With three out of the five seats on the Aromas-San Juan Unified
School District Board up for grabs this November, there is a chance
for voters to elect some fresh faces, or choose to stay with the
incumbents who helped create the district.
With three out of the five seats on the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District Board up for grabs this November, there is a chance for voters to elect some fresh faces, or choose to stay with the incumbents who helped create the district.
Board member Andy Hsia-Coron will not run for re-election, and incumbents Sylvia Rios Metcalf and Rachel Ponce will try to hold onto their seats for another four years. While Rios Metcalf and Ponce are focused on maintaining the district’s programs and high academic achievement, the other four candidates, Bonnie Mahler, Leslie Austin, Donald Clark and Paul Goodman feel student retention and high school activities are a top priority.
Jackie Munoz, superintendent of Aromas-San Juan Unified, chose not to comment on what the key issues are for this election, but she did say she hopes whoever is elected stays focused on the students.
“I would hope that those who are elected keep children first and are working toward the common goal of the district,” she said.
Leslie Austin
By day, Aromas resident Leslie Austin, 43, is a freelance editor of college text books, and by night, she’s a concerned parent who’s ready to join the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District Board.
“I never really saw myself as running for any office,” Austin said. “But I strongly believe in civic duty and being a parent. I have always wanted my children to grow up in a home where volunteering is important.”
Austin’s interest in running for a seat on the board comes from her fondness of small schools and the education her children have received in the district.
“I love that Anzar is a smaller high school,” she said. “I think it allows the students to get the personal attention they need and deserve.”
Because Aromas-San Juan is a small district, Austin said funding is a concern of hers.
“There is less money today than there was when I was in high school,” she said. “And that’s a challenge. What we need to do as a district and a community is find out what our priorities are for education.”
Austin believes academics should sit at the top of the list, and if the community feels extra curricular activities are important, there are creative ways of implementing them.
“If something like a football team at Anzar is important to the students, then let’s get a group of parents together and have them work on grant writing and get the team going,” she said. “Some of these ideas seem out of reach, but they’re really not. We just have to work together.”
Austin said bringing people together is one of her strengths.
“Good communications skills is the No. 1 thing I can bring to the board,” she said. “Because of what I do for a living, I’m constantly working with others, and because I’m editing college level books, I feel it gives me a greater appreciation for higher learning.”
Donald Clark
With four children attending Aromas School, Donald Clark, 37, decided he wants the best education for his children and the rest of Aromas.
Two of Clark’s kids are reaching the high school age, and one of his concerns is activities and student enrollment at Anzar High School.
“Something is wrong when you have 100 kids start school their freshman year, and only 50 end up graduating,” he said.
Adding sports and extra activities at Anzar would give students more chances to interact and may even keep more students at the school, Clark said.
“Anytime you’re part of an activity, you have more contact with other people, which I think will benefit these kids later in life,” he said.
Interaction with others is something Clark said has helped him in his professional life, and also makes him a strong candidate for the board.
“In order to represent a group, you have to really listen to them, and analyze the information before making a decision,” he said. “I feel my corporate background has given me the skills to be able to assess situations, and make well thought out decisions. I want the parents to feel like they have a voice.”
Clark has spent many years working as an account manager in the produce industry, and he has a background in handling stressful situations as well. During the day, he also works as a 911 dispatcher for Monterey County, and on his off time, he volunteers with Aromas School, supervising school dances and field trips.
When he and his family moved to Aromas two-and-a-half years ago, Clark said the first thing he looked at was the school district. His goal is to maintain the good reputation of Aromas-San Juan, so that others want to join the community.
“It’s one of the first things people are going to look at if they have children and are looking to move here,” he said. “I know I did.”
Paul Goodman
For the last five years, Aromas resident Paul Goodman said he’s attended 75 percent of the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District board meetings, and after feeling like his voice has been heard, he’s ready to sit on the opposite side of the podium.
“In my opinion, the board hasn’t really seen a change since it began,” he said. “The attitudes and ideas haven’t changed. There has been attempts to get new people on the board and it hasn’t happened. I think the time is now.”
Goodman, 53, has a son at Anzar High School, and said one of his biggest concerns is the retention of students there.
“Sixty percent of the freshman who begin at Anzar don’t make it to graduation,” he said. “When children are leaving the district, the administrators are just saying ‘OK,’ and they’re not even doing any kind of follow up to find out why.”
Part of the retention problem, according to Goodman, is the lack of sports programs and activities for students. If elected, Goodman said he’d like to start a football team at Anzar in the next four years.
“I spoke with one parent who took their child out of Anzar because the school wouldn’t recognize cheerleading as a sport and give out letters,” he said. “The kids aren’t getting the high school experience that 100 percent of their parents were exposed to.”
Along with increasing retention, Goodman wants to improve communication throughout the district. Because Aromas sits in three different counties, he feels the news media isn’t getting the coverage or the word out to parents about the Aromas-San Juan Schools.
“One of my goals would be to institute a sound board where people could get information about board meetings and what’s going on with the schools,” he said. “Maybe even something like a mass e-mail list. I would encourage everyone in the district to be part of it, and know what’s going on in the schools.”
Bonnie Mahler
Just off the beaten path of Blohm Avenue in Aromas, Bonnie Mahler, 70, has spent the last 19 years serving up sandwiches to locals and hearing them gripe about the local schools at her restaurant Ducky’s Deli.
“Where I’m at, I hear a lot of complaints, and I’ve been asked many times to run, so I finally am,” she said.
Mahler, who has lived in Aromas her whole life, has a grandchild at Aromas School, and aside from being a concerned grandmother, she feels a need to improve local education because it effects the whole community.
“I think it’s time for change, and I want to be a voice for the whole community,” she said.
One of her goals is to increase growth at Anzar High School, and revise the exhibitions program, which is a presentation class at the school where students are required to do research on a topic, write a report and give an oral presentation.
If elected, Mahler said she won’t be a “rubber stamp” board member, and anyone who has a concern can either stop by the deli to talk with her, or give a call.
“They’ll always know where to find me,” she said.
Rachel Pounce
It was eight years ago when incumbent Rachel Ponce first joined the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District. Now at the age of 62, she’s decided to run again, and hopes to continue to be part of the development of the district.
“I support and feel very strongly about the vision of the district,” Ponce said.
Ponce has lived in San Juan Bautista for 50 years. She, her husband, her children and now her grandchildren have all attended San Juan School. And, years ago, she worked at the school as a teacher’s aide.
“Having experience in the classroom is beneficial, but to believe and trust in the staff, and be aware and observe what’s important to them is key,” she said.
As a board member, Ponce said she’s helped keep the budget solvent, and her greatest achievement was helping to secure a permanent site for Anzar High School.
“We’re very fortunate at the district to have a dedicated staff that tries to keep the cuts far from the programs and the classroom,” she said.
Ponce said her strengths as a board member and leader are good communication skills and being able to make the tough decisions.
I’m a good listener,” she said. “And I feel very strongly about being respectful and fair. Because of my commitment to the district, I’m able to make the hard and unpopular decisions that a board sometimes has to make.”
If re-elected, Ponce said she’ll help continue to move the district in the right direction, and make sure the students and their education remain first priority.
“We as a district focus on equity for all students and supporting the teachers and their professional growth,” she said. “I think a good education is important because it not only gets youth to college, but it allows you to expand your outlook on life. With knowledge, you have a better way of understanding differences.”
Sylvia Rios Metcalf
It was 15 years ago that San Juan Bautista resident Sylvia Rios Metcalf and other parents got together and decided to work on creating a district.
“There were a lot of parents who loved the area and we wanted an opportunity to bring the schools together and form a district,” she said.
Today, at the age of 54, she’s still a member of the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District Board, and she’s hoping to be re-elected once again.
“I strongly believe in public education,” she said. “Education is an exciting process because it is constantly developing.”
Throughout her years on the board, Rios Metcalf said she’s helped pass Measure S, which gave the district more than $8 million to renovate Aromas School and San Juan School. She also oversaw the construction of the library at Anzar High School. She believes the educational programs in the district are benefiting the students, and she hopes to stay on board to maintain the work she helped create for years to come.
“There is always work to be done,” she said. “I want to continue communicating with parents. If someone comes to the board with an idea, I will always try to find a way for it to work.”
If elected, an on-going issue that Rios Metcalf would like to address is the achievement gap among students. She believes resources need to be provides to each different subgroup in the district, making sure all students have the opportunity to succeed.
“We have a number of curriculum issues,” she said. “My primary concern is that the people at the top, the people in the middle and the people at the bottom are getting what they need for their education.”
Rios Metcalf has lived in the San Juan Bautista area for 23 years. Her own children went through the district’s schools, and she also has experience in the classroom. She teaches art at Gavilan College, Hartnell College and Cabrillo College.
