Illegal-immigrant foe in school board race

[jimpasz]

http://www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardi ... 9c896.html


Illegal-immigrant foe in school board race

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, August 14, 2006

By CADONNA PEYTON
The Press-Enterprise

The man who tried and failed to get an anti-illegal immigration initiative passed in San Bernardino has a new focus: running for the school board.

Joseph Turner wants the San Bernardino City Unified School District to become a financially responsible district that provides quality education. He promises to continue to "aggressively attack the policies and practices that aid and abet illegal immigration," even in the school district.

Last spring Turner made headlines by gathering enough signatures to force the city council to place on the ballot an initiative cracking down on illegal immigrants. The initiative included requiring the city to bar public funding of day laborer centers, revoking business licenses of those that employ illegal immigrants and fining landlords who rent to them.

When a judge disqualified the initiative in June, ruling that it did not have enough signatures, Turner set his sights on the school district.

He is clear about his primary reason for running: "Our schools are failing," Turner said. "They are terrible."

Turner said his top concerns include the district's high dropout rate, top-heavy administration and mishandling of millions of dollars.

Several candidates challenging for the school board's four open seats agree with Turner's concerns about the district's performance and believe that it is time for change. Five candidates, including Turner, are seeking to unseat four incumbent board members.

In San Bernardino, more than half the schools are not meeting federal education guidelines and 13 percent of the class of 2006 did not pass the California High School Exit Exam.

Incumbents and district officials say there has been progress.

"It's easy to point the finger," said Tony Dupre, who is seeking a third term. "I did that nine years ago then I got involved and realized this was more complicated than I thought."

Challenger Louise Ayala, a retired San Bernardino teacher, said there needs to be a change in the way the district is run and a change in leadership. She said she's seen test scores decline along with teacher morale.

Challenger Damon Alexander's concerns include the district's graduation and school safety.

Earlier this year, a Manhattan Institute study said the San Bernardino district had a 42 percent graduation rate. Using a different formula -- the one used by the state -- district officials reported a 76 percent graduation rate.

Like Turner, Ayala and candidate Amanda Jacobs, questions the district's number of assistant superintendents.

"I don't know what he (Superintendent Arturo Delgado) could be doing with that many assistants," Ayala said. In addition to Delgado, the district has one deputy superintendent and eight assistant superintendents.

"It does seem like we have more than our fair share," Jacobs, 41, said. "If we have that many, what's the superintendent's job?"

The fifth challenger, Rhonda M. Early, could not be reached Monday.

Delgado did not respond to requests for comment.

District spokeswoman Linda Hill would not comment on the campaign, saying the community determines the board's composition. But she did say the district was headed in the right direction.

"We have outstanding personnel and leadership and we know that positive changes are coming," she said.

The district has spent $13 million on a business and financial software system that has never fully worked. The $13 million is more than twice what the system was originally supposed to cost.

The incumbents -- Dupre, Teresa Parra, Lynda Savage and Elsa Valdez -- say the district faces some challenges that are beyond the its control.

"We're not the Redlands school district," Valdez said. "They don't have the same numbers of students living below the poverty level."

The number of schools and students not meeting federal guidelines, she said, is "not for lack of effort ... we are always looking for ways to help the students."

California Department of Education statistics show that about 80 percent of San Bernardino students receive free or reduced-price lunches, which is generally an indicator of poverty.

As for the number of assistant superintendents, Savage said that's what it takes to deal with one of the state's largest school districts.

The incumbents would not address Turner or his initiative but all insisted that as school board members, they must follow the law regardless of personal opinions.

Whatever the issues, Turner's campaign is bound to make for an interesting race.

People as controversial as Turner tend to energize people on both sides of the issue, said Brian Janiskee, chair of the political science department at Cal State San Bernardino.

"He could draw more voters one way or the other," he said. "Generally speaking, the more controversy associated with the candidate, the more interest in the race. Will this increased interest help him? That remains to be seen."

Reach Cadonna Peyton at 909-806-3053 or cpeyton@PE.com


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Online at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardi ... 9c896.html

[ohflyingone]

There is more and more intrusion by our government in the schools. I got a couple of surveys from my kids schools. One states "All public schools are required by Federal law to provide services for students who qualify based upon the McKinney-Vento Act." It has questions like do you have working plumbing and heat. Do you have anyone besides the parents and kids living with you. And this one "Is housing adequate for humna habitation"! Geeze!

Then there is the Agricultural Employment Survey. It wants to know if anyone in the family works in agriculture and if you raise any livetock. Remember the National Animal Identification Act? If you have livestock you have to tag them so big brother can keep track of them. This is going to ultimately drive small farmers out of business. Seems to me this is an underhanded way to collect info on the small farms so they will know who to go after. The form says "Your child/school may qualify for a federally funded program offered through (school name). Please complete the information requested below to determine if you and your school will receive these benefits! Yeah, right! Dangle that carrot!

[fedupinwaukegan]

Why don't we have more people like Joseph Turner living in my district! Mad enough to get politically active.

I went to a meeting last week where our new high school principal was going on about how he helped the 'undocumented' at his last school. The audience was not happy about this at all. He went on about being a proud Latino... Someone asked if he would promote American holidays; would he help the students feel proud to be Americans... It was a disturbing evening...


Posted - 08/13/2006 : 12:54:13
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quote:
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Originally posted by ShowMeTheMoney

Thanks again! The meeting was quite an eye-opener. When will video of the first part of the meeting be made available?


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The introductory statements were about 40 minutes total, so I have broken them into 4 10-minute segments. They are available in .wmv format:

http://www.coslawaukegan.org/Video/COSL ... Intro1.wmv
http://www.coslawaukegan.org/Video/COSL ... Intro2.wmv
http://www.coslawaukegan.org/Video/COSL ... Intro3.wmv
http://www.coslawaukegan.org/Video/COSL ... Intro4.wmv

And also as streaming video from youtube.com:

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2n6L8A-FgI
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V01io2iDzW4
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yydk5jL3kAM
Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8G5-MBHYOw

http://www.waukegan.org/Forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=2

[krazynbama]

Someone asked if he would promote American holidays; would he help the students feel proud to be Americans.

What was his response to this? A lot of shmoozing or just uncomfortable silence?

[jimpasz]

This doesn't suprise me, my 10 yearold grandson goes to school in Houston TX. He was the olny non spanish speaking person in his class.
He had a hard time understanding the teacher when she did speak english.
Most of the kids did not speak engish at all and had no incentive to learn it. Houston ISD hires non certified teachers that speak spanish some can barely speak english. I lived in Tomball TX for years and have friends who teach there.

[fedupinwaukegan]

Someone asked if he would promote American holidays; would he help the students feel proud to be Americans.

What was his response to this? A lot of shmoozing or just uncomfortable silence?

Earlier the one American holiday he mentioned was Lincoln (that's how he stated it). So when this question was asked I believe he said, "I mentioned Lincoln didn't I?" -said in a sassy manner. I fully suspect it will all be 'Latin Power' celebrations.