Editorials

Cheers to the graduates of local high schools’ class of 2014. Students, families, friends and faculty have spent the last two weeks celebrating commencement ceremonies at Live Oak High School, Ann Sobrato High School, Central High School, Oakwood School and Silicon Valley Flex Academy. We congratulate all of this year’s graduates, and wish them the best of luck as they proceed into adulthood and the next big stage of their lives—whether that’s college, the armed forces, volunteerism or new careers. Jeers to Santa Clara County registered voters for their embarrassing display of apathy at the polls in the June 3 gubernatorial primary. A dismal 20 percent of the county’s 806,000 voters showed up for the election. That’s far below election officials’ and experts’ hopeful predictions of a meager 35-percent turnout. In American democracy, voters are tasked with making important decisions that can have a profound effect on the future of their communities, neighborhoods and the entire country. When voters fail at that task and don’t even show up to the polls, they can blame themselves first when barely-elected officials break their promises or make it clear they’re not going to do their jobs. Cheers to Morgan Hill’s Outdoor Sports Center for winning the bid to host US Youth Soccer’s Region IV Presidents Cup this week, June 11 through June 15. The tournament will bring 120 boys and girls soccer teams, age 12 and up, from throughout the Western states to the southeast Morgan Hill soccer complex. The event will not only elevate the facility on Condit Road to a “prestige” it hasn’t seen before, with the eyes of the country’s largest youth soccer governing body focused on the local 38-acre complex, according to Jeff Dixon of Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance, the nonprofit that runs the OSC. It will also bring an economic boon worth a “conservative” estimate of $1 million to Morgan Hill, as players, coaches and soccer officials are likely to spend their down time after games eating at local restaurants, staying at local hotels, visiting Morgan Hill parks, or even bowling or at the movies.Jeers to city officials who want to move the First Street veterans monument from its current site in the median of Monterey Road in downtown Morgan Hill. Complaints of a traffic hazard and road closures during annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at the memorial are bunk. The intersection is no more hazardous than others, and the city has many other options to improve pedestrian safety as part of the overall plan to spruce up and redevelop the downtown. And Morgan Hill residents and officials should be proud that so many people show up to ceremonies honoring their veterans that the police have to block vehicle traffic, even if it is for a mere 45 minutes or so, twice a year. 

It’s time for the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s seven elected trustees to exercise some fiscal restraint and set an example by cutting back on theirs use of taxpayers’ money to attend conferences and banquets in the name of “professional development.”During the 2013-2014 school year the board of education members spent more than $15,000 from the general fund on their expenses for airfare, hotel stays, meals and registration to attend events such as the California School Boards Association’s annual conference in San Diego, Chamber of Commerce breakfasts, the California Latino School Boards Association conference and other events. It’s easy to dismiss $15,000 as insignificant compared to the district’s overall $65 million general fund budget. But the trustees, who are elected by the people of Morgan Hill and are using their money to attend these events, have a responsibility to set an example. Plus, the amount spent by MHUSD trustees on these conferences and banquets is more than twice that of nearby school districts. In Morgan Hill, at the top of the list was Trustee Rick Badillo’s $4,645.70 tab, a majority coming from attending the CSBA and the California Latino School Boards Association annual conferences as well as CSBA Masters in Governance coursework.At the opposite end is Trustee Amy Porter Jensen, who did not attend a single conference and expensed not a cent from the taxpayers’ wallet.We agree with Badillo, who told reporter Scott Forstner that it’s the elected officials’ duty “to be as informed as possible on current issues affecting our district as well as the rest of the state.” However, this information seeking process does not have to come at the expense of the taxpayers. Perhaps the board could implement a policy that reimburses trustees for registration fees but not travel and hotel expenses, similar to the policy in place at Santa Clara Unified.It’s a tough pill to swallow that the CSBA conference in San Diego came at a $7,581.54 charge. Did they have to fly? A carpool drive down to Southern Calif. would have been more economical. And how about a Subway sandwich for lunch rather than hundreds of dollars in meals?And some of the events—particularly Chamber breakfasts and dinners—are simply extravagant and serve no purpose in advancing the trustees’ knowledge of technical school issues. Trustees could also use some of their $200 or so monthly stipend to pay for their meals and hotelsThe board is putting together a subcommittee of three trustees to come up with a more suitable professional development budget. That’s a productive start. Professional development is a vital component to establishing the best board —and something that should not be discouraged. But not at a $15,000 cost to the taxpayers.

There are whisperings that the Morgan Hill Unified Board of Trustees is ready to offer Interim Superintendent Steve Betando a three-year contract.

Rocketship Charter Schools may not provide the magic silver bullet for our schools, but the Morgan Hill Unified School District should have the school in its arsenal of options for parents and students.

Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar disappeared from our town on March 16, 2012. She was 15 at the time and a sophomore at Sobrato High School. Her alleged killer, Antolin Garcia Torres, 22, was arrested more than one year ago and he still has not entered a plea.