At least Morrisville doesn't have this problem. From the San Jose Mercury News.
Candidate, banned from district property, wins seat on Alum Rock school board
By Sharon Noguchi
Mercury News
Article Launched: 11/06/2008 05:39:14 PM PST
Dolores Marquez didn't knock on doors, send out mailers or spend a penny besides her filing fee to campaign for a seat on the Alum Rock school board.
Oh, and there also was that matter of her messy resignation and agreement never to set foot on district property or talk to employees during work hours.
Yet on Tuesday, somehow Marquez won. Even she's at a bit of a loss.
"I'm baffled," she said Thursday.
The district is not pleased. It has sued to prevent the 57-year-old retiree from serving on the school board.
"I'm not sure where we'd have board meetings," said trustee Tanya Freudenberger, mulling the possible accommodations if Marquez is seated in December. "We're not talking an ideal situation, of course."
Marquez's attorneys insist she has a right to serve, despite a March 2007 settlement terminating her 30 years of employment with the district.
The settlement alleged that she had misused district property and illegally campaigned for her husband Joe Frausto, a former Alum Rock trustee who was seeking re-election in November 2006.
"She has a constitutional right to run, and voters have a constitutional right to elect her," said James Trujillo of the California School Employees Association, which is representing Marquez.
He noted that in drafting the settlement, the district agreed to remove a clause banning Marquez from running for Alum Rock office. "They knew she might seek a governing board seat in the future," Trujillo said.
The district did not return phone calls Thursday. The school board is meeting today to discuss the suit; a court hearing is set for Nov. 25.
However, district officials and attorneys previously have insisted the settlement effectively bars Marquez from serving as a trustee. The settlement also prohibits her from doing business with the district.
Marquez's apparent win, by a slim 200 votes, surprised many in the community — including Marquez herself.
For much of the campaign season, she was out of the East San Jose district due to the birth of two granddaughters and successive family health emergencies.
She said she came out of retirement to "give back to the community."
Observers credit the luck of her name appearing first on the ballot, and her name recognition from having worked as a child welfare and attendance liaison for the district and served on various community boards.
Plus, off and on, she had been in the news. There was an old dispute with fellow candidate Esau Herrera, who also won a seat Tuesday on the five-member board.
In 1994, Herrera and Marquez sued each other, charging harassment. Among other things, Herrera had alleged that then-trustee Alex Salazar tried to run him over with a car while Marquez, a passenger in the car, shouted encouragement.
A judge told the litigants to go home and work out their differences.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
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7 comments:
Give it time. Give it time.
Well, in honor of the recent election, which represents the one-year anniversary of the new school board being swept into power, I've started to draft up something called "A Year in Review". It'll end up being way too long for a single posting, so I'll break it up into installments. It's still a work in progress, so please bear with me. And feel free to comment with your own thoughts and recollections. It has been an eventful year, and it's impossible to record or remember all the goings on. But record and remember we must, because I think it was Billy Joel who said that those who are doomed to repeat history are bound to forget it.
Anyway, here goes. Installment 1.
A YEAR IN REVIEW
November 2007 - Electoral Victory!
A landslide sweeps 6 “Stop the School” candidates into (or back into) office. A new day has finally dawned in the Morrisville School District. The new “Stop the School” board members are (4-year terms unless otherwise noted):
Bill Hellmann, CPA
Marlys Mihok
Bill Farrell (2-year term)
Robin Reithmeyer
The re-elected “Stop the School” board members are:
Al Radosti
Gloria Heater
December 2007 - Place Your Hand on the ....
The new board members take their oaths of office, administered by District Justice Michael Burns.
“Carry a good light, may it always burn bright with the sun in your hearts”, said supporter Herbert Brooks of Oak St.
Steve Worob, 101 Grandview, was also effusive in his praise. “Congratulations to the new board. I know that this board will remember that it represents the people who put their trust in them”, he said.
Likewise, Sharon Hughes was jubilant. “Congratulations to the school board. They now represent 82% of the people of Morrisville. Quickly they will represent 100% of the people of Morrisville. I know the people who ran for school board. They have in their hearts the children. They want to go forward and educate the children as well as it can be done. I know that they have innovate programs they want to bring in; they will be open to comments and input and they will do what they believe is best for Morrisville. We all have to get past the disagreements of the past and work together. Democracy works if you believe in it”, she said.
The new board quickly appoints Bill Hellmann, CPA as President, and Al Radosti as Vice President, and makes various committee appointments. Current board member Joe Kemp, not a fan favorite of team Stop the School, doesn’t get any plum appointments, but opens the door for Marlys Mihok to get the appointment she had always coveted - Intermediate Unit (IU) representative.
Observations from around town:
1. The new sidewalks & curbs on Bridge St. were needed, and they're certainly an improvement, but they didn't enhance the streetscape as much as I had hoped. Anyone feel differently?
2. Madame Zena, the psychic on N. Penna Ave. across from the Baptist Church, is out of business after only a few months, her storefront sign turned backwards. Shouldn't she have known this was gonna happen?
3. Looks like a new gym is coming soon to the Stockham Building. And I heard another gym might be put in on the 2nd floor above the Dollar Tree store, which just moved next door into the old Dunhams Dept. store building in the Morrisville Shopping Center. Are these fitness-oriented entrepreneurs trying to tell us something?
From today's BCCT.
Full-day kindergarten still up in the air
By RACHEL CANELLI
Staff Writer
When it comes to full-day K, the Neshaminy school board isn’t ready to go all the way.
Board members told administrators, during a strategic action committee meeting this week at Samuel Everitt Elementary School in Middletown that they still need more information before they can decide what to do.
The full-day kindergarten program could cost about $1.38 million to implement in the district’s eight elementary schools, according to Jacqueline Rattigan, director of elementary education.
While a committee involving Rattigan, teachers, counselors and other administrators found that the benefits of having such a program would outweigh any costs, the group also realized that space would be tight in schools if the class was added.
That’s why Rattigan also proposed the idea of an extended day plan, which would include students who qualify based on certain to-be-determined criteria.
Board members Rick Eccles, Joseph Blasch and Frank Koziol all said that they’d like to keep full-day kindergarten on the table and try to find cost-saving options.
But board members Susan Cummings and Ritchie Webb said they don’t think the district can afford the program right now, at least not at every school.
Superintendent Paul Kadri pointed out, though, that if the district can’t offer the program to every child, it needs criteria to offer full-day kindergarten to the neediest.
However, parents said it wouldn’t be fair to offer the course to needy children only.
November 9, 2008 11:06 AM
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Comments To This Article:
- Yes Neshaminy, keep your
(11/09/2008 )
spend, spend, spend, hire, hire, hire, raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes policies going. Taxpayers have had enough of this BS. Susan Cummings and Ritchie Webb, the only two with a brain. The rest of the stooges on the board need a reality check. Rick Eccles, Joseph Blasch and Frank Koziol, here is a novel idea, how about you cut spending, AND LOWER TAXES, instead of finding more ways to spend money.
"Comments To This Article:
- Yes Neshaminy, keep your
(11/09/2008 )
spend, spend, spend, hire, hire, hire, raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes policies going. Taxpayers have had enough of this BS. Susan Cummings and Ritchie Webb, the only two with a brain. The rest of the stooges on the board need a reality check. Rick Eccles, Joseph Blasch and Frank Koziol, here is a novel idea, how about you cut spending, AND LOWER TAXES, instead of finding more ways to spend money."
Just keep the half day classes, dang nabbit! That was good enough in my day. Hell, make all grades 1/4 day and save us all 3/4 of our taxes. Our kids will be dumb as a bag of rocks and our futures will be bleak, but I'll save a few sheckels and that's good enough for my shortsighted self!
Installment 2. Whew - January was an action-packed month! I'm only partway through.
January 2008
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
The new board gets right down to business. At a Jan. 2 special meeting, the board passes a resolution to keep the district’s real estate tax inflation rate increase below 4.4% for the upcoming 2008-09 school year, months before the 2008-09 budget is due, and regardless of any unforeseen contingencies that may arise. A resolution wasn’t necessary to exert this fiscal discipline, but it sure was symbolic. They may complain about having their hands tied, but it turns out they’re pretty kinky – they like to tie their own hands! The vote was 5-3; Hellmann, Mihok, Farrell, Radosti, and Heater vote for. kemp, Reithmeyer, and Ed Frankenfield vote against.
Marlys Mihok publicly complains that Superintendent Dr. Beth Yonson didn’t properly inform the board about the budget process and the Jan. 3 deadline for a resolution to cap the budget. She tells Bucks County Courier Times reporter Kate Fratti this too. Kate Fratti refers to it in her Jan. 7 column.
“Administrators can foster cooperation by playing fair. Not one mentioned to the board last month that there was a deadline for a resolution to cap the budget. That necessitated the hastily called special meeting, where board members indicated they felt hoodwinked”, Fratti wrote.
ROLL THAT BEAUTIFUL BEAN FOOTAGE
At the Jan. 9 board meeting, Dr. Yonson sets the record straight. She rolls footage from a December 2007 board meeting that shows she did in fact inform the board about the budget process and deadlines. Turns out she informed them in writing too in November 2007. Kate Fratti was also at the Jan. 9 meeting. Seems she didn’t appreciate being lied to by Marlys Mihok either. Then again, who does?
Installment 3.
January 2008
DOWN ON THE FARM
Rumors began to circulate that the new board was pondering "farming out" the High School students. Kate Fratti’s Jan. 11 column mentions that both Bristol Borough and Pennsbury had been contacted about a tuition arrangement with Morrisville, but no board members would either confirm or deny this. Soon the list of farm-out locales expands to an Episcopal Academy in New Jersey, Conwell-Egan Catholic High School, and Delaware Valley High School (DVHS).
From the DVHS website:
"Delaware Valley High School is one of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s oldest private licensed, accredited and "approved" high schools specializing in "at risk" high school youth with motivational and/or behavioral issues. A full service alternative educational facility, offering a range of unique educational services for "at risk" youth, designed to teach responsibility, instill motivation, and turn potential "drop outs" or "problem students" into High School graduates, and facilitate post graduate education. "
Sounds great, doesn't it?
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