Fresno Unified rewards Superintendent Bob Nelson with three-year contract extension
It’s confirmed: Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson isn’t going anywhere, at least for the next few years.
In a 5-1 vote Wednesday, the district’s board of trustees approved a contract extension through 2026 that gives Nelson a boost in retirement benefits, but no immediate increase to his $330,366.12 salary.
Benefits in his contract include $1,500 a month toward deferred compensation, as well as lifetime healthcare benefits, based on his previous employment with the district.
“It provides an improved level of stability and strength to this district,” said Trustee Claudia Cazares, “in knowing that we have a strong leader at its helm.”
“It shows the strength of his team,” Cazares added about Nelson’s contract extension, as well as “the strength of all of our admin.”
Only one board member — outgoing Trustee Terry Slatic, who served at his last board meeting Wednesday — voted against the extension. Trustee Veva Islas was absent due to illness.
Slatic questioned what message the contract sent amid the district’s declining math and reading test scores.
“The superintendent should be appraised on the academic performance of the students in this district,” he said.
Nelson, who was hired in 2017, was already among the longest-serving superintendents among California’s largest school districts, where most last less than three years.
Some have credited Nelson with improving the relationship between the Fresno Teachers Association and district administrators.
Board President Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas said that when Nelson took over in 2017, trust between the teachers union and the district was “at a low point.”
“Through years of having conversations,” she said, “and rebuilding that trust and those relationships, we got to a point where ... interest-based bargaining was made possible.”
More recently, Nelson has received credit for helping launch the district’s new scholarship foundation — and for raking in a “game-changer” $20 million donation from Mackenzie Scott.
Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla was more critical of Nelson in a statement to the Ed Lab, saying educators are tired of hearing Nelson’s “a nice guy” while he continues “not listening to (the district’s) educators” or working to improve the status quo.
A little over two years into Nelson’s tenure, the pandemic struck, which hurtled Fresno Unified — and school districts everywhere — into uncharted territory with remote learning, shuttered schools, and vaccine and masking controversies.
But even before the pandemic, the district was in troubled waters academically.
Under Nelson, test scores have fallen further, compounded by COVID learning loss.
In the statewide Smarter Balanced assessments, the percentage of Fresno Unified students at or above English and language arts standards dropped almost 6% this year from before the pandemic. The drop in FUSD students’ math proficiency was even steeper at about 9%.
But in 2019 — the last time the Smarter Balanced assessments were conducted — Fresno Unified already had less than half their students meeting either standard.
The extension comes after Nelson received high marks on his latest evaluation in October from all but Slatic, who has been one of Nelson’s biggest critics over the past four years.
This story was originally published December 7, 2022 at 11:07 AM.
