Two Scotts Valley school board candidates have been hired by the school district, prompting them to change the status of their election campaigns.
Cathie Simonovich, one of six candidates for three four-year trustee positions on the Scotts Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees, informed the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Sept. 20, that she had “official removed myself from the race,” because she has accepted a position as an administrative assistant to Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Michelle Stewart.
Stephanie Espinola, one of four candidates for two two-year school board positions, reported on a campaign Facebook page that she had been hired Aug. 31 as an instructional aide at the Scotts Valley Middle School. On Sept. 1, she updated an Aug. 11 post, stating that while she still was seeking election to the board, “I will not be running a campaign.”
Their announcements come too late to change the official election ballots.
Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin said there no provision in election law, “official or unofficial,” for withdrawing as a candidate after the filing deadline. The two candidates’ names will appear on the ballot, along with eight other school board candidates. All five positions on the Scotts Valley school board are up for grabs Nov. 8.
The filing deadline for local elections was Aug. 12. The ballot have been printed, ballots have been mailed to military and overseas voters, and mail-in ballots will be distributed beginning Oct. 10.
Rumors about the status of the two had circulated for weeks. Their status is likely to be ambiguous until after Election Day.
Faced with the same conflict-of-interest policy that would require a school board member to abstain from voting on any issue that could affect her status as an employee, the two candidates chose different responses.
Simonovich said that when she was hired this month, she realized that the new job
“creates a conflict of interest with my school board campaign.”
“I want to spread the word because I don’t want anyone inadvertently voting for me, as my name will still appear on the ballot,” she wrote in an email Sept. 20 to Chamber Executive Director Danny Reber. “If for some reason I do get elected (I can’t imagine why this would happen!), then I would decline the board position.”
Simonovich said in the email that she had she sent that message “to local friends” on Facebook, but it was not posted on her public Facebook page. She declined further comment.
She wrote Reber to tell him she would no longer be participating in the Oct. 18 school board candidate forum sponsored jointly by the Chamber and the Press Banner. Simonovich is co-owner of the Santa Cruz Pasta Factory in Scotts Valley.
After repeated phone calls, Espinola sent Reber an email on Sept. 9, stating that, “Unfortunately I will not be able to attend” the candidate forum. She gave no further explanation, and chose not to respond to emails and telephone calls from the Press Banner.
On her campaign Facebook page, “Stephanie Espinola School Board,” the candidate –whose husband Joseph is a county deputy district attorney and a former school board trustee– wrote:
“When I decided to take the job as an Instructional Aid, I discovered that being an employee of the district and possibly being elected to the Scotts Valley School Board would be a conflict of interest according to the Ed Code.”
Espinola wrote, “I feel that I would be able to do both positions in a professional and respectful manner. I understand that any person on any board may have a conflict of interest and would have to abstain from voting on certain issues.”
“Out of respect for the Ed Code I will not be running a campaign,” she said.
She said she wants to keep her options open: “I would still be very honored and pleased to be a part of a working team for the entire district. If I get elected to the Scotts Valley School Board, I would then at that time have to make a decision on my current situation.”
Pellerin said all candidates are asked when they file to swear that they if elected, they would be qualified and would serve in that office.
The state Education Code states: “An employee of a school district may not be sworn into office as an elected or appointed member of that school district’s governing board unless and until he or she resigns as an employee. If the employee does not resign, the employment will automatically terminate upon being sworn into office.”
If an elected official resigns from the school board, the trustees are required to appoint a successor who would serve out the remainder of the term.
