As many as five new faces could be seated on the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s governing dais come November, with two trustees saying they will not seek re-election, two others undecided and another prematurely resigning prior to his term’s completion.
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Retired educators Ron Woolf, who has been on the school board since 2010, and Donna Ruebusch, whose initial four-year term is expiring with the Nov. 6 election, confirmed last week that they will not run for another term.
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“I really wrestled with this decision. I very much enjoyed the challenge of being a board member and trying to contribute and contribute to the community,” said Ruebusch, whose elderly mother is now under her care in Morgan Hill. “I just know my time will be split in way too many directions.”
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Ruebusch is a retired Live Oak High School teacher and former union president, while Woolf is a retired MHUSD principal and classroom teacher who is widely respected as one of the main drivers behind the passage of the $198 million Measure G bond in 2012.
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“I know this is going to be a huge change for the board. There can possibly be five new trustees, but at least three. When you look at it, it’s going to be a completely new (board) majority,” Woolf said.
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The candidate filing period for the November school board election runs July 16 through Aug. 10. Incumbents failing to file a Declaration of Candidacy by the Aug. 10 deadline are prohibited from filing for the office during the extension period, and the nomination period for that office is then extended until 5pm on Aug. 15.
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Trustee Thomas Arnett, who announced his resignation plans at a May 30 meeting, leaves with two years left on his four-year term. Arnett, a 2002 Live Oak HS alumnus, won an at-large special election in June 2016 and a trustee area election in November 2016. The winner of his seat will serve the remainder of his current term.
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Trustee David Gerard, who joined the board in 2014 and is nearing the end of his four-year term, said he is undecided about his seeking re-election.
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“I’m looking to see if there is anyone in my (trustee) area who will run that I could endorse. If that’s the case, then I will not run. But if there’s no one, then I will probably run,” Gerard said. “I do not think that school board should be a career for someone. It’s a service position, not a career position. I’ve done one term—four years—and that’s a substantial amount of time to me.”
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Trustee Gino Borgioli also remains undecided on whether to seek a second term on the school board. He took a similar approach to Gerard, in that if he finds a suitable candidate with similar values that he can support, then he will step aside and endorse that individual.
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Borgioli said the ideal candidate must first and foremost be “very student-focused and student achievement-focused.”
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“This is how I’ve always looked at every single decision I’ve made. I’ve put the kids first and how it affects the kids,” Borgioli said. “The second thing is, it has to be a person who won’t just go along with the status quo. … Over the last couple of months, I’ve been pretty shocked at some of the trustees relative to rubber-stamping whatever the district brings forward to us.”
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Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Horner said he plans to run for school board in November.
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Trustee area elections add different element
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With the exception of Arnett, none of the incumbents have campaigned in the trustee area election system adopted by the district in 2016. At that time, MHUSD’s school board elections shifted from an at-large system to one in which board members represent the specific trustee area in which they reside. Similarly, residents can only vote for candidates running for the seat in the trustee area where they live.
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“I think it’s important for people with a background in education to step forward,” said Ruebusch of a characteristic she’d like to see in any possible candidates. “I think there’s so many initiatives over the last four years that have been progressive and aggressive, and we’re seeing the benefits to students now.”
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Ruebush’s Trustee Area 1, which is considered the largest of the seven geographically—although each has a comparable number of households—runs east of Hill Road from southern San Jose down to San Martin, encompassing the school boundaries of Nordstrom Elementary, JAMM, Live Oak and Sobrato.
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“The difficult part is drawing candidates from each of the different areas. I hope people see that these deadlines are coming up and start pulling papers,” said Woolf, adding that he hopes future board members remain focused on school finances. “There are some major challenges, and school finances is always one of them. … I think the most important thing for a board member is keeping the district financially sound.”
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Woolf’s Trustee Area 2 runs on the west side of the school district boundaries south of Paradise Valley Elementary School to parts of San Martin and west. Trustee Area 4, previously represented by Arnett, is on the east side of U.S. 101 from East Main Avenue to Church Avenue in San Martin.
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Borgioli lives within Trustee Area 3, which is bordered to the north by Willow Spring Road, to the east by Hale Avenue and south at Edmundson Avenue.
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Gerard resides in Trustee Area 4, which covers east of El Toro Elementary School and slices down Hill Road to parts of East San Martin.
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“I care about getting quality people (on the board) and not seeing people come on with a single agenda,” Gerard said. “I’ll wait until the last minute to see if someone I can endorse in my area decides to run.”
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Potential candidates and registered voters can figure out what trustee area they reside in by going to mhusd.org and clicking on the “Find Your Trustee Area” tab.
Rossi to run for re-election on county board
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In addition to these five spots on the local board, Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Claudia Rossi’s seat expires in November 2018. Rossi, a Morgan HIll resident and former MHUSD trustee who is seeking a second term, represents Trustee Area 7, which includes Morgan Hill Unified, Gilroy Unified, Evergreen and a portion of Oak Grove and corresponding portion of East Side Union High school districts.
