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Palo Alto Online

Personality contest

by Rachel Metz

The absence of a controversial issue in this year's school board campaign has seen five candidates touting personality over platform in a bid for three open seats.

In the past, issues like overcrowding and school-site fundraising polarized candidates and drew fierce exchanges. But this year's big issue -- the district's future budget -- while thorny, doesn't do much for drawing out sides. Last year the district sliced more than $3 million from its budget as part of state cuts and sliding revenues. With the state's financial future showing few signs of progress, all signs point to another dismal fiscal year for school districts.

Candidates have given the issue lip service but convey only vague notions of keeping cuts away from the classroom.

"Some of the most contentious issues like opening or closing schools don't exist right now. In Palo Alto in the past, those have been hot buttons," current board president and candidate Mandy Lowell said.

Two incumbents, Gail Price and Lowell, are being challenged by three newcomers: Keen Butcher, Camille Townsend and James Dal Bon. Board member John Tuomy opted not to run for re-election.

Dal Bon, a 43-year-old lawyer with two children in the district and one who graduated from Middle College, decided to run, in part, because he thought the candidate field was a bit bare.

"Up until the last day it looked like nobody was running and I thought it was a shame," he said.

Dal Bon wants to make the district's finances more transparent by posting employees' salary information on the district's Web site.

"If we have a drastic round of cuts, you know, I would like the public to be fully and easily informed on where the money is going," Dal Bon said.

He also thinks there should be bulletin boards on the school district's Web site so locals can evaluate the district's performance.

Dal Bon is also concerned with how homework impacts student stress. He suggested a two-track homework system, where students sign up for a class based on how much homework will be given.

"I don't think the homework-free nights were really practical solutions," he said.

Butcher thinks he's a practical solution to the still-undefined budget challenge, especially where district finances are concerned. As a banker, Butcher said he can cut through a budget.

"My skill set is needed on this board," he said.

Butcher, 38, is a father of four young children -- the oldest is 7 -- and is the youngest candidate in the race. He has not held elected office before, and is a member of Fairmeadow Elementary School's PTA, as well as its liaison to the school board.

Townsend, 48, has the most school district experience of the challengers. She has a history of involvement in the district -- she served as PTA president and site council representative at Nixon Elementary School and was on the district's PTA council.

She has one daughter at Palo Alto High school and another in college.

She also organized a major letter-writing campaign to Gov. Gray Davis last spring to protect the district's finances from a proposed state cut of about a quarter of the its annual budget.

"I believe we have to work that much harder to remain on target," she said.

Lowell, an incumbent, has been dealing with recent budget problems on the front lines. During her first term on the board, budget issues took up a lot of time.

Now, she hopes to keep working with the board, addressing issues like funding to make sure families don't leave public schools for private schools.

"I'm very concerned ... public schools will be the refuge of people who can't afford private schools," said Lowell, who has three children in the school district: two at Jordan Middle School and one at Duveneck Elementary School.

For incumbent Gail Price, 55, possible future budget problems were a part of why she decided to throw her hat back in the ring for a second term, she said.

"A lot of things, policies we've started on, I want to see finished," Price said.

Besides the budget, she has worked on the school district master plan and the transition from school-based to district-wide fundraising to pay for extra staff positions.

Price currently has one son at Gunn High School -- two others have graduated.

She ran in 1999 knowing serving on the board would be time-consuming, and during her tenure she's found it is demanding but still vitally important work.