|
ADA and quality teachers are issues for MEUSD
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
MOUNTAIN EMPIRE — Nine candidates are
vying for four seats on the Mountain Empire Unified School
District board of trustees. In the sometimes-embattled district
many issues are of great concern to parents and residents.
As is the case is school districts around the state,
money is tight for MEUSD, which has resulted in various problems
when it comes to classes and staffing. Raising the average daily
attendance is a major issue for any current of incoming board
member, as that is the main source of funding for the district.
The district serves 665 square miles of the Back
Country. It has about 1,750 students attending six elementary
schools, a middle and high school, and four alternative schools.
At a special candidate forum held in Campo on Sept. 25
area residents had a chance to meet some of their school board
rep hopefuls, and ask questions. Five of the nine candidates
attended the forum.
The area one trustee seat is being sought by Ralph
Davis and Fred Kamper; area three seat — Rob Romero and
incumbent Ken Northcote; area four seat — Holly Stover and Beryl
Buchanan; and area five seat — Jan Hedlun, Danny Nunez, and
incumbent Jim Banks.
Ralph Davis
Ralph Davis is a 28-year resident of the Mountain
Empire area and a retired border patrol agent. He also spent
many years previously on the school board, before losing his
reelection in 2002.
“The lady who beat me has been doing a really great job
on the school board, and I wouldn’t be standing here tonight if
she were running again,” Davis said at the forum.
Davis believes that the board must empower schools,
teachers and students.
“I believe everybody needs to be working together to
achieve the best we can for the kids,” he said. “I always
thought there was something wrong with the way the board is run
in Mountain Empire. It’s a district run by adults for adults,
and I would like to change that so that kids don’t get caught in
the crossfire.”
“Communication is the all important aspect in
supporting supervisors and teachers. I’d like to see an
environment where trial and error is okay… where we can sit down
and figure out what works and what doesn’t work for our
schools.”
He believes the biggest asset to the district is the
dedicated teachers that work there.
Ken Northcote
Ken Northcote is a 29-year resident of the area, and a
12-year incumbent of the MEUSD board. He is currently board
vice-president. His children have since graduated from the
district.
“Keeping the district on a fiscally sound basis has
been my push for the whole time I’ve served on this board,” he
said to forum participants.
In his time on the board, Northcote has tried to set
goals for the district in order to keep it on the right track.
He said that district finances are an ongoing struggle that he
has had to deal with.
“The district can’t operate unless it’s got goals and
visions,” he said. “Everyone is on the same playing field,
everyone knows what is expected of them and when.”
“I’ve served on the school board for 12 years, but I
think their still needs to be improvements, it’s in my blood to
ensure we provide the best education for our kids.”
Rob Romero
Rob Romero is a resident of Mountain Empire and has
been attending MEUSD board meetings for more than a year. He
believes that the board must work to get and keep quality
teachers in the district, as well all reinstituting the various
ROP and trade classes that have been cut due to funding and
staffing.
“Did anybody have woodshop, did anybody have
electronics, did anyone have home economics?” said Romero at the
candidate forum. “Those things are gone now. I want to take a
step backwards, and get some of these classes back that we’ve
lost over the past 15 years.”
Romero believes that the board and administration of
the district need to be changed.
“We’ve lost four bus drivers recently, we’ve lost two
school counselors and we’ve lost several of our good teachers. I
don’t think the current administration is up to par,” he said.
“Administrators are a dime a dozen — it’s quality teachers that
we need to get into the district and keep in the district.”
“When they cut the P.E. class from four years to two
years, I didn’t say anything; when they cut the home economics
course, I didn’t say anything; when they cut wood shop I did say
something, it was a little too late but I did stand up.”
Beryl Buchanan
Beryl Buchanan is a resident of Mountain Empire and a
ranger at Lake Morena County Park. He has one child currently in
MEUSD and one child who recently graduated from the district.
“The biggest priority, I think, is we have to get the
ADA, the average daily attendance up, we have to get all of the
administrators, teachers and staff to work together to do that,”
he said. “If we can increase our average daily attendance by
even one percent, that represents and $80,000 increase per
year.”
Buchanan wants to see the increase in test scores from
Mountain Empire student continue.
“I’d like to see the community do better than we
already do.”
Transportation is also a concern for many residents as
all area students are bussed to school, increasing the cost to
the district.
“The district has the largest geographical area of any
district in southern California with no increased revenues to
offset that,” Buchanan said. If elected, he hopes to address
this by searching out funding sources and grants that the
district could utilize.
Holly Stover
Holly Stover has lived in community for more than 12
years and has three children currently attending schools in the
Mountain Empire district. She works at Freedom Ranch as a
juvenile substance abuse counselor, and has served as the girls’
volleyball coach at Mountain Empire High School for past the two
years.
Stover says that one of the most important things to
her is the quality of education at local schools.
“We need to stop the drop in quality teachers for our
kids,” she said. “Just because we live out here in a rural area
does not mean our kids deserve less of an education and less
resources.”
She believes that quality teachers deserve better pay.
“If we do have growth are these people going to want to
send their kids to our schools?” she said at the forum. “My kids
go to these schools — your kids go to these schools. We need to
be able to offer quality education without cutting back sports
and extra-curricular activities.”
Jim Banks
Jim Banks has served of the board for four years and is
the current MEUSD board president. His goals include excellence
in education, safety schools, parental involvement and keeping
quality teachers in the district. He currently has two children
attending local schools and another who will soon be old enough
to begin.
“I want to continue to work on important issues that
need to be taken care of to retain our students from leaving our
district in search of better schools down the hill,” Banks said.
“Many of our students attend our great elementary schools, but
leave our district as soon as they get to Junior High… We, as a
school district need to invest in our schools and our students.”
“Retaining great teaching staff has been my goal since
I first stepped into my position four years ago. I have been an
advocate for all school district staff to receive competitive
wages, and benefits,” Banks said. “My goal is to give our
employee’s pay wages that are equal to the COLA (cost of living
allowance) that is given to the school district by the state
every year. The cost of living has risen tremendously every
year. We can retain great staff by giving them at least what it
takes to live.”
Editor’s note: At publication
time, Fred Kamper, Jan Hedlun and Danny Nunez could not be
reached for input in this story, however, efforts are being made
to get info about these candidates to the public prior to the
Nov. 7 election.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
|
