Of the four School Board trustees that were served with recall
notices by a local community organization and are up for
re-election in November; at least two of them are not planning on
running.
Of the four School Board trustees that were served with recall notices by a local community organization and are up for re-election in November; at least two of them are not planning on running.
Morgan Hill Board of Education President George Panos and Trustees Del Foster, Jan Masuda and Tom Kinoshita, the senior members of the seven-member board, were served recall notices last month by CARE, Community Alliance for Responsible Education. Kinoshita was re-elected to a four year term in 2002; Foster and Masuda were re-elected in 2000, and Panos was elected to his first term in 2000.
The filing period is July 12 to Aug. 6. Candidates must be registered voters and live within district boundaries which stretch from San Martin to south San Jose. If at least one incumbent fails to file by Aug. 6, the filing period will be extended to 5 p.m. Aug. 11, but the incumbent(s) that failed to file may not take advantage of the extension.
“I have put in eight years,” Foster, who had originally expressed a desire to possibly run again because of the recall, said Monday. “We have accomplished quite a bit.”
Masuda agreed, adding that the board needs new members to ensure its effectiveness.
“I wanted to become a part of the board because I wanted to make a contribution to the next generation,” she said. “I’ve spent eight years of my life with this, and now it’s time for some new personal goals. And it’s time for new leadership in the district.
“Any organization goes through phases, and the district is no different. New leaders bring in new ideas to an organization, new ways of looking at the organization.”
Panos did not return calls by press time.
Panos has called the recall, in a recent column in The Times, a waste of time and money, with the filing date for the November election in July. The money for the special election, if the recall effort collects the more than 5,000 signatures it needs, will come out of district coffers.
Costs for the recall election have been estimated at more than $300,000.
Masuda said it is important that voters in the district have good choices in the November election, whether they are members of CARE or simply caring individuals.
“I would encourage anyone who is interested to take the time now to find out what is involved in running a campaign, and, more importantly, what is involved in serving on the School Board,” she said Monday. “I am sure any of us (trustees) would be happy to sit down with potential candidates to talk about what the challenges are, what responsibilities a candidate must be willing to assume.”
When she served as board president two years ago, Masuda said, she offered a workshop to those interested in running in the 2002 election.
“It was a very basic 1 and 1/2 hour workshop for prospective candidates, and I talked about what is is like to be a board member and what is is like to work for the superintendent,” she said.
The money required to file as a candidate, approximately $650, is paid by the district, Masuda said. The cost could be increasing for November’s election.
Once a person has declared intent to run for a position, the district will mail the candidate board packets.
Terms are for four years.
