Incumbents for Aromas-San Juan, Hollister opt out of race
In two San Benito County school districts, five incumbents up
for re-election have decided against campaigning for another
term.
”
That’s really unusual,
”
said Terry Christensen, a professor of political science at San
Jose State University.
”
It is an unusual pattern that so many incumbents would decide
not to run again when it’s normal that incumbents do run again.
”
Incumbents for Aromas-San Juan, Hollister opt out of race
In two San Benito County school districts, five incumbents up for re-election have decided against campaigning for another term.
“That’s really unusual,” said Terry Christensen, a professor of political science at San Jose State University. “It is an unusual pattern that so many incumbents would decide not to run again when it’s normal that incumbents do run again.”
School board elections tend to be low profile, low turnout, uncompetitive races, Christensen said. Typically, incumbents run for reelection, and do it unopposed.
“Mostly, our incumbents are running for reelection,” Christensen said, referring to Santa Clara County.
Aromas-San Juan Unified School District
In a tough financial year, officials in Aromas-San Juan Unified School District have faced many problems, and the finanical crisis will continue into the next school year.
Although the district is through with budget cuts for the current school year, more could be on the way for next year, said Jacquelyn Muñoz, superintendent of Aromas-San Juan.
“We don’t have a state budget,” Muñoz said. “We don’t know our exact enrollment yet. We haven’t been able to close the book from last year yet. We project that we will have to cut some more.”
On Aug. 22, school board members ratified the tentative agreement between district officials and the members of the Aromas-San Juan Teachers Union for salary cuts and increased healthcare costs to employees. The savings will enable district officials to borrow up to $3 million from the San Benito County Office of Education officials to make payroll.
Rollbacks were opposed by members of the teachers union for months but necessary to avoid a state takeover.
In the middle of all the cuts, district residents voted down a bond that would have paid off construction debt and funded improvements at the schools.
“In that kind of situation, there’s a good chance you could lose,” Christensen said, of the incumbents who chose not to run. “It really sort of drags out all the problems in public and puts you at the brunt of them.”
When a district faces problems, the administration is more insulated than school board members, Christensen said.
“The school board are the ones who are most visibly, publicly accountable because they’re elected,” Christensen said.
That is one reason why competitive school board elections have fallen off, Christensen said.
“It’s almost a thankless task,” Christensen said. “People involved in education are very passionate about it. Here are these citizens serving on a board, and then everybody gets mad at them.”
In Aromas-San Juan there are three open seats and there are three candidates, so there will not be an election. The new board members, who will take office sometime in December, are Mike Perez, David Swing and Cathy Alameda. They are all parents with children in the district.
Board members Leslie Austin, Bonnie Mahler and Sylvia Rios Metcalf chose not to run for a variety of reasons. After 17 years as a trustee, Metcalf thought it was time for new blood on the school board.
“We have three candidates who are becoming more and more informed by the day who can potentially be really wonderful school board members,” Metcalf said. “I thought it might be a good time to let other people become as passionate as I have been. I think people in this district are ready to recommit and revitalize.”
An art teacher at Cabrillo College, Hartnell College and West Valley College, Metcalf also has work responsibilities, she said.
Austin is stepping down after one term to spend more time at work, she said.
“My daughter is going to study architecture at Cal Poly, and paying for the cost of a college education, particularly for a single mom, isn’t an easy thing to do,” Austin said.
The district’s improved financial situation enabled her decision, Austin said.
“I think that if we didn’t have three strong incoming trustees, and if we didn’t have the strong financial advice, I might have made a different decision,” Austin said.
The district will have access to financial advice for the next few years through Sheila Vickers, a financial advisor for the district who was appointed by San Benito County Office of Education officials.
Mahler said she only intended to run for one term.
“I was approached by some community members to run, so I said, ‘Okay, I’ll give it four years,'” Mahler said. “I’m 74 years old and that’s why I didn’t run [again].”
The district’s tough financial situation had nothing to do with her decision, Mahler said.
“I was tempted to run again because of our difficulties and to not leave in the middle of it, but I decided to stick with my original decision,” Mahler said.
Ken Halla, a former principal of Aromas School and San Juan School, said he thinks the trustees had other reasons for stepping down.
“My belief is the incumbents saw that they had absolutely no chance of winning against three strong candidates and decided not to put themselves, the superintendent or the school district through an extremely painful and divisive election,” Halla said.
Metcalf disagreed with his assessment.
“I hope that he will come around,” Metcalf said. “I think that he should be reassured that people made their decisions for personal reasons.”
Hollister School District
In Hollister, incumbents Margie Barrios and Randal Phelps decided against another run. Barrios was elected to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors, and will start her duties there in January. Phelps could not be reached by press time. The candidates running for the two open seats are Brandon Sowards, Erin Gonzalez, Rebecca Salinas, Chuck Spandri and Dee Brown.
Major issues facing the district include increased classroom size, achievement among Hispanic students and communication with parents, candidates said.
“It’s a pretty big district,” Brown said. “I don’t understand why more people don’t run, but five people running for two seats is going to be kind of hectic.”
Joe Paul Gonzalez, clerk-auditor-elections-recorder for San Benito County said the multiple candidates is a good thing.
“That’s a very positive thing,” Gonzalez said. “There’s interest out there in the community to serve, and to put their hand in and try to make things work. It’s just no fun to be in an elective office when cutbacks are the order of the day.”
Hollister school board candidates
Brandon Sowards
Occupation: business owner, Let’s Talk Trash
Reason for Running: “I want to come in with a parent’s point of view, and also a business point of view.”
Erin Gonzalez
Occupation: assessment editor at GPB/McGraw-Hill, a publishing company
Reason for running: Gonzalez has worked in the education field for nine years and wants to be more involved in the community.
Rebecca Salinas
Occupation: retired teacher/administrator
Reason for running: “I know that we feed directly into the high school and I’m looking at a global issue, the dropout rate.”
Chuck Spandri
Occupation: operations and maintenance manager for Calpine, an energy company
Reason for running: “I have three children in the Hollister School district. I’d like to have a say in the education that they receive.”
Dee Brown
Occupation: educator/realtor
Reason for running: A former board member from 1999-2000, she said members of the community requested she run again.
