School Board Election - November 8th

[Lester]

After attending the school board forum this evening, I thought that I would take a moment to express a few of my thoughts on the event. This is just my personal opinion, just as anyone else is welcome to express themselves.

We can vote for up to 3 Candidates. For voters that were not able to attend either of the forums, I would highly recommend that you try to watch it on your television. It will be replayed on the local cable channel. For Charter customers, I think the channel is 55.

School Board Candidates And How I Would Vote:

53. NO- Rosemary P. Garcia – WRONGLY VOTED FOR Superintendent Rod Gaeta’s resignation benefits. That money should have been spent on the students education, not on benefits for Rod Gaeta. Rosemary Garcia has been on the board for 20 years. She also supported choosing a Superintendent replacement WITHOUT a professional search. The school district has been bad for over 20 years. The school district needs fresh ideas. She also has a belief that some people are not supposed to go to college. I believe that every child should be prepared for college and let the child decide whether they want to go or not. Every child should have a good enough education when graduating from high school to be able to attend college. This allows the students more options. Currently, only 20% of Azusa’s students meet the basic standards to attend college after high school. That is just an embarassingly low number.
54. NO - Lisa B Harrington – WRONGLY VOTED FOR Superintendent Rod Gaeta’s resignation benefits. She also supported choosing a Superintendent replacement WITHOUT a professional search. She was not paying attention to the some of the questions during the forum. And some of her answers reflected confusion as to how to determine the best choice in developing student standards.
55. YES - Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez – She is still a little new but I like her. She is an incumbent that CORRECTLY VOTED AGAINST the unnecessary resignation benefits that went to Ex-Superintendent Rod Gaeta. Xilonin also supported the idea of a professional search when looking for a replacement for the Superintendent. She is willing to make the necessary decisions to make major improvements in the school district.
56. YES - Barbara Dickerson – She is amazing. She did better than anyone else running, by far. If there was only one person to vote for, there would be no contest. It would be Barbara Dickerson. The school board needs her skills, education, and intelligence. She could really bring a view to the board that is vital to the improvement of the school district. Given the information that she has, she did correctly say that she would not have supported the benefit package that went to Ex-Superintendent Rod Gaeta.
57. UNDECIDED – John Dierking – I don’t have a strong opinion about John Dierking. Given the information that he has, he did correctly say that he would not have supported the benefit package that went to Ex-Superintendent Rod Gaeta. It does bother me that he did not answer one of the questions but that could just be because he possibly may have not been involved previously in any school related organizations. If that is the case, he should have just said so. But I would rather have him on the school board than Garcia or Harrington.


Here are a few links to previous discussions about the school board:

It is Time To Change The School Board


Azusa schools chief announces resignation

High School Exit Exam



So tell me, if you attended one or both of the forums, who will you vote for and why you would vote or not for them in the November 8th election?

[thyme]

The school board obviously needs some new creative ideas.

I spoke with one of the Azusa School District's teachers a few days ago and she told me that before the No Child Left Behind program, the district did not make spanish only speaking children speak English because they received more money from the government when they did not speak English. I think that is sickening. That means that the school district had a history of putting the districts finances over the quality of the education. Some of those people that were on the board then are still on the board now. They should be removed.

[dragonfly]

I was not able to attend either of the forums, but thank you for letting me know about it being replayed on cable. I will try and find it.