School Board Candidates Discuss Visions for District

Three candidates competing for the Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) School Board seat left vacant by former Board member Mike Rios, because he was sentenced prison earlier this year, pitched their platforms to a small audience of business owners and community members Thursday evening, Oct. 17, during the monthly Moreno Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (MVHCC) mixer. Moreno Valley resident Jennifer Baca, former MVUSD School Board member Gary Baugh and Moreno Valley teachers’ union President Janet MacMillan are competing in the Nov. 5 election, which will see one of them appointed to serve the remainder of Rios’ term, which expires in December 2014. All three candidates had five minutes each to introduce themselves, share their vision for the school board if elected, and discuss why each believes he or she is the most qualified candidate. Consuelo Frausto is a Moreno Valley resident with children currently in the school district who said she was present that night because she wanted to know what each candidate’s plan was for the school district should he or she be elected. “I saw this as an opportunity to ask questions and for interested parents to hear answers,” she said. Baugh was the first to present and touched on his previous experience as a School Board member from 1998 to 2002. After former School Board member Mike Rios was convicted earlier this year of running a prostitution ring from his home, pimping, pandering and insurance fraud and sentenced to over 14 years in prison, Baugh was appointed temporarily to fill the vacant seat in May but in June left the post after residents petitioned to have him removed and an election to the seat ordered. Baugh said Thursday night, “My goal would be to help to increase graduation rates [and] to lower dropout rates,” adding, “I also think it’s important that we have parent involvement if our students are to be successful. We have excellent teachers and administrators, we have an excellent superintendent, and I would hope I could help get the community involved in the schools—more so than it has been.” Baca is a stay-at-home mom, is a volunteer at her children’s schools and is the Inland Regional Center of San Bernardino Board Secretary. She said she would bring “the parent’s experience” if elected to the school board. “As a parent, I’m on campus all the time, and that’s why I wanted to be on the school board, just to … bring that to the school board itself.” She said, “The decisions are going to affect my kids. I’ve been a resident here for 10 years, and I’ve seen how things have changed. I want to see better things for the school districts.” MacMillan is a retired MVUSD teacher and a former Moreno Valley Educators Association president. MacMillan said, “I do support career technical education for the students. I think that will help those who are going to go directly into the workforce, as well as covering the A–G requirements for those who are going to go directly to college.” She added, “I think new challenges for the district are incorporating the common core standards into the instructional program,” and noted that she would like to see more project-oriented work rather than an emphasis on fill-in-the-bubble testing. Baugh said if elected, he would like to see school funds spent wisely; Baca would like to institute additional magnet schools; and MacMillan would like to match educational priorities to the school board’s budget, as well as to have earlier intervention with struggling students. MVHCC President Thomas Ketchum said at the beginning of the mixer that upon seeing that no candidates’ forums were lined up, the chamber wanted to host for the community. Ketchum explained that the Chamber was taking steps to introduce community members to candidates in the hopes of creating more informed voters, while also giving candidates the chance to publicly announce their platforms. There will be a formal candidates’ forum Thursday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Moreno Valley High School Theater, 23300 Cottonwood Ave. [END] Baugh: "My goal would be to help to increase graduation rates, to lower drop out rates, to implement the local area funding so that we will be getting more money, because we are a district in need of money and have such a diverse group of students that we will be getting more money and I think it's important to use that money wisely. I also think it's important that we have parent involvement. If our students are to be successful, we have excellent teachers and administrators, we have an excellent superintendent, and I would hope I could help get the community involved in the schools moreso than it has been." Baca: "The reason I wanted to get involved in the school board, is, as Gary said, that parent involvement is important. I'm at my kids' school on a daily basis-I'm volunteering in the classrooms, I'm part of their Safe Cross to School program ... So I do think, as a parent, I'm on the campus all the time, and that's why I wanted to be on the school board, just to ... bring that to the school board itself. Knowing what my kids go through and knowing what their future holds, I want to make sure that ... whatever decisions the school board makes, they're going to affect the community's kids (and) they're going to affect my kids as well. I want to think twice and research whatever decisions they come across." "I'm bringing the parent experience. They always say, you can't say something about the president unless you're going to vote, so I can't say something about the school board if I'm not going to run, so that's what I'm doing. The main reason is the decisions are going to affect my kids. I've been a resident here for 10 years, and I've seen how things have changed. I want to see better things for the school districts." "Help kids find a purpose." Mention adding more magnet schools. 6 7 13 kids-school system MacMillan: "I'm running for the school board because I have had a longstanding interest in the work of the district and really preparing our students to follow their dreams and achieve their post-secondary goals. Lived in valley for 35 years, parent 6, grand parent 2. "I have 44 years of experience as a teacher, most of those in this district. I've worked extensively with the categorical programs." former MVEA president "For all of us here, student success is the focus of the district. I applaud what the district has done for the high school in expanding their opportunities to graduate, if they've gotten a little off track, but I really think that students drop out because of failure. They begin to fail at the elementary level, and we have to ensure that those interventions happen when the child starts to fail and at the middle school level, really when the curriculum gets very difficult and the expectation is that the students be independent learners. And the curriculum, as parents, we've kind of forgotten some of the intricacies of secondary education ... the parents, although they want the best for their children and want to help, really sometimes just don't have the information right at their fingertips. So interventions need to start earlier than they have been. I do support career technical education for the students. I think that'll help those who are going to go directly into the workforce, as well as covering the A - G requirements for those that are going to go directly to college. I think new challenges for the district are incorporating the common core standards into the instructional program. I think that's gonna require an emphasis on professional development for the teachers and the administrators, the focus is different. It's on integrating the content areas and really having multiple measures for showing what (students) know, so it's going to be project-oriented rather than bubble-in the test oriented and that's going to be a bit of a change, and I think it will require long-range professional development, a lot of it really giving the teachers and administrators time to talk through the process with one another and to plan collaboratively. And the other major thing that's coming down the pipe is the local control funding formula, which really requires the district to match the students' need for achievement with the budgeting process, and the budgeting process is much more flexible now. We're gonna have to look at the whole student body, what the children need at each level of their education and really match our priorities with the budget we have out there."