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.
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