’s standards in literacy, and 17.94% met math standards.

Nelson said he’s eager for the state-wide assessment tests to return.

During the last two years, the SBAC was suspended due to the pandemic.

The SBAC is the state-wide test to evaluate how students are doing academically and mark their yearly progress in literacy and mathematics.

Some residents also criticized the district’s handling of the pandemic.

“As a member of the public, I don’t think he deserved a good rating,” community member Andrew Fabela said during public comments.

Fabela noted the district fell behind in distributing laptops and tablets to students when schools first closed even though the district already had tablets available.

“He’s a nice guy. But as a leader, he is terrible,” Fabela said.

Nelson also acknowledged some of the tensions the district has had with its teachers.

“We are at odds at current with our labor partners,” Nelson said during his announcements.

Last week, the Fresno Teachers Association announced plans to file grievances against the district.

The three grievances relate to losses in personal time, preparation time, and forcing teachers to act as substitutes for their colleagues, according to Manuel Bonilla, president of the Fresno Teachers Association.

Nelson spoke on the issue on Thursday during a virtual town hall.

“We continue to bargain in good faith with our labor leaders, and there is concern expressed by the Fresno Teachers Association about their need for prep time and making sure that teachers have adequate time to prepare,” Nelson said during the town hall.

At the moment, no resolution has come about in regards to the grievances filed.

The board did vote to adopt an emergency resolution during Wednesday’s meeting to deal with the substitute staffing shortage.

The resolution will enable Nelson to respond to the emergency substitute shortage by recruiting and retaining qualified substitutes to meet the district substitute staffing needs.