By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

In addition to approving a Strategic Plan last week, the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees gave a nod to the district’s official stance on Measure Q and Propositions 30 and 32.

Superintendent Janice Adams on Thursday presented a proposal to adopt the Strategic Plan that has been in the works since March, and which still isn’t finished.

“There’s still work to be done,” Adams said. “As staff and I are working to put this in a more finished product I thought to myself, ‘You know, I’m doing this but I haven’t gotten board approval.’”

Though the plan is unfinished, Adams said she wanted the board’s approval on where it stood before it is finalized. “I wanted to make sure that these are the goals that the board supports,” she said.

The board unanimously voted to consider adoption of the plan at a future meeting.

“I view this as a work in progress. It’s constantly changing, things will be updated,” Trustee Steve Messina said. “My sense is after all this energy went into it, let’s keep the ball rolling, let’s push it out as soon as we can and recognize that it is a work in progress, and we’ll change things as we go along, and that’s OK.”

Adams also presented for approval a trio of resolutions supporting Measure Q, a bond measure for Solano Community College bond measure; supporting California Prop. 30, a tax and education funding initiative; and opposing California Prop. 32, which prohibits unions or corporations from using payroll-deducted funds for political purposes.

But before the board gave roll call votes on the resolutions, Messina opted to recuse himself.

“I have a philosophical issue in terms on how we deal with these,” he said, “in terms of what our role. I see us being implementers. When there is a policy outside of our jurisdiction, in terms of things that are decided by the Legislature or on the ballot, I see us a elected officials having to implement what the people tell us. And the people haven’t quite told us yet.

“I’m going to abstain from voting,” he said. “As an elected official of the school board I see that as outside our jurisdiction.”

Trustee Dana Dean had a different view.

“We do have certain legal constraints on what we as board members can do to advocate for positions. One of the things we are allowed to do is vote on a resolution such as these that are before us. For that reason I am going to vote,” she said.

“Because we are so restricted in our ability to advocate for one thing or another, and the legislature saw fit to allow us to advocate in this particular matter, I consider it appropriate.”

The board voted 4-0 to approve the resolutions.

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