Robert A. Martinez, Antioch Unified School District’s human resources chief, was appointed on a split vote this week as acting superintendent while Stephanie Anello is on medical leave.
Antioch School Board President Antonio Hernandez announced the 3-2 decision following a closed session at the board’s Wednesday night meeting.
It is unclear how long Anello will be out. Though the board could have temporarily promoted anyone from the district, Hernandez had pushed for an external candidate “to rebuild trust.”
Martinez was hired as human resources director for AUSD in 2022. In 2020 he served as Mt. Diablo Unified School District for 10 months. Before that, he was assistant superintendent of human resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Communities for 32 years.
Martinez headed the recent internal investigations of several employees’ complaints against a district maintenance and facilities director. He also oversaw the appeals and a later third-party investigation by the district’s contracted attorney into the process and findings of the original investigation, which determined all was appropriate.
On Wednesday, Hernandez suggested the board launch its own investigation into “the policies, practices and culture” of the district that impact the employees and students.
“I think on a wider district-wide level, there’s been a number of employees that have come to me or that have shared their story about concerns with district culture surrounding things like bullying and recreation, and don’t feel like they have an avenue to share their concerns in confidence,” Hernandez told the board.
“I think there (should be) an investigation into our district practices so that we can start to address those kinds of things and figure out where those gaps may be and where we should be putting our focus, to improve the culture for our employees and ultimately for our students,” he said. “I think it would be a good step for us to start rebuilding trust with the community.”
Trustee Mary Rocha wanted more clarification on how such an investigation would be done.
Hernandez said the board would select an outside firm to conduct the investigation, and the investigators would then create a process wherein employees should share their concerns. The investigation would not be about a particular incident but rather looking at the district from a wider perspective, he said.
“It would be helpful in kind of identifying where our school culture is across the district,” he said. “And, can we start to kind of make some improvements.”
Martinez, though, said from his perspective, the district does have processes in place to engage with employees, students and families about complaints and concerns.
“Again, in this situation, if in fact you’re having someone else other than your current district administrative team looking to accept or understand those complaints, so that we can apply board policy, I’m not sure how that would help us move forward administratively,” Martinez said.
Hernandez clarified that what he was talking about was not a disciplinary investigation, but a review or information investigation of the district’s entire system. It could help the board understand what’s keeping some employees from reporting complaints.
“It’s not necessarily that we’re setting up to hear complaints and circumvent an administrative process,” Hernandez said. “It’s to make sure that we’re filling in these gaps and filling in these trust pieces that are missing from the employees.”
He added any board member could bring forward the names of firms that they think would be good for this and then they can have a discussion and choose among them.
“If it’s a matter of just bringing it forward and trying to understand it, I’ll go for that,” Rocna said.
The board agreed to move forward on a 3-to-1 vote, with Trustee Gary Hack dissenting and Clyde Lewis absent for the vote.
In her final remarks, though, Rocha called for a censure of Hernandez, accusing him of behavior that “flies in the face of our board policies, disregards due process rights of employees and contractual obligations to the superintendent.” She also said the board would soon be going through a process to obtain a positive board rating and being identified as “a district in chaos” would hurt the district and she then called for the possible removal of Hernandez as president at an upcoming meeting.
For this part, Hernandez said change only happens through “challenging processes.”
“Anyone can tell me what I should or shouldn’t do, but the only thing I know truthfully in my heart is that the way to reach unity is by doing what I know is right for our employees and our students,” he said.
“…People often see the division, but truly dissent is how we build a better system,” Hernandez said. “It’s how we come to unity. Because anything less than that is disingenuous; it’s a farce and a disservice for our community. It is through conflict that we grow that we can become better.”