Superintendent Resigns After Big Cuts

In Which: HUSD Board reluctantly approves $54 million in cuts, Bruckner-Carrillo begs County to monitor administration, & Superintendent Reimann resigns after placed on leave—investigation dropped

HUSD Takes A Hard First Step

Last Wednesday, the Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) Board of Trustees approved a Fiscal Solvency Plan to cut a total of $54,000,000 from the budget. The meeting was tense, emotional, and difficult for the Trustees, administrators, and workers. Board President Peter Bufete attempted to set the tone for the discussion by saying, “As we navigate through this item, let us approach the discussion with empathy and understanding… a spirit of collaboration and support.”

Superintendent Makes Some Changes

Superintendent Reimann pulled no punches before his presentation. “This is one of the worst processes that any school district can go through,” he said. But this is just the beginning. “What steps are going to be taken after this point,” he said, are just as important and there is work to be done beyond the plan.

The Superintendent pointed said the plan only gets the District’s books balanced and fends off County control. The February 28th deadline was forced by a March 15 deadline—my understanding is that pink slips need to be issued to teachers by March 15th, but the deadline was never explained during the meeting. Even with the plan, $5,000,000 was still unaccounted for. “[We] tried to take [community feedback] into account,” the Superintendent said, “and it was not easy to get to the $54,000,000.”

Changes included additional reductions in district office and non-site administrators—which the Board requested in the previous meeting—and additional funding shifts to avoid deeper cuts to non-management and school site positions. The Director of Multi Language Learner position was also retained, like the Board, HEA, and community members requested. To help cover that, HEA agreed to reduce stipends by $1,100,000. Site budgets also face a one-time reduction of $200,000 and the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) agreed to furlough for $400,000 in savings.

Layoffs still make up the largest part of the budget reductions at 46%, but 73% of those cuts will be at the District Office. Of the management cuts, about 66% will be made at the District Office, as opposed to school sites. Compared to the last plan, cuts to Management increased to almost 32% of the cuts, while every other bargaining unit saw a small reduction in cuts. The total layoffs increased by $2,000,000 which mostly came from cuts to Management.

All of this is in line with Board direction from the previous meeting. AEOTE still takes a large percentage cut—17% of their total positions—but management now takes the biggest percentage cut of 17.4% of their total positions. HEA and SEIU will only be cut by around 3%.

Moving forward, Superintendent Reimann said that they wanted to move fast to re-offer jobs to people and offer new vacancies to those who are laid off. Per Board direction, they promised to try to keep as many people as possible, even if it means a different position in the district.

The Superintendent also said that there would be a planning study of District Office functions in the future. “As we are shrinking,” he said, “we need to make sure that a smaller organization is functioning better.” He suggested breaking silos and working collaboratively, as well as regular FHRA action plans. “So we don’t find ourselves in a situation where we’re surprised by the numbers.”

Bruckner-Carrillo and Prada Blame Contracts

Trustee Austin Bruckner-Carrillo asked about the list of contracts that were in the Executive Summary and how that was put together. Staff said that they were pulled from Budget Forum, which went through a list of all contracts approved in Board Agendas. Staff said that there was no tool to monitor all costs at a site level and tried to simplify the raw data to make it easier for the Board to parse.

This answer did not satisfy Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo, who balked at the idea of manually looking through approved Board Agendas to find a list of contracts. “Before I needlessly vote for a plan that is based on an imperfect document,” he said, “that I can look these folks in the eyes and say that we looked under every nook and textbook and desk in this district… and I don’t believe that I can say that.”

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo then complained about a lack of clarity around the process for evaluating contracts. “I didn’t even get an answer that we prioritized looking at professional development contracts before we cut TOSAs,” he said. “I am not convinced that the administration is going to prioritize reviewing the list of contracts… When will a review of every single contract be done?” The Superintendent said that the Executive Cabinet did that already. “That was one of the first places we began looking,” he said. “We have been looking at contracts. That’s where we began. We’ve said that multiple times… We don’t have a perfect system.”

The FCMT review pointed to multiple administrative process failures at the District Office, many of which had been going on for years. For example, it took months to discover a $20,000,000 overage in Special Education spending even with an intense budget review process. FCMT said that was unacceptable and that the District should put lots of effort into fixing processes after the solvency plan is approved.

Trustee Prada also talked about contracts, specifically mentioning a “$10,000,000 oversight” in the construction contract for the Hayward Performing Arts Center, which broke ground in 2022—a contract which has likely been long closed, and may have been connected to increased construction costs after the COVID-19 lockdowns. “We’re looking at small dollar amounts that hold huge impact as far as our day in the life of a student,” she said.

Taking Aim At Reimann

Trustee Oquenda thanked the Fiscal Advisor, who was invited to the dais, for “holding [the administration’s] feet to the fire” before asking if the Superintendent and his team had truly done everything they could. “Given the compressed timeline,” the Fiscal Advisor said, “I have been perplexed at times how they’ve been able to get through so much in that short amount of time.”

The Fiscal Advisor continued. “Is it perfect? No. But I’ve never worked with any organization that’s managed to do this perfectly, even when they’ve had the time,” she said. “It’s been thorough, it’s been thoughtful, it’s been painful. They have done the very best that I can see to be able to answer questions.” She also suggested that the District conduct and After Action Review to evaluate the process and make improvements.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo asked the Fiscal Advisor, “Do you feel that we looked at every contract?” She responded, “I was saying ‘I need you to focus on cash. I need you to focus on solutions.’” She supported having a process to track contracts across the district and what they’re for and said that it was an action item for Staff.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo then said that he has been told by multiple teachers that there is a way to “export a list of vendors and contracts from our financial management system,” though the administration says that’s not true. “I am not confident,” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said, “that looking at contracts is a priority for the current administration.”

However, during public comment later, the Vice President of AEOTE seemed to contradict that claim. “I really have a hard time believing that you don’t believe all these contracts that you approved,” she said. “They don’t go through unless the Board approves them.” This made the process of looking at Board Agendas sound a lot more reasonable.

The Superintendent said that they went through all contracts line by line and Staff said that emphasis was put on recurring contracts, which would allow ongoing savings for salaries. But, she admitted, “There is going to need to be more review and a more systematic review.”

Trustee Bruckner Carrillo then alleged that he had never received a list of contracts like he requested, and that silence from his fellow Boardmembers confirmed that. But Trustees Oquenda and Rawdon both said they received a list of contracts in January. “It seems it wasn’t what you were looking for, but we have received them,” Trustee Oquenda said. “I would say the same,” Trustee Rawdon said, “but I don’t understand how it differs from what you’re looking for.” Superintendent Reimann said that they will keep trying to give Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo what he’s asking for.

Prada Concerned About Certain Unspecified People

Trustee Prada took aim at unspecified people in the District. “It matters who is in these positions,” she said, “and the positions we keep and the positions that we don’t keep.” However, layoffs can’t target specific people, only specific positions. And many labor contracts organize layoffs to start with the least senior members first. There’s nothing anyone can do to target bad actors in key positions who have been around for many years. “There’s been misspending on large contracts and large projects that didn’t have oversight,” she said, “and that are now impacting our students.”

Later in the meeting, Trustee Prada returned to the subject and seemed to lay the blame on Superintendent Reimann. “What are we supposed to do when the people that put us in these positions that put us in this place are slid to the side, tucked away, and protected and our kids pay the price?” Superintendent Reimann said, “[The Plan] allows us to move forward so that we can begin working on exactly those things that you’re talking about.” He openly agreed with Trustee Prada, “I wouldn’t differ from what you’re saying at all.”

The Alternative Is Far Worse

When it came time to vote, every Trustee said that they felt there was no other option and that none of them took the decision lightly. “I just hope you feel how seriously we’ve taken this,” Trustee Oquenda said to the audience. “It’s not light to any of us. It’s really hard.” She ultimately voted for the plan, as hard as it was. “The reason why I’m going to approve this is because I don’t think it’s wise for us to sit here and try to pull positions from that list. That is going to result in a disastrous conversation and all of us will probably be pulling for different things.”

Trustee Oquenda also recognized that this was just the start of the work and that other change was still needed. “Where there is wiggle room, you’re going to do everything in your power to mitigate the impact on all of our community,” she said to the Administrative Team, “because there is no way to dodge this decision… but at the same time, we do need transformational change in this district.”

Trustee Rawdon, whose voice broke multiple times during the discussion, felt pressed to take the vote, as well. “It kills me that we’re losing people,” he said, “really good people. But the alternative is far worse.” He also sided with Trustee Prada on problematic people in the District. “I know we’re keeping others that really had very little to do with that transformational change,” he said. He also pointed a finger at the Administrative Team, asking them to “watch them like a hawk and demand accountability from our staff.”

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo took aim directly at Superintendent Reimann. “I asked for this detailed list of contracts,” he said, “and it is dishonest to say that was provided to the board… I have no idea the process that was used to look at these contracts. That’s unacceptable.” He joined others in calling for change, but was not hopeful about seeing it. “I don’t see a demonstration that we’ve committed to making changes here,” he said. “I don’t trust this process.”

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo then took things a step further, alleging that the Superintendent had usurped control. “There are five people that sit at this dais that are elected,” he said, “and the Superintendent is not one of them. This experience reaffirmed what it is like to lose local control. So I will vote yes and I am begging the County [inaudible]. I do not have faith in our administration’s ability to move forward.”

Trustee Prada, who took several moments to speak, also expressed a lack of trust in the Superintendent. “I am angry,” she said. “I am tired… I don’t have trust. I understand the decision that needs to be made tonight, but I want it on record that I don’t have faith and there needs to be direct hands in oversight.” She said, through tears, that the Board didn’t feel heard and alleged that the Superintendent had taken the Board’s power. “You’ve taken our power,” she said, “And the inability to do your jobs, you’ve also taken our power. Our power is gone.”

Taking Responsibility

President Bufete reflected on the process and how difficult the situation was. “I think we can learn a lot from this process,” he said. “When we say we don’t want it to impact our students, It’s going to happen… the goal is to make sure the impact is minimal.”

President Bufete then reflected on using the pandemic relief money to hire workers, a decision which helped contribute to the current situation. “I know that when it came down to it with COVID funding, we had a lot of needs in the community, and the way we could address them was with people… It’s hard to regret the services that were provided from those funds… But when I see the difficulty of what we’re going through right now, it does make me reconsider. But I don’t think I would take it back, because our kids were served.”

The President then took aim at the funding system. “The system of educational funding has set us up for this moment,” he said. And the needs of the Hayward community also require a lot of resources the Board doesn’t have. “We’re the only community in the country that got Promise Neighborhoods three times,” he said, “and that’s indicative of what our community requires.”

Ultimately, President Bufete recognized the difficult decision has to be with the Board. “That responsibility [of the Board] is to keep this organization afloat and is to keep decisions locally controlled,” he said. “Because when it’s locally controlled, we can listen to you and make decisions that are discretionary.” He was then overcome with tears and said to the audience, “I am so sorry that you have to go through this.”

When it came time to vote on the Fiscal Solvency Plan, many gave a reluctant Yes vote, except for Trustee Sarah Prada. “You have enough. No,” she said.

The vote passed 4:1.

Fate Of Superintendent Reimann

After the vote, the Board retreated into Closed Session for half an hour. At around 2am on Thursday, the Board reconvened so that President Bufete could report out. “In a 4:0 decision vote,” he said, “with Clerk Bruckner-Carrillo absent, the Superintendent has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.” They placed Chien Wu-Fernandez, Associate Superintendent of Student and Family Services, as Acting Superintendent and abruptly closed the meeting.

Later that day, the Board sent an email saying that the decision had nothing to do with the Fiscal Solvency Plan, despite the visible tensions in the room. “Rest assured,” the email read, “that this decision is unrelated to the Fiscal Solvency Plan discussed at last night’s meeting. The board remains grateful to our District leadership and executive Cabinet for all of their hard work over the last several months to get the district back on track for fiscal solvency.”

We reached out to Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo on Instagram when he posted about the administrative leave. He told us that all questions should be directed to President Bufete. We reached out to the President via email shortly thereafter, but have yet to receive a response.

Most recently, at 11:30pm last night, HUSD sent out an email to parents saying that Superintendent Reimann resigned:

Citing personal reasons, Superintendent Jason Reimann submitted his resignation today to the Board of Education. The resignation is effective May 3, 2025. Dr. Reimann had been placed on leave pending an investigation into a recent alleged incident. In light of his resignation, the investigation has ceased. We will keep you updated as the Board moves forward to fill the position.

These announcements beg multiple questions. If the investigation had nothing to do with the Fiscal Solvency Plan and instead some “alleged incident,” why is the investigation called off once he stepped down? How will this affect the implementation of the plan?

Regardless of the reason, it’s doubtful that the Superintendent Reimann, in his final months, will be able—or inclined—to address the issues brought up by the Board during the meeting. We’ve reached out to the HUSD Board and will report back if we hear anything.