Five candidates are running for two open seats on the Hollister
School District Board of Trustees, while the pair of incumbents
have declined to seek re-election.
Five candidates are running for two open seats on the Hollister School District Board of Trustees, while the pair of incumbents have declined to seek re-election.
The two positions are being vacated by Margie Barrios, elected to the District 1 seat on the San Benito County Board of Supervisors, and Randy Phelps, who said he didn’t run again because he felt he accomplished all his goals.
The five residents looking to fill their roles have varying reasons to run and the list includes one former elected school board member.
Dee Brown
That former Hollister trustee is Dee Brown, who was on the board from 1998 to 2006. Since that time, she has received many phone calls requesting that she run again, she said. As someone who said she’s “passionate” about education, Brown believes it would be “nice to have a mixture of people who know the organization’s history” along with fresh ideas from people who haven’t been on the board as long.
She said she feels strongly about combating the district’s increasing class sizes as well as keeping a balance between the the students’ community interests and school aspirations. She also has in interest in making sure all workers in the school district are protected.
In her full-time work, Brown currently teaches at Chapman University in Monterey, where she educates aspiring school administrators. She also is a real-estate broker in the area and a retired principal at various locations.
Erin Gonzalez
Erin Gonzalez said she decided to run after Superintendent Ron Crates referred her to the open school board positions. She believes she has a vested interest in education, she said, through her job as an assessment editor at McGraw-Hill as well as her family interest for her two young children. And she wants to continue her association with education beyond her job, she noted.
Gonzalez said she is primarily interested in improving the local schools, not just for her own kids who will be entering the Hollister system in the next couple of years, but for everybody involved.
While she’s currently an assessment editor at McGraw-Hill, Gonzalez also has worked as a style editor there and has worked with the publishing company for a total of nine years.
She said she wants to see everyone in the community more interested in enhancing education, starting with improved test scores.
Rebecca G. Salinas
Rebecca said she can give a lot to the community. Living here for 28 years, at one point working for 13 years at the Hollister district, she said she knows its biggest problems.
And as a person of Hispanic origin, she noted, she hopes to improve the dropout rate for that demographic.
Now retired from full-time work in education, she had worked for the HSD as migrant program teacher, bilingual teacher, Title 7 teacher and parent educator. Splitting time between the special education and bilingual programs,
Salinas got her administrative credential and went on to work at Alisal Union School District. She retired in 2006 but still does some consulting work for that district. She has also been a principal at Pajaro Valley Schools.
She said she wants to work with parents and schools to form better partnerships and she believes a strong bond would be a great way to improve education. She also noted how she wants to serve the public where she lives.
Brandon Sowards
As the parent of two young children, Brandon Sowards said he’s concerned for the well-being of all kids in the school system and he’d like to see their needs addressed as well as their well-being protected. Sowards sid he has no motivations for political gain from running and only the best interest of the students.
Sowards said he wants to investigate all ideas come forward – even from people outside the board – and he thinks that sometimes they get passed over for potential action.
As far as background goes, after being in college for a semester and a half, Sowards became a missionary. After returning, he went to college again and only to realized the best way to support himself was by starting his own business.
He has owned a few small businesses and currently operates his own garbage business. He noted how he’s active in his church, which encourages him to get out in the community and serve.
Chuck Spandri
Chuck Spandri is mostly concerned about the level of education throughout the district as well as condition of facilities.
A parent of three children, he believes education should be a high priority “even for people without kids in the district.”
He said he wants to bridge the gap between teachers, school employees and administrators.
He thinks there is a distrust between teachers and employees and wants to get rid of the “us versus them mentality,” he said. He said he believes everyone should work together, every position from custodian to superintendent.
He’s a high school graduate with experience in the Navy’s nuclear power program as an electrician’s mate.
Since then, he has worked at various power plants in a variety of roles. He is currently an operations and maintenance manager at Calpine’s Monterey Cogeneration facility in Watsonville.
