Redding, California board discusses arrested librarian; new schools chief addresses public concerns

FROM REDDING.COM-

Redding School District's new Superintendent Rick Fauss had his first meeting with the board of trustees Tuesday with only one topic on the agenda: school Librarian Wanell Stolz, who is accused of embezzlement and grand theft.

Fauss said one of the most important issues facing the district is addressing the public's perception of the district since Stolz was arrested last summer.
"I've been here seven days, and there hasn't been a day that I haven't talked about that," Fauss said Tuesday afternoon before his meeting with trustees.
He said there have been four or five people who have approached him to talk about the Stolz case since he started working for the district this month.
"I think public perception is a really big deal," Fauss said. "Public perception is a huge deal in a school district." The board met in closed session late Tuesday afternoon to discuss a "public employee discipline/dismissal/release/complaint," according to the agenda, which did not name Stolz. The board met in closed session for about an hour and 10 minutes. After returning from closed session, board President Denise Yergenson said they had taken no action to report in open session.
Fauss, who comes from the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District in Stanislaus County, began working for the district earlier this month. He replaces Diane Kempley, who had been superintendent since 2005.
Before the meeting, Fauss said he could not say what action, if any, should be taken in the Stolz case because it is a personnel issue that could not be discussed in public.
Stolz was arrested last August when police served a search warrant at her home. She was charged with embezzling about $13,500 while she was treasurer of the Sycamore Elementary School Parent Faculty Club. She also is accused of stealing district property. Stolz has pleaded not guilty, and her trial is set to start Aug. 9.
At the time of her arrest, Stolz's husband, Rein Stolz, was president of the district board of trustees. Shortly after she was arrested, Wanell Stolz voluntarily went on unpaid administrative leave for the entire 2010-11 school year, and her husband resigned from the board.
Last month the board approved laying off information specialist Nadina Darrah so Stolz could return from administrative leave and resume working at one of the schools in the district. The district calls its librarians information specialists.
After the board meeting Fauss said that he planned to begin working today to change public perception about the school district, but said he couldn't announce yet what action he would take.
The district needs to work to ensure parents, students and staff feel confident the district is providing a safe and quality learning environment for children, Fauss said.
"Until it's fully resolved, we need to do our job to ensure parents, kids and staff that we're providing the best learning environment we can," Fauss said, referring to Stolz's criminal case.
Heather Waldrop, president of the Cypress Elementary School's parent club, said she agreed the district faces important issues surrounding Stolz.
"I think it's a big, expensive problem in the district," Waldrop said, referring to a $76,000 investigative report the district paid to delve into personnel issues raised following Stolz's arrest.
"It's gotten a lot of parents upset, myself included. Yes, I think it's huge," Waldrop said.
To resolve the issue, Waldrop said she would like to get Cypress' former librarian back, and she wants the district to reassign Stolz to a job where she doesn't have contact with students and she doesn't work with money.
She said she was encouraged that Fauss was concerned about the public fallout over Stolz's arrest.
"It gives me hope," she said.