Issue date: October 20, 1999
If the Silicon Valley has any hope of keeping up with the insatiable demand for skilled workers, it must get its educational house in order quickly. For while prestigious universities like Stanford and Berkeley turn out top scientists and future CEOs, the work in the trenches is done by technicians whose education did not come so easily.
That is where the community college system comes to the rescue. With a combined full-time equivalent enrollment of 25,000 students at its campuses in Redwood City, San Mateo and San Bruno, and outreach programs at OICW in Menlo Park and other sites, the three colleges are a major factor in higher education on the Peninsula.
The three incumbents in this race for three board seats have done a yeoman-like job in reshaping the three colleges into institutions that meet the needs of the county's high school graduates, as well as adults seeking vocational or enrichment classes. All deserve to be returned to office. They are board President Karen Schwarz, longtime board member Tom Constantino, and Patricia Miljanich, who is working overtime to support passage of the much-needed Measure A bond issue.
All three strongly support Measure A, the $148 million bond issue that will provide maintenance and upgrades for the long-overdue repairs on the district's buildings at Canada College in Redwood City, College of San Mateo and Skyline College in the San Bruno hills.
Karen Schwarz is a leader on the board and has supported the initiatives to expand the district's presence off-campus, at downtown learning centers. She supports further expansion to Half Moon Bay and other underserved areas.
Tom Constantino is a dynamo whose 12 years on the board provide a backbone of invaluable experience. He champions training students to work the high-tech jobs so that they can afford to live and thrive in the area.
Pat Miljanich is an activist board member who is spearheading the campaign to pass the bond measure. She also joins her colleagues in fighting to get a larger portion of the state's educational dollar devoted to community colleges. At less than $4,000 annually for each full-time student, the colleges lag far behind high schools, and the California state university and the UC systems in state support.
We urge voters to return the incumbents to the San Mateo County Community College District board.
The Almanac supports Measure A, the $148 million bond issue to repair and upgrade buildings at all three campuses: Canada College in Redwood City, College of San Mateo and Skyline College in San Bruno. See Almanac editorial, October 13.
The Sequoia high school district is a melting pot of cultures, one of the few venues on the Peninsula where numerous ethnic groups meet face to face, day in and day out, in pursuit of a common goal. It is a challenge, and on many fronts, district officials have done a good job in meeting the needs of more than 7,000 students who come with a wide variety of social and academic skills. But it is a daily struggle, and although some exciting programs are in place to improve test scores, test results are mixed at best at Menlo-Atherton, Woodside, Sequoia and Carlmont high schools.
On November 2, voters will have a chance to influence how the Sequoia district tackles these challenges and others, including the impact of a new open-enrollment policy and an expected charter school application from East Palo Alto. With three of the five seats on the Sequoia district board open, and five candidates, a new "instant" majority can be elected.
Three of the candidates have lined up in an informal slate, but before voters are swayed to elect this team, we suggest they consider incumbent Allene Sieling, who has served the board well over the last nine years. Ms. Sieling is a moderate, but more importantly, she's a pragmatist who visits each campus on a regular schedule, sitting in on two to three classes each time. She is familiar with the bureaucracy that runs the district, and she knows that there are no easy answers to the district's problems.
Olivia Martinez, of Menlo Park, is the most prepared of all the challengers to sort out Sequoia's problems. As a vice president at Canada College, a former principal, an experienced teacher/librarian and parent of three children who attended Menlo-Atherton High School, Ms. Martinez would be a welcome addition to the board.
Our third choice is Lorraine Rumley, a parent with young children at North Star Academy, a magnet school in Redwood City. Ms. Rumley is a volunteer in the schools and helped on the recent bond campaign. She would work with the feeder districts to improve preparation of students headed for high school. She said she would recommend offering more summer and weekend classes for students who fall behind.
We urge voters to return Allene Sieling to a third term, and add Olivia Martinez and Lorraine Rumley to the board.
The West Bay Sanitary District was thrown into turmoil, and under the media spotlight, three years ago, when former manager Sandy Thomas was indicted on 36 felony charges of stealing district funds and materials, among other crimes. In the wake of the scandal, a board member, Carl Schrader, was appointed to take over -- and remains -- as district manager, a decision that opened the board to charges of cronyism and worse.
All of these events, and the election of John Carcione, a young law student who won a board seat two years ago in a heated campaign, have continued to roil the district, which provides sanitary collection service for areas including Menlo Park, Atherton, and parts of Portola Valley and Woodside.
Even though the district has only about 20 employees, morale is low, especially after Mr. Schrader recently fired Tim Clayton, who filed a whistleblower complaint charging the manager with improperly handling a project. Mr. Clayton, who has served as temporary district manager, is viewed by some as a possible replacement for Mr. Schrader.
The bitterness generated by the months of struggle over Mr. Schrader's leadership has often caused twice-monthly board meetings to degenerate into shouting matches between Finn Halbo, who is seeking election to a sixth term, and Mr. Carcione. Casual observers at the meetings are often taken aback by the loud and bitter struggles over board policy.
Three candidates, including Ronald Shepherd, who successfully sued Mr. Schrader last year to force him to return portions of the salary he collected after his illegal appointment as manager, have pledged to change that approach. Along with Mr. Shepherd, a CPA who owns his own insurance business, they include David Walker, a young man who works in the high-tech industry, and John Lomax, a retired engineer who believes the district could benefit from his background in management and planning.
Mr. Shepherd would bring much-needed management and leadership skills to the board. As a former Deloitte & Touche auditor, he will make sure the district's finances are sound, but more importantly, his experiences in management will improve board relations. He also believes a new manager is needed to restore employee morale.
David Walker is a young network engineer who wants to help bring stability to the board. He has lived in the district all his life and has a degree in business administration. He suggests that board members be assigned specific areas to cover, adding that he is most interested in watching over projects in the field.
John Lomax is an engineer who has worked at SRI and at Boeing, and has experience as a labor negotiator. He believes that the district could benefit by adopting a set of procedures and policies. The board needs to systematically replace its aging pipelines, an expense that may require a rate increase, he said.
Ron Shepherd, David Walker and John Lomax will restore stability and decorum to the district and make sure it has the financial ability to continually renew its pipelines. They deserve your vote November 2.
Most Atherton voters can easily afford a $650-a-year parcel tax, which provides 24 percent of the town's $6 million-plus budget. With no commercial district, Atherton collects virtually no sales tax, and its share of property tax revenues from the increasingly costly homes being constructed remains minuscule when compared with tax revenue received by communities like Menlo Park, where there is substantial commercial activity.
But in the last 12 months or so this quiet town, which normally shuns the limelight, has been hit with a barrage of negative publicity, much of it revolving around the performance of its city manager and police chief. Some of the bad press has rubbed off on members of the City Council, who have been blamed for failing to demand good management from town leaders.
As a result, there is an effort to organize a protest vote against approval of the parcel tax November 2, to "send a message" to the council. We believe Atherton voters should resist this temptation, for it will make matters much worse by chopping nearly 25 percent of the revenue from the town's budget. If that happens, expect to see police services reduced, and capital projects such as street repair delayed.
Opponents say the tax could be restored at a special March election, but that could be easier said than done.
The best way for disgruntled residents to bring about change in Atherton is through pressure on the council, and involvement in city affairs. All members of the council are hard and sincere workers, but something is wrong when there is a turnover of three city managers in the last 10 years. Four Atherton members collectively represent some 60 years on the City Council, terms of service that some say have extended too long.
Rather than attack the tax, we urge Atherton residents to press the council to adopt much stricter financial standards, and to hire a new manager capable to righting the ship. We urge a yes vote on Measure H, the renewal of the Atherton parcel tax.
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