M-W school board elections challenged
CENTRAL VALLEY The Monroe-Woodbury School District faces new criticisms this week, this time from two of its nine school board members and from the three people who were defeated in last months elections.
School Board members Theresa Budich and Dr. John MacDonald have filed a petition with the state Department of Education, allegedly that district employees and school board members advocated for the passage of the school budget and for the election of two incumbents, among other violations of state education law.
Budich and MacDonald ask Dr. John B. King, the states commissioner of education, to void the election and prohibit the victors – incumbents Natalie Brooks and Eleni Carter and newcomer John Otero from seeking election for one year.
In a separate action, the three people who garnered the fewest votes in the election – Mark OBrien, Guilaine Leger-Vargas and Clara Munoz-Feliciano have filed separate petitions with the state education commissioner, allegedly similar wrong-doings by district officials and school board officials in the election.
District responds DiGeronimo said he was limited in how he could respond because of the potential litigation. But in a meeting Wednesday with the managing editor of The Photo News, which included school board members Carter and Trumper as well as Assistant Superintendant for Business and Administration Jeffrey White and Director of Computer Technology Hugh Cauthers, DiGeroninimo categorically denied any wrong-doing. He said the district was preparing its answering affidavits, which must be sent to the state education department by mid-July.
Why is this important? At stake were one-third of the seats on a school board that has oversight over a budget of $150 million, about 7,000 students and about 1,000 employees.
Voters approved the budget, which called for a spending increase of less than one percent and a tax increase of one percent.
DiGeronimo and other school officials have been consistent in their message: Weve lowered the tax rate, reduced spending by $24 million over three years without crippling layoffs, and still maintained to offer a variety of programs that families consider when they look to move into the district.
The districts bond rating has been upgraded in recent years, which means Monroe-Woodbury saves money when it has to borrow funds; the lower interest rates also allows the district to retire its debt sooner. The trade association of school business administrators advocated on behalf of Monroe-Woodbury in a letter challenging the comptrollers findings.
But these decisions also come at a time when the state Comptroller criticized the district for holding too much money in reserve – money the state said should have been returned to taxpayers. That was a point that OBrien hammered upon in his campaign.
Outright ... malicious lies In his petition, OBrien wrote:
There came a period from approximately May 2, 2012, right up to and including election day itself where a plethora of emails and messages emerged stating that the new candidates running for the Board of Education, Guilaine Leger-Vargas, Clara Munoz-Feliciano and myself, had conspired with the dissident Hasidic Community to take over the Monroe-Woodbury School District Board of Education. WHAT! THIS IS WHERE THE UNDERSIGNED CANNOT BE CRITICAL ENOUGH! The entire email message campaign in which evidence surfaced that the Monroe-Woodbury resources had been utilized in at least some transmissions. It all started by board member Jennifer Trumpers outlandish and libelous outright lies. Along with a rash of emails and messages there was a flier entitled, please help us stop special interest groups and goes on to provide horrendously false statements, religious defamation and anti-Semitism, libeling the three candidates, including the undersigned with malicious lies.
Voters have spoken The district would later issue a press release, which reads in part:
The voters have spoken and the democratic process has to be upheld; we have an obligation to support their decision, said Trustee Wayne Chan. Unfortunately, these five individuals are costing the working taxpayers of this district their hard earned money, for what appears to be sour grapes.
DiGeronimo also maintained that the Monroe-Woodbury school district is a neutral entity in all school board elections and has the sole purpose of ensuring the fidelity of the process. The District does not participate in any form of electioneering and, unfortunately, has no control over the poignant climate of the election.
The petitions also complain that Carter and Brooks used school resources to make a Robocall, advocating for the passage of the school budget and urging voters to support them.
In the interview Wednesday, Carter acknowledged she had used an outside vendor to prepare campaign phone calls. She said she and Brooks had not used the district wide system of notifying parents of school emergencies to get their message out.
In that same interview, DiGeronimo added that the district is investigating the Robocall allegation.
Although the investigation is still ongoing, the school board president said, preliminary findings indicates that school equipment were not used.
In their own words School Board member Dr. John MacDonalds statement at the June 6 school board meeting as well as the press release issued by the Monroe-Woodbury School District regarding the petitions appear unfiltered on page 13.
By Bob Quinn