After 16 years at Pacific Grove Unified School District, Superintendent Ralph Gómez Porras announced his resignation on Tuesday, March 28 to the board of trustees, and followed up with an announcement on March 29 to the broader school district community.
"It is with very mixed feelings that I submit this letter resigning my position as superintendent of PGUSD schools effective June 30, 2023 so that I may pursue a new employment opportunity," Porras wrote in a resignation letter.
"I appreciate everyone that I worked with during these fantastic, and sometime tumultuous years, and I believe that together we created excellent learning opportunities for our students and their families. Your willingness to work together, your commitment to student education, and your generosity of spirit are boundless and esteemed."
Porras did not immediately respond to a request for an interview about his next steps and where he plans to go. Board president Carolyn Swanson did not immediately respond to questions about the board's next steps in hiring a replacement or appointing an interim superintendent to serve during the search process.
PGUSD does well by academic standards, with 74.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards in English in 2022, and 57.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding math standards. (That compares closely to Carmel Unified, where 78.7 percent met or exceeded English standards, and 64.21 percent on math; it's above neighboring Salinas Union High School District, where the figures were 42.5 percent and 17.36 percent, respectively; and Monterey Peninsula Unified, where it was 37.9 percent and 21.4 percent.)
In terms of "sometimes tumultuous" times Porras refers to, there have been several conflicts in recent years, such as the 2019 discovery of racist social media posts by the then-Associated Student Body president and his subsequent resignation. That incident led to a reckoning of sorts for the school board about the need to confront racism, with the approval of a contract for cultural proficiency training.
In 2020, Porras spoke in opposition to the city allowing cannabis dispensaries in town, something Pacific Grove voters said yes to in 2022, and something City Council has yet to decide on.
And just a few weeks ago, PGUSD agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a culinary arts teacher, Imogen Erickson, over whether she was improperly classified. She argued she should be treated as a full-time teacher eligible for tenure; the district attempted to get the case thrown out in court, but after a judge ruled the case could proceed, the parties settled and Erickson was reclassified. (Read more about her lawsuit, and related concerns, in the March 30 issue of the Weekly.)