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School board race kicks off -- politely

by Rachel Metz

While events in the City Council race have thus far mirrored a WWE SmackDown! event, the school board race is shaping up more like an episode of "The Brady Bunch."

Whether they're putting up personal Web sites or defining their message, the five school board candidates are launching their campaigns with positive remarks toward the school district and portraying themselves as "citizens who care."

"These are people who want to do something to help the district ... They're not single-issue candidates and they're not 'throw out the existing board' candidates," incumbent and current board President Mandy Lowell said.

Now that the 5 p.m. Wednesday candidate filing deadline is behind them, the three newcomers and two incumbents have about two-and-a-half months to convince voters they're right for one of the three open slots.

Ask any of the five candidate which issues are important and they'll undoubtedly include Palo Alto Unified School District's budget.

Candidate Keen Butcher, a banker and father of four, said one of his priorities is keeping cuts away from the classrooms.

"This is a situation where we have something very good that we can make better and one of the key things in this sort of challenging economic environment is not to get carried away but focus on the core mission and the core basic education that comes with it," Butcher said.

Butcher has never run for office before. But he thinks his experience as a banker will be helpful to the board, as he's used to negotiation and keeping many people happy at the same time.

Focus on the students is key for candidate James Dal Bon, a lawyer with two children currently attending Palo Alto schools.

In addition to maintaining the quality of Palo Alto's school system, Dal Bon would like to see older students more involved with the school board. Because many teenagers are able to vote by the time they're seniors in high school, Dal Bon said they should be involved in the school district's fate.

Dal Bon is also interested in starting a Chinese immersion program in Palo Alto. The district decided not to co-sponsor a state grant application for such a program this spring.

"By learning another language you learn more about your own and one way of doing that is to start children young down that path," he said.

For challenger Camille Townsend, aiding the district is a significant part of her life. She was a major player in the fight to keep basic-aid funds in district schools last spring, organizing letter-writing campaigns at CafÈ La Dolce Vita.

Townsend has also served as PTA president at Nixon Elementary School and was on the PTA boards at Jordan Middle School and Palo Alto High School. She worked on the PTA Council as co-chair of the legislation committee this past year.

Over the next several years, she said, the budget and property tax funds are going to merit continued vigilance.

"I think even beyond our district, education across the board -- it's going to get hit and we have to protect it," she said.

Incumbent Gail Price is committed to the support of kids: she counts secondary school students' stress among her main campaign issues.

"We need to be more mindful of that and to be responsive and to be aware of that," she said.

Price's other major issues include supporting the work of the district's fund-raising organizations, like the Palo Alto Foundation for Education (PAFE) and the All Schools Fund (ASF).

Price said board continuity is important, and thinks incumbents have an advantage because their awareness of the issues and sensitivity to the challenges the school district faces.

"This would not be a time to change a lot of school board members because I think it would harm the district in terms of the issue of the learning curve," she said.

Lowell, who has three kids in Palo Alto schools, is also hoping she'll be elected for a second term on the school board.

Lowell said she has learned it's nearly impossible to predict which issues are going to crop up at which time. Besides maintaining the district's funding, she identified attracting and keeping high-quality teachers and ensuring every student progresses one every year as important issues in the district.

Lowell said she's running her campaign not so much on her views of specific issues, but on her approach to decision-making. She said her skills reside in doing independent research on board issues by talking to people in the community and looking online.

"In our community there's such an incredible base of expertise that one of my hallmarks is contacting community members and using their expertise to help the school board make a decision," Lowell said.

Rachel Metz can be e-mailed at rmetz@paweekly.com