San Juan Bautista
– Though bigger school districts and different races may steal
the spotlight this election, smaller, rural school parents will be
selecting new trustees or reseating incumbents this fall as
well.
San Juan Bautista – Though bigger school districts and different races may steal the spotlight this election, smaller, rural school parents will be selecting new trustees or reseating incumbents this fall as well.
“We have a lot to work on right now,” Aromas San Juan School District Superintendent Jackie Munoz said.
For many rural school districts, elections are a nonissue this year. No challengers pulled papers for board seats at Bitterwater-Tully, Cienega, Jefferson, Panoche or Southside School Districts.
Three seats are open at Tres Pinos Union School District, but only two candidates filed papers – incumbent Susan Modic and Thomas Tobias, a local rancher.
As a result, Aromas San Juan, North County and Willow Grove school districts are the only rural districts in the county with an honest-to-goodness school board race in store.
Two ASJSD seats are up for grabs this year – Jeff Hancock will be defending his seat and seeking a second term in office while Board President John Ferreira chose not to run again.
“There are a number of changes we’ve begun to make that I want to see through completely,” Hancock said. “We have both our K-8 schools dealing with No Child Left Behind and we need to take a good look at our finances.”
Running against Hancock are former city councilman Robert Quaid and local parent Louis Fiori.
Munoz said school facilities will be a major challenge for trustees in the coming years; In June voters shot down a $24 million bond measure that would have funded more than a dozen projects for the district, including a new cafeteria and auditorium for Anzar High School students, a new preschool building for San Juan School, and a near-complete reconstruction of Aromas School, including a new library and media center.
She also named student achievement and examining what effect the proposed El Rancho San Benito development will have on the district. ASJSD is the only district in the county that serves kindergarten through 12th-grade students.
“It’s a different job because you have a lot more curriculum to look at,” Munoz said. “But you also get to see what happens with the students that we have from kindergarten all the way through high school, and that’s very unique.”
Four candidates are vying for two open seats on the North County School District Board, including incumbent Krystal Lomanto. Becky Doty, whose term is also up this year, opted not to run again this year. Christie Cabrera, Michael Castello and Cindy King, all Spring Grove parents, are the other three candidates.
“Student achievement is the big issue, of course, as it should be for all school districts,” said Evelyn Muro, North County superintendent and principal, who is a San Benito High School trustee herself. “Other than that, I’d say keeping up Spring Grove’s unique school community is always something we want to focus on.”
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
