BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph last night announced his resignation from the Mountain View Whisman School District after months of scrutiny from parents, who looked into contracts and accused Rudolph of mismanaging money.
Rudolph went on leave on Oct. 7, days after announcing state auditors were looking into the district for potential fraud.
Rudolph and the board have been silent about his departure until last night, when Rudolph posted a letter on social media. “Following a recent health scare, I have come to realize that the demands of the job continue to have an adverse impact on my health, and my priorities need to shift towards focusing on my health and spending more time with my family,” Rudolph said. “Thus, it is with a heavy heart but also a sense of fulfillment that I announce my resignation.”
Rudolph said his 10 years with the district have been “remarkable.”
He listed some achievements: handing out meals during the pandemic, building teacher housing, providing high-speed internet to students, establishing a literacy team and reaching back-to-back three-year agreements with the district’s labor unions.
“In addition to eliminating past conflicts with our labor organizations, we have maintained a decade of clean audits,” Rudolph said.
Parents started looking into budgets and contracts in May after Rudolph proposed reducing the number of middle school class periods.
Parents were troubled that Rudolph hired his former boss from North Carolina, Peter Gorman, as his personal coach for $370,000.
They also didn’t like the district hiring “master energy healer” Alycia Diggs-Chavis of Blue Violet Energy to do guided mediation sessions with 159 employees for $121,150.
The board and Rudolph have tried to address concerns by creating a new budget advisory committee and vendor approval process.
Board seats and parcel tax on ballot
The board is asking voters to approve a parcel tax on Tuesday, providing funding for nine elementary schools and two middle schools serving 4,591 students.
The district’s last parcel tax was approved in 2017 and is set to expire next summer.
The board is also getting new faces, as three seats are up for grabs with no incumbents running.
The current board voted to give Rudolph a 5% raise and a three-year contract extension on June 13, bringing his salary to $366,915 plus benefits.
It wan’t immediately known if Rudolph signed a separation agreement with the district before he announced his resignation.
Interim a familiar face
The board appointed Kevin Skelly as interim superintendent on Oct. 22.
Skelly, 63, of San Mateo, was superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District from 2007 to 2014.
Skelly was interim superintendent in Mountain View for five months before Rudolph was hired in 2015.
At one of his last meetings in Mountain View, Skelly told board members to fire him because they were difficult to work with.
The board will discuss the superintendent position again in a closed session on Thursday.
Will watch from afar
Rudolph said he will be watching from a distance.
“I will miss our Friday lunches, the smiling faces and of course the discourse about what else we can do to help our students reach their personal best,” he said.
100% Con-man, I feel sorry for the next school district he will con.
Could someone please also look into Beth Polito at Las Lomitas Elementary School District? She’s been traveling all over the county, staying at the Four Seasons in SF (many many times), the Wallace in NYC (multiple times, includingsix nights for a two-day workshop on teaching phonics), the Monterey Plaza (multiple times), Mandarin Oriental in DC, the Andaz in San Diego, the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz (repeatedly), Disneyland resorts, Seattle, Las Vegas, Austin, Napa, Sonoma, etc. – all in the last two years, 6 mos of which she was on leave. Day passes to Disneyland and the Beach Boardwalk. Thousands in Uber rides. Thousands more in meals out. We keep asking for more financial clarity from the CBO and we cannot get any information. How do we get help with this spending? If I tried to do this at my corporate job, I’d be fired. And what’s worse – donations fund this because every dollar we give goes right into the general fund and allocated indiscriminately to whatever the Board approves.
A health scare? Sure, sure. Why not say you quit to spend more time with your family? Even in your final hours you can’t be honest with anyone!
A big payout is on the way, knowing this feeble school board.
DA Jeff Rosen never charges Democrats caught up in a scandal like this, so Rudolph doesn’t have to worry about moving his family to a country that doesn’t have extradition treaties with the U.S.
There are serious concerns about the leadership of the Las Lomitas Elementary School District, which warrant a thorough investigation, potentially by the District Attorney. Allegations have surfaced regarding unethical practices within the district’s administration.
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Board President Heather Hopkins and trustee Jason Morimoto, a former president and staunch supporter of Polito, appear complicit. Hopkins, in particular, is accused of silencing voices questioning Polito’s actions and acting as a proxy to suppress dissent, further consolidating Polito’s influence. This alleged pattern of protecting Polito while obstructing transparency has eroded the board’s credibility with the community.
An independent investigation into the conduct of both Polito and Hopkins is essential to restore trust in the district’s leadership.
Polito spent 66k on hotels since 2022 (and six months of that she was on leave). Another 35k on food. Her contract allows 500/month with a 6k/year cap on all “necessary and actual” expenses.
Would love Heather Hopkins and Jason Morimoto to explain what’s been happening with spending under their presidencies. They’re currently not responding.
The current board is entirely complicit in the fraud perpetrated by Rudolph. Devin Conley has crossed the line in her efforts to cover up these wrongdoings, and there is no path left for her to redeem her political career. It is imperative that Ayinde and the entire board, particularly CoNley, release their asset information to the public without delay. It’s telling that many of Rudolph/Conley’s vocal supporters either have business interests in early education, serve as ambassadors for children’s programs, or are having in (or anticipating) house renovations. Furthermore, it is significant that Ayinde holds a position on the board for SquarePanda, a program adopted in MVWSD. Peter Gorman, Ayinde’s mentor and leadership coach, holds business interests in Amplify, an educational software recently adopted in the MVWSD. This development, along with various other activities, occurred when Conley was sleeping on her job.
In the age of DEI and Affirmative Action, a board can’t just fire a black employee, no matter what he did. That’s like asking for a lawsuit. So what’s likely happened here is that there is a secret “severance agreement” that gives him a lot of money for agreeing not to sue the district. And it will contain a “non disparagement” clause preventing both sides from being truthful about what led to his departure. Somebody has go to ask for this agreement, and if they refuse to release it, you’ll know they pulled a number on the taxpayers — again.