SDUHSD Board Meeting January 22, 2026 Summary
The Board convened in closed session first, then reconvened to open session at the District office in Encinitas.
Biggest takeaways
Closed Session approvals:
2B: OAH compromise agreement (Special Education matter) — approved 4-0 (Williams absent)
2D: Agreement ratified to return Coach Jono Zissi to a coaching role for Spring 2026 — approved 4-0 (Williams absent)
4B Recognition: Canyon Crest teacher Timothy Stiven honored as a Top 10 finalist for the 2026 Global Teacher Prize
8D Ethnic Studies: English 9 Honors / Ethnic Studies update —staff presentation + board discussion, vote 4-1
10D F3 legal services agreement: Major board discussion on fixed-fee structure + public records request costs, vote 4-1
10F Electric buses: Board approved purchasing mechanism for EV buses and discussed the temporary propane charging workaround, vote 5-0
Public Comment Before Closed Session
Henri Tanghe (Torrey Pines Lacrosse) — Verbatim transcript
Madame President, trustees, and Dr. Staffieri. My name is Henry Tangy, and I stand before you all tonight as a proud senior on the Torrey Pines High School men's lacrosse team. For the past 129 days, our team has been without our rock, our own head coach, Jono Zissi. I alongside my teammates am hopeful that tonight you will all vote to approve the agreement reached by the district's attorneys and our coach. As a team, we have weathered many challenges before. Yet, nothing has been like these nearly 4 and a half months. Despite all the exhausting uncertainty and setbacks, we have remained united, resilient, and determined. We have shown up and worked hard everyday not knowing what the future holds. While we are proud of how we have handled the adversity, the lack of closure and clarity has taken a toll on our program. We need stability. We need leadership. We need our coach.
Coach Zissi is the heart of our team. His dedication, passion, and love for the game have shaped us into better athletes and men. We have missed his guidance, his motivation, and his
presence. With our spring season fast approaching, we are anxious to move forward and focus on the game we love. We ask for the opportunity to have our coach back and close this chapter.
We also recognize that this situation has brought a lot of attention and scrutiny to our program. We understand that the board has had a difficult decision to make. But we hope you consider the impact this has had on us, the players who have been caught in the middle. We want to move forward as a team and as a school community.
Approving this agreement will allow us to begin healing and focusing on the future. It will allow our program to regain the structure and leadership we need. We believe in coach Zissi and his ability to lead us. We respectfully ask you to finalize this agreement and bring him back. Thank you for your time and consideration.
This has been a hard and painful time for everyone involved. But we believe that with Coach Zissi back, we can rebuild and move forward together. We are ready to put this behind us and focus on our spring season. Simply put, let us have our coach back. Thank you.
2. Closed Session Report Out
2B — OAH Case No. 2025004 (Compromise Agreement & Release)
The Board reported that, on a motion by Trustee Anderson and second by Trustee Viskanta, all trustees present voted YES.
Trustee Williams was absent
The agreement resolved a Special Education dispute and included compensatory education and attorneys’ fees in exchange for mutual waivers of claims.
2D — Agreement Ratified Regarding Coach Jono Zissi
The Board reported that, on a motion by Trustee Anderson and second by Trustee Viskanta, all trustees present voted YES to ratify an agreement involving Coach Jono Zissi.
Trustee Williams was absent, The motion passed 4-0.
4. Board Recognition
4B — Timothy Stiven Recognition (Global Teacher Prize Top 10 Finalist)
The Board recognized Timothy Stiven (Canyon Crest Academy) for being named a Top 10 finalist for the 2026 Global Teacher Prize.
Description of the Global Teacher Prize
The Global Teacher Prize is a $1 million annual award presented by the Varkey Foundation to recognize an exceptional teacher with significant impact on students and community.
Finalists are selected from thousands of nominations worldwide, and the winner is typically announced at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
What SDUHSD highlighted about Stiven
During the recognition, District speakers emphasized that:
He was selected from thousands of educators across many countries and represented a rare U.S. finalist presence.
His work was described as combining academic rigor, global awareness, and real-world impact, with student projects reaching beyond the classroom.
5. Public Comment (Non-Agenda)
5A — Non-Agenda Public Comments
The Board stated there were 10 non-agenda speakers.
Main themes raised:
Student safety and campus response concerns (requests for better clarity, process, and accountability)
Community anxiety and polarization tied to national events and campus climate
Support for staff and school programs, including recognition of educator efforts
Concerns about misinformation and fear affecting students
Calls for stronger student protections and inclusive school culture
7. Consent Agenda
7A — Consent Agenda (Items 8A–8C, 9A–9B, 10A–10C)
The Board approved the consent agenda items grouped under 7A.
8. Educational Services
8D — English 9 Honors with Ethnic Studies Update & Recommended Next Steps
Staff presented an update describing the district’s implementation work connected to AB 101 and the continuing development of Ethnic Studies-aligned instruction within the English 9 Honors framework.
What was covered:
Staff described the work as spanning study sessions and community engagement nights and framed the update as a compliance and curriculum-design process.
The presentation described goals including course design clarity, instructional alignment, and supporting a consistent districtwide approach.
Board discussion (themes):
Trustees focused on whether the recommended next steps appropriately balanced:
educational goals and state expectations,
course integrity and implementation clarity, and
community concerns and student experience.
Vote: The action concluded with a vote of 4-1 with Trustee Anderson voting no. She would prefer this as a one semester elective, rather than 9th grade English.
8E — National School Counseling Week (Feb 2–6, 2026)
The Board adopted a resolution recognizing National School Counseling Week.
8F — Career Technical Education Month (February 2026)
The Board adopted a resolution recognizing CTE Month, with staff noting a future CTE overview presentation would be brought forward.
9. Educational Services / Labor
9C — CSEA Tentative Agreement + Salary Schedule + AB 1200 Disclosure
The Board ratified the tentative agreement with CSEA and approved the related salary schedule and AB 1200 disclosure.
10. Business Services
10D — F3 Law Legal Services Agreement (2026) + Prior Legal Expenses
This agenda item was a major discussion point and had both public comment and extensive board debate.
Public comment (Marci Strange)
Ms. Strange cautioned that the monthly contract figure could be “misleading” because it may not reflect additional categories of legal spending (e.g., litigation-related costs), and urged the Board to focus on what taxpayers are receiving for the recurring monthly spend and how to reduce overall legal expenses rather than normalize increases.
Trustee Allman’s process to obtain F3 cost data
Trustee Allman said he had been trying for months to get F3 billing data in a usable format so he could analyze what was driving costs. He stated that he was “stymied at every turn” and “consistently told no” until the prior board meeting, and that he was told “no electronic version would be provided,” he “can’t take any pictures of the data,” and he “can’t leave their office even with a hard copy.” He said the restrictions made it feel “like this was top secret nuclear codes in a skiff somewhere.” Allman explained that the only way forward offered to him was to take handwritten notes, so he went to counsel’s office and spent “seven hours… handwriting from the printout” while “the senior name partner… [watched] me do it the entire time.” He then went home and said he had to convert those handwritten notes into a spreadsheet, spending “easily 20 hours transcribing it” to get something “machine readable.” He summarized the effort as “25 or 30 hours” of his time to obtain and structure data he said he had been requesting in the first place, and questioned why such a high barrier existed for trustees to review and analyze legal spending.
Allman’s comments on public-records-request legal costs
Allman said his cost review highlighted a category he found alarming: public records requests. He emphasized that the district spent approximately “$459,000 in answering public records requests”, calling it evidence that “something’s really broken there.” He added that he was “shocked and gobsmacked” to learn about a request linked to the Center of American Liberty, stating the district spent “$123,000 on one.” He argued that the magnitude of these costs suggested a systemic problem and proposed that the district could potentially reduce expenses by investing in internal capacity rather than defaulting to outside counsel for large volumes of records work.
Allman’s objections to a fixed-fee legal contract (summary)
Allman’s central objection was that a fixed monthly fee can hide the true cost drivers and remove the “incremental cost” signal that would normally discourage routing everything to outside counsel. He argued that when the district pays a fixed amount “no matter what,” it creates an incentive to “load it up,” and then only later does the cumulative cost become apparent. He warned that, based on the rate discussed, the district was effectively being asked to normalize a fixed-fee structure approaching $1.2 million per year, and he said he “can’t support that at this time.” He proposed creating a Board-superintendent committee to evaluate how to regain cost control—especially around public records.
Board action
The Board ultimately approved the item 4-1 with Trustee Allman voting No (and student board members abstained).
10F — Electric Bus Purchasing Mechanism
This item approved a “piggyback” purchasing mechanism (using existing competitively bid contracts) to support the district’s EV bus acquisition. Staff explained that the district had secured over $2 million in zero-emission school bus and infrastructure funding and anticipated issuing purchase orders for the next five EV buses using the piggyback contracts.
During discussion, trustees raised concerns about the practical reality of charging the new buses before permanent infrastructure is completed. A key exchange focused on the district’s interim solution: a portable charging station that runs on propane, creating an ironic “fossil fuel powering clean energy” scenario. Trustee Viskanta emphasized that the propane approach is temporary, bridging the district through the infrastructure gap while waiting on SDG&E-related completion. Trustee Anderson made the “taxpayer” framing comment—reiterating that the district must account for the practical and cost impacts of implementation, not just the headline goal of electrification. Staff explained that propane tanks would need periodic replacement depending on charging volume, with one estimate suggesting refill needs could occur every couple months.
Vote: The item passed unanimously.
10D / 10F Combined Insight (Why these became connected)
A noticeable through-line was cost transparency: trustees were simultaneously debating (1) how legal costs scale under fixed-fee arrangements and (2) how “clean energy” projects still require careful scrutiny of implementation costs and interim workarounds.