Concerns about poor test scores, school accountability and a
desire to serve the community drove 29 candidates to join the races
for 11 San Benito County school district boards.
Concerns about poor test scores, school accountability and a desire to serve the community drove 29 candidates to join the races for 11 San Benito County school district boards.
With 24 openings, and 29 candidates, including 18 incumbents, voters will have a lot of choices on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Although Tres Pinos Union School District, Panoche School District and Cienega Union School District have veteran board members running for re-election, San Benito High School District and Aromas-San Juan Unified have new candidates hoping to change the test scores and accountability of their districts’ schools.
Hollister resident and father of seven, Raymond Rodriguez, 43, will run for one of the two open seats at San Benito High School District. His contenders, present board president Shelley Donati and retired SBHSD Human Resources Director Evelyn Muro, have been sitting at the board meeting table for years. But Rodriguez, a science and engineering associate at Stanford University, said he’s been sitting in the audience participating right along side them since 2000.
“I think a good portion of the community is satisfied with the product the high school produces, but there is too much of the community who has lost trust,” he said. “Hopefully I can be an avenue for these community members to have their voices heard.”
During the past few years, and particularly the past few months, Rodriguez has been working with SBHSD administrators to strengthen the relationship between San Andreas Continuation High School and SBHS. Aligning the curriculum at the two schools, and looking into why students leave SBHS is on the top of his priority list, he said.
“When you look at the number of kids in a graduating class, and then look at the number of them that entered as freshmen, something like 40 percent less students are there to finish,” he said. “Three years ago, I started asking where these students were going, and I was told it was because they were moving out of the area, but that was before the moratorium, when people were flooding into the area.”
A lot of the candidates, like Rodriguez, have children attending the schools they want to represent, but Aromas Business Owner Bonnie Mahler doesn’t. Her concern for Aromas-San Juan Unified stems from poor test results from the schools. All three schools in the district scored a one out of 10, when being compared with similar schools, on the Academic Performance Index test, according to the California Department of Education. Mahler, 70, who has lived in Aromas her entire life and is owner of Ducky’s Deli, said she’s concerned about the future of the schools in her region.
“I decided to run because I want education for our kids that will help them survive out in the real world,” she said.
Aromas resident Donald Clark, 37, also running for the Aromas-San Juan Unified Board, also entered the race because of the low test results. With his four children all attending Aromas School, Clark said, he wants to make sure they, and all the other kids at the school are getting the best education possible.
“I would like to see them become top schools,” he said. “When people are looking to move to the Aromas area, and they have children like we do, one of the main things they’re going to look at is education.”
Clark, Mahler and candidate Leslie Austin, an editor and parent, are competing against current board members Sylvia Rios-Metcalf and Rachel Ponce for three vacant seats.
Hollister School District has four candidates running for three seats, including present board member Margie Barrios. The new faces on the HSD ballot include compliance specialist Chuck Spandri, and businessman Randal Phelps.
Candidates will have the next few months to hand out information, post signs and talk with parent clubs. For more information, or to read the candidates statements, contact the county elections office at 831-636-4016.
2004 SBC School Board Candidates
Aromas-San Juan Unified School District (Three seats)
– Donald Clark – Emergency Dispatcher/Businessman
– Rachel Ponce – Incumbent
– Slyvia Rios-Metcalf – Incumbent
– Bonnie Mahler – Business Owner
– Leslie Austin – Editor/Parent
Bitterwater-Tully (Three seats)
– No candidates
Cienega Union School (Two seats)
– Anna Bay-Ramyon – Incumbent
– Cheryl Ashton – Incumbent
Hollister School District (Two seats)
– Margie Barrios – Incumbent
– Chuck Spandri – Compliance Specialist
– Randal Phelps – Businessman
Jefferson School District (Four seats)
– Kelly Weak – Parent
– David Reikowski – Appointed Incumbent
– Jon Garbini – Incumbent
– Gertrude JoAnne Falsey – Incumbent
– Debbie Simmons – Parent
– Kathy Ballinger – Appointed Incumbent
North County Joint Union (Three seats)
– Michael Castello – Incumbent
– Renee Faught – Incumbent
– Candice Mancino – Incumbent
– Robert Bernosky – Chief Financial Officer
Panoche School District (One seat)
– Kim Lippert – Incumbent
Southside School District (Two seats)
– Michael Chambless – Parent/Municipal Employee
– Connie Glosser – Incumbent
Tres Pinos Union School District (Two seats)
– Lisa Tobias – Incumbent
Willow Grove Union School District (Three seats)
– Janette Sharp – Incumbent
– Janeane Williams – Incumbent
– Dave Hopcroft – Business Manager
San Benito High School District (Two seats)
– Evelyn Muro – Retired Teacher/Human Resources Director
– Raymond Rodriguez – Parent
– Shelley Donati – Incumbent
