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Among the eight candidates seeking three seats on the Scotts Valley board of education, there is near unanimity about a need for change.

Six challengers and incumbent Joe Espinola say the school board made a mistake trying to pass Measure Q, the $55 million bond issue, earlier this year and agree that the board has become out of touch with teachers and portions of the community.

Only incumbent Sue Roth appears unwavering in support of the status quo.

Espinola and Roth are seeking re-election as they complete their first four-year terms in a district beset by tight budgets, discontented teachers and many taxpayers upset with its leadership, including Superintendent Susan Silver.

The third seat is held by Chuck Walker, who is campaigning for a Scotts Valley City Council seat instead of seeking re-election.

The challengers are insurance agent Larry Beaman; Don Dietrich, director of the public employees division of the Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3; Neal Frost, owner of an electronics consulting firm; Kim Peyser, a retired high-tech executive; Linda Santos, bookkeeper and a leader of the campaign against Measure Q; and Mike Shulman, an engineering manager who headed the “Yes on Q” campaign.

The local teachers’ union, which has said Silver’s management style is a cause of much district turmoil and teacher turnover, has endorsed Beaman and Dietrich as agents of change.

“Teachers were really looking for candidates who are committed to reprioritizing the district budget to spend money on things that impact the quality of education,” said union president Ann Codd, a Brook Knoll Elementary School teacher.

The union also is pushing for better communication.

“Parents and teachers show up at school board meeting after school board meeting, and we just don’t feel we are listened to,” added Rhonda McEntee, union vice president and a Brook Knoll teacher.

Beaman agreed that change is needed.

“The number of teachers, parents and community leaders who speak of the disrespect they’ve experienced from the current board and Superintendent Silver is shocking,” he said.

He added that “we need to make sure that the administration is fully accountable to the school board, not the other way around” and a “common-sense proposal” must be found for replacing the district’s 60-year-old middle school.

Dietrich thinks the primary campaign issue is the “strained relationship between the teachers and the superintendent,” which, he said, has spilled over into the community.
“The teachers have long been the last thought when it comes to the budget,” Dietrich said. “All other financial priorities have been funded before the teachers’ cost-of-living needs are addressed.”

Espinola conceded that “strained community relationships” will figure prominently in the campaign. 

“This strain comes about from different origins,” he said, “the failed bond measure to improve facilities; community members who desired a different, comprehensive and more inclusive bond vetting process; the teachers union that finds the superintendent’s management style hard and oppressive and feels that the board does not listen and should be individually involved in contract negotiations; personal politics; and the fallout from a deteriorating economy.”

He said the situation is “not insurmountable” and can be corrected with communication, transparency, respect and inclusiveness.

Roth, however, says the district is moving in the right direction, with “significant changes” already having been made. She lists elimination of a budget deficit four years ago, settlement of the high school construction lawsuit, technology upgrades, 8.46 percent raises for all staff members over four years, rising test scores and other accomplishments.

In her view, the top campaign issues include communication but primarily are the budget, declining enrollment, facility needs, student assessment procedures and alignment of the kindergarten-througth-12th-grade curriculum. 

Roth explains the teacher discontent as the result of competing goals, the union advancing teachers’ “professional and economic interests” and the board focusing on “what is best for students while maintaining a balanced budget and adequate reserves.”

Frost, meanwhile, said “building trust” is the No. 1 priority.

“Our school district must rebuild public trust with realistic facilities improvements and responsible teacher salary negotiations,” he said.

He called for a slimmed-down facilities plan, increased openness with teachers, parents and the public and increased local efforts to improve funding in the face of decreasing state support.

The board and the community are “out of sync,” according to Peyser, and for a bond issue to pass, “the community must feel more confident that the board has a sound construction plan with accurate building cost assumptions.”

“Communications between teachers and the superintendent need to be improved,” he added. “It has been my experience in business that all successful managers always demonstrate respect to those they manage.”

Santos agreed. “I want the teachers to feel appreciated unconditionally,” she said.
Santos, who spoke in opposition to Measure Q at several school board meetings earlier this year, said “communication (and) listening was void at all board meetings, and frustrations were high.” She thinks those problems persist.

She said teacher retention, rebuilding trust, finding “the right plan for a new middle school” and budget challenges are the main issues.

Shulman called for careful change. “Change is needed,” he said, “but instability can introduce a host of new and potentially severe problems.”

He said it’s time “to get school stakeholders with differing opinions to talk with each other instead of past each other.”

Tensions between the superintendent and others are “fixable situations,” he said.
“The campaign should be about which candidates understand how to communicate clearly and openly in a public setting and who are committed to rebuilding community trust by demonstrating transparency.”

Shulman said that community discontent lingers over how the board conducts business.
“This election will measure just how widespread that discontent is and determine how much of the district’s current strengths — student achievement, balanced budgets, great teachers, engaged parents — the public is willing to throw on the table in the desire for change.”

To comment on this story, e-mail editor Chuck Anderson at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , call 438-2500 or post a comment at www.pressbanner.com.

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no one cares, Lowly rated comment [Show]

Well
written by Well?, October 07, 2008

What's your point? How did the mess happen? How do you fix it? If you want comments, make a decent one.

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