Iam feeling a bit sad that no one was able to file in time for
the two-year seat as a trustee for the Morgan Hill School District.
When Tom Kinoshita resigned, the board could have filled the slot
by making in interim appointment.
Iam feeling a bit sad that no one was able to file in time for the two-year seat as a trustee for the Morgan Hill School District. When Tom Kinoshita resigned, the board could have filled the slot by making in interim appointment.
It was probably a good thing that they held out for electing a replacement and a great misfortune that no one was able to meet the deadline. However, the confusion surrounding this event illustrates some of the problems that we continue to have throughout our local government.
Given the volume and emotion involved in the protests over the action of the current board, I had expected many to file and six were willing to step into what for the last year has been a very unpleasant environment. If they are to succeed in fulfilling the promise of the often touted “local control” of our school system and to create an environment that places the needs (not necessarily the wants) of the students above everything else then they will need a lot of wisdom and a lot of support.
Having spent a short time as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner in Morgan Hill, I understand the time commitment that is required to really do the job as it should be done.
One factor that might have deterred some from filing could have been the vitriolic nature of the debate. I would not wish anyone to be on the receiving end of the venom which came out at those board meetings. There is a concept of civil debate that has long disappeared from national politics and was replaced by constant seeking for political advantage and constant scrutiny of every word and every action of our major politicians. Even Vice President Cheney needed to be given a “time out” warning.
It appears that local politics have developed some of the same characteristics, where debate is governed by who can bring the most people to demonstrate. Demonstrations are, after all, the way to gain media attention and publicity for one’s cause. The confrontation between George Panos and a vocal public opposition illustrates well how it can get out of hand. Maybe no one would want to on the receiving end of the barrages that George received. It matters little whether one thinks that he called them down on himself, we are still left with the image of someone under constant attack and I am sure that no one wants to be in that seat under those conditions.
It is just as troubling to me that commissioners and trustees are totally reliant on receiving an unbiased set of reports from the professionals whose performance they are supposed to be evaluating and guiding. Built in to this process is the choice of accepting the reports of these, professionals without question or risk accusations of being unsupportive or undermining public confidence if one does question what you are being told. And, there is just not enough time for part-time, unpaid trustees and commissioners to perform an independent evaluation of the information that they are given.
At the same time, these professionals, be they city staff or school administration, have budgetary limitations on their headcount and work and so resort to the use of more and more paid consultants to provide the expertise that they do not have. I still am amazed that no one took the simple step of calling the County Registrar of Voters to make sure that the information on the filing deadline for the two-year term was being accurately defined.
There is no area where this is more clear than anything involving construction of new facilities. It is also clear that expertise in construction will be required if this school district is to meet the demands placed on it by San Jose’s plans for Coyote Valley development.
It is easy to see the effects of this reliance on consultants and other outsiders to provide guidance. It was to a great degree responsible for a significant portion of the construction cost overruns in our school district. We see it in San Jose, where the reliance of the Information Technology Management on advice from Cisco ended up in an unfair contract, expensive delays in the construction while the contract is re-bid, and the city’s Information Technology executive being forced to resign.
There are some who have advocated for a reduction in the size of the Morgan Hill School District, shedding those portions that are in the City of San Jose as the growth in Coyote Valley necessitates building new facilities. I am pretty sure that giving in to the claims that the Board of Trustees is not up to the task is the right thing to do. Nor am I convinced that there is some unique characteristic of the Morgan Hill School District that needs protecting. I wonder what it tells our students think when community leaders say that this is all to big and complicated so let’s just give up and let someone else do it.
The one thing that I want to hear from the candidates for trustee is an explanation of how they will manage the relationships between the public, school administration and the board so that the educational needs of our students is priority one. The one thing that I hope the current trustees do is to select a new school superintendent who envisions their role as being a facilitator, helping our teachers help our students.
