Superintendent Wendy Gudalewicz has blatantly and repeatedly disregarded her responsibilities to the community. In addition, the superintendent’s divisive leadership style has wrought havoc across CUSD, threatening the potential of schools to serve the community's educational needs.    

The recent survey conducted by CEA was clear: 

• About 80% of teachers participated
• Superintendent: 63% of teachers disapprove of her
• Superintendent: Only 15% of teachers approve

These shortcomings have demoralized staff, alienated parents, and dismayed the community. Therefore, we hereby declare that we have no confidence in the leadership of Superintendent Wendy Gudalewicz.

Below are just some of the multiple issues that have led to this declaration of no confidence: 

Teachers: overworked and undervalued
"I feel unsafe now at my school. I think (other teachers) feel unsafe at their schools (after West Valley disbanded). It's almost like a bully tactic,” CUSD Elementary teacher (Mercury). 
“It’s very obvious that we have a lot of teachers who are disgruntled, overworked and unhappy over a lack of transparency,” CEA Union President Dave Villafana (Internal Affairs, Mercury)

Education: degraded and undermined
"We’ve lost connection with our parents, surveys aren’t answered and donations are down. We didn’t have anyone to staff a fundraiser and if we have someone from the outside do it, they take half the money." CUSD District Advisory Committee
We've lost Choir, Art, PE, Student Council, Science Fair . . . CUSD Parents                                                                               Decrease in housing values will come from the loss of teachers and educational quality . . . CUSD Parents                   Surveillance of parents imposed by district fingerprinting of
all parent volunteers, false justifications used . . . CUSD Parents

Taxpayer funding: mismanaged
High priced, low value consultants: “ . . . hired by the District Office. Where does this money come from? . . . These consultants have added little or no value and are fiscally irresponsible.” (CEA Teacher Survey Slide 22)
[The iPad Program] takes up unbelievable amounts of class time. . . I don't feel that we were invited to the conversation,” (CEA Teacher Survey Slide 48)

Transparency: non-existent
"The (Luther School conversion to apartments) project has been developed from Oct 2015 in ‘Closed Sessions’, with the community excluded. The DA Office advised that, per the Brown Act, housing cannot be discussed in closed session."  FAQ 

Developers: prioritized over students
Superintendent & Board President’s words and images on propaganda from flyers, implying endorsement. Vallco Flyer              Proposed converting a priceless CUSD asset, the Luther School Site, into housing for 200 school staff, when there are 900+ teachers, and hundreds of support staff employed in CUSD, while leaving other CUSD schools vastly overcrowded. CUSD Parent

On behalf of students, the following parents, educators, and community members, we support this declaration of no confidence: