BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
The Mountain View Whisman School District spent $121,150 for sessions with an ‘energy healer’ last school year, according to the district.
The district used Alycia Diggs-Chavis for 121 sessions for 159 employees, according to Hausman. Diggs-Chavis’ website says she is a certified master energy healer and intuitive coach.
Diggs-Chavis, according to her website, offers chakra alignment and clearing, Tibetan Singing Bowls that she uses in sound meditation to restore energy flow and during her in-person offerings uses stones and crystals for energy clearing.
“The well-being of our teachers and administrators is not a luxury — it’s a necessity,” district spokeswoman Shelly Hausman said in an email.
“This investment is worthwhile to keep staff well and showing up at their best for kids every day. Generally, we will be looking at how to scale wellness up to reach more employees and make wellness more cost-effective for the district.”
The board has spent a total of $315,000 with Diggs-Chavis, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
During the school board’s Thursday meeting, residents pointed to another contract of financial concern, a $90,000 contract with a PR company through the next six months. Despite the complaints, the board unanimously approved the contract.
Residents said the district already is paying Hausman and did not see a need for the independent contractor Woodside LLC to provide additional PR for the teacher housing project.
The project is beginning leasing in January to teachers or employees that fall under a low-income criteria set by the district based on their household income.
The public relations budget for the district was $644,128 last school year.
In 2022, according to Transparency California.com Hausman made $325,259 in salary and total benefits. Nancy Villalba, who works alongside Hausman as her executive assistant, made $232,772.75 in 2022.
“We can’t justify spending six figures on PR when we have one of the highest paid public information officers in the state,” said Anna Reid, Mountain View resident.
Board President Devon Conley, a candidate for City Council, said that since Covid more communication with parents has been needed.
“All of our contracting together is 1.2% of our budget,” Conley said. “It’s a lot of money in the grand scheme of things but within the district budget and how we allocate our resources by far it goes to people working directly with children.
Resident Lillian Good said she wanted the district to refocus its finances on mental health and retaining teachers.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to get teachers Oujia boards? The first question they could ask is, “If the corruption in the school district becomes public, will Ayinde Rudolph keep his job?”
I have spoken to many teachers in the MVWSD district and NONE of them were aware that there were ANY services available from Diggs-Chavis…might want to dig deeper into what is really going on….
What evidence does the district have that these sessions are effective?
That’s a $1,000 an hour. Is no one in Mountain View watching voter’s money?
It seems like there’s no endto the absurdity we’re being asked to fund.
What should be done about this? He should either step down or be fired. What he is doing to teachers and students by spending money frivolously is reprehensible.
How are these outrageous compensations even possible? A hundred people at Mountain View Whisman School District make more than our state legislators. No wonder Evan Low has to take money from PG&E. MVWSD has:
1 person being paid more than $450,000 a year
20 people being paid more than $300,000 a year
50 people bein gpaid more than $200,000 a year
They’re not fooling anyone. The district knows full well that it could reduce its annual operating budget and still achieve its goal of staff wellness by utilizing a comprehensive program of Feng Shui with a professional certified color consultant.
While the amount the district spent on this energy healer may be a small part of the budget, it is indicative of the wasteful spending and lack of oversight by the school administration.
The district pays the superintendent the highest salary of any school district in the entire state of California—$350,000 per year, which increases to $450,000 when including benefits. Additionally, the district has an overstaffed administration, including a Chief Academic Officer, Chief Business Officer, Chief Human Relations Officer, Public Information Officer, Director of Preschool, Director of Fiscal Services, Director of Federal/State Programs, Director of Technology, Director of Equity, Director of Child Nutrition, Director of Maintenance and Operations, Director of Literacy, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Assessment, and Director of Special Education—each earning over $200,000.
This organizational structure and pay scale are more suited to a large multinational corporation than an underperforming school district! Compare this with LASD, where the superintendent earns $150,000 less and is not burdened by such administrative bloat.
The board is clearly asleep at the wheel!
[Post deleted — Terms of Use violation. The Post doesn’t allow links on its comments.]
Two of the Trustees responsible for this Public Financing Mess (Laura Blakely and Laura Berman) have decided to SKIP TOWN! (No, just joking) They have decided to not run in Nov. Unfortunately, the one Trustee who consistently Voted NO on this contractor / after pulling it from CONSENT / had to resign because of moving away. He pulled this contractor TWICE and each time starting from about November last year explained to Trustee Conley and the rest – why this was a Bad Idea and Way Expensive, 10X what other district were doing for Wellness Coaches. 4:1 he lost. Conley is running for City Council.