With the end of the filing period approaching – Aug. 6 is the
last date, unless an incumbent in a race doesn
’t file for re-election – it appears voters will have very
little choice on the ballot when it comes to filling four Morgan
Hill School Board seats and two City Council seats in the November
election.
With the end of the filing period approaching – Aug. 6 is the last date, unless an incumbent in a race doesn’t file for re-election – it appears voters will have very little choice on the ballot when it comes to filling four Morgan Hill School Board seats and two City Council seats in the November election.
As of Monday, Bob Griesinger and Peter Mandell have filed for four-year seats on the Morgan Hill School Board. Three others, Morgan Hill residents R.G. Cassibba Jr., Michael Davenport and Kathleen Sullivan, have taken out papers but have not filed them. Rick Page has expressed an interest in running.
For the City Council seats, realtor Susan J. Hughes, Julia G. Starling and Marby Lee have all picked up papers.
“The reason why I think people are not beating down the door to run, is, I think that politicians need to be admired, because they put family, reputation and career on the altar of sacrifice, and I think it’s a real dangerous world out there,” School Board Trustee Jan Masuda said. “And more and more, our educational leaders are called upon to be more accountable, to achieve higher goals, all the while receiving less financial support and less power to make decisions. And people find that more challenging than they want to volunteer to do.”
School Board incumbents Del Foster, Jan Masuda and George Panos have said they will not run. Former Trustee Tom Kinoshita resigned March 15, and the remaining two years of his term is also open.
If an incumbent does not file, the filing period for that election will be extended another five business days, to Aug. 13.
Trustee Shellé Thomas, elected to her first term in November 2002 when 10 candidates were running for four seats, said perhaps the increased cost of filing, together with an abundance of controversial issues in the district, has kept potential candidates from filing.
“That’s quite a bit of money,” said Thomas of the $1,790 fee, compared to 2002’s $600 fee. “That puts a lot of people out of it … I don’t want to say it’s an abusive climate, but I think it has been unpleasant at times. And I think that’s a shame. You would hope you take away from it (the experience of serving as a trustee) the benefits you saw when you were helping at your kids’ school. I think we have made a difference, have been good for the district, but there have been a lot of bumps along the road.”
There is no filing fee for candidates for the Morgan Hill School Board; the $1,790 is for the candidate statement.
Trustee Mike Hickey, also elected in 2002, agreed with Thomas and Masuda that people may be reluctant to run for reasons other than money.
“As an outside observer, I would look over the last year or two … and it seems like you would be getting involved in something that will wreck your reputation,” he said Wednesday. “To an outsider, I’m sure there doesn’t seem to be anything positive that comes out that the public ever hears. The things that are going well, working right, aren’t interesting, and it must look to the public as if we are accomplishing nothing.”
There are good things happening in the district, Hickey said, that are not in the public spotlight.
“For example, if people were to analyze what has gone on with Sobrato, with the construction of it, if you took it from when we got a new contractor in there to the progress that’s been made, its just amazing; (Director of Construction) Al Solis has kept it on track and kept prices where we need to be,” he said. “I keep hearing people say, ‘We need to address the FCMAT report;’ I would rather have an $80 million project come in on budget than worry about the FCMAT.
“People don’t realize, but this job can be very rewarding. There are a lot of things that happen in closed session that we can’t talk about, and a lot of good things that happen in the district that aren’t talked about. But for the general public, I don’t see what the draw would be, especially in light of the additional cost. It certainly wouldn’t be very appealing to me now.”
Masuda, Hickey and Thomas say they hope people will be willing to put their wallets and reputations on the line to serve the community. There are important decisions to be made in the near future, and they all say they hope people who have the best interests of the district and its students at heart will step forward.
Thomas said there is a very important decision in the offing for the new board.
“What is important is that the new board, to be elected in November, will be helping to choose, with the community, a new superintendent who we’ll have to live with a long time,” she said. “This will change the way we’re going to do business in the future.”
