CANDIDATES FOR SAN JUAN ISLAND SCHOOL BOARD
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List of news stories about 2001 election in San Juan County
Primary election coverage
School Board Candidates face off at forum
posted 09/07/01
One candidate (Bryn Barnard) has children in fourth and sixth grades; one (Robert Mancuso) has children in ninth and tenth grades, and the third (James Reedy) graduated from high school three years ago. All three candidates for Position No. 3 on the San Juan Island School Board share the same opinions on the quality of the school district -- high; passage of maintenance and operation levies -- essential; and fiscal position of the district -- fat-free.
One fiscal policy Barnard would like to see changed involves corporate sponsorships. He wants the district to refuse them. The deal giving exclusive vending rights to Coca-Cola and handouts sent home touting General Mills cereals were two examples of corporate sponsorships he said.
Asked about Running Start, the three weren't all in agreement. Reedy said he is "all for it." He attended classes under the program which gives students credit for high school and community college classes simultaneously.
Barnard said he was all for it initially, but acknowledges it has financial disadvantages for school districts. Since the students attend Running Start classes at community colleges, the state money goes there instead of to the high school. Mancuso doesn't want to hold back learning opportunities but wants to learn more about the program.
Voters must cast their ballots by Sept. 18 for the primary election which will reduce the number of candidates to two.
San Juan Island School District Board
Position No. 1
Candidates in the primary election were asked to respond to three questions. The responses we received from San Juan Island School Board candidates are posted below. More responses will be posted when we receive them.
Bob Mancuso
- Why are you running for a seat on San Juan Island School Board?
The principle reason I seek election to the San Juan School Board is to continue implementing the goals and directives as set forth in the current Superintendant's Goals, District Goals and Technology Plan. I feel the district has created much of the groundwork and is now ready to propel itself to a higher level of achievement.
- What are the top two issues facing the school district?
The top two challenges are :
- to take advantage of the strong leadership in each of the three schools to support and stimulate each of our teachers to a higher standard of excellence
- maintain clear communication with all members of the community highlighting the successes the schools have achieved in the past years and demonstrating the need to support the upcoming school bond
- What are your qualifications?
My best qualification for the position is the experience of supporting two children who have attended the San Juan Schools for the past eleven years with great success (now ninth and tenth graders). I have observed first hand the continual developments that have taken place in that period, often from round table discussions with my wife, Yvonne Buijs-Mancuso, an active volunteer in the schools. Finally, in my current career as a homebuilder, I work daily with communication, planning, scheduling and budgeting, skills that will serve well on the School Board.
Bryn Barnard
- Why are you running for a postion on San Juan Island School Board?
I am running for school board because I believe deeply in the importance of public education. Public schools are one of the most magnificent achievements of our democracy, the crucial institution that binds us together as American citizens. In our increasingly balkanized and compartmentalized society, public schools are one of the few remaining public spaces where people of all classes, abilities, races and genders still have to learn to coexist and cooperate
Six years ago I moved to San Juan Island believing that if public education can work anywhere it must be here, where most of the problems besieging other public schools systems are largely absent. We have an excellent school system - the envy of other educators who regularly compare us with Mercer Island in terms of quality. Yet we have one of the highest percentages of subsidized school lunches in the state, a reflection of the oft-stated fact that San Juan County has the highest per capita income in the state but the lowest wages.
We have with beautiful facilities, small class sizes, dedicated teachers, staff and school board and a supportive community. I want to help maintain these high standards and continue the work of improving the education of our children our current school board has done so admirably.
- What are the top two issues facing the school district?
In this election the top issue is the reauthorization of the maintenance and operation levy. Twenty percent of the district's budget comes from local taxpayers. The district runs a very tight financial ship and this 20% is crucial for the maintenance of our high standard of education.
In this election, however, 35% of the voters did not live in the district four years ago when the M&O levy was last reauthorized. Many of these new residents do not have children in our schools and may not realize the great strides our district has taken in recent years in improving our facilities, hiring new personnel, not to mention raising test scores to some of the highest in the state. These improvements would have been impossible without local support.
These funds are especially important as our high school officially went over the 300 students this year. That means we lose our "small school" classification, and the extra state support - i.e. money for two extra teachers - the state kicks in for schools under 300 kids. It is important that voters reauthorize the maintenance and operation levy.
The second issue, is less crucial in the short term, but quite important in the long run. Public schools are one of the last areas of our society where corporate advertising is largely absent. Our schools are one of the few places children are not subjected to the constant braying of the admen: sponsorships, logos, commercials, billboards, and other reminders that in our capitalist society, consumption is what really matters. With so many other markets saturated, advertisers are now turning to schoolchildren as one of the last unexploded markets.
Cash-poor districts are offered numerous monetary enticements in exchange for advertising. These advertisers want access to our children's minds and wallets. Public schools should exist to create educated, creative, thoughtful, responsible citizens, not brand-conscious consumers.
Corporate advertising should be vigorously resisted. From exclusive deals with soft drink purveyors to the classroom advertising of Whittle Communications Channel One, to "product placements" in textbooks none belong in San Juan Island pubic schools. Given the choice and the information, I believe our citizens will work to find alternatives to corporate money.
Of course a school board member is just that, only one of a group of people who makes decisions together. Although I will be candid with my opinions, and will try to sway other members to my views, I will also listen to what others have to say. I understand the need to work harmoniously as a group to get the business of running a school district done wisely and efficiently
- What are your qualifications?
I am 45 years old, children's book illustrator and author, the son of a public elementary school teacher, and the product of public education, from kindergarten through university. I grew up in Southern California attending elementary school in La Mirada and middle and high school in Laguna Beach.
As a junior I was an AFS exchange student to Malaysia. I lived for a year in a Malay Muslim peasant village near Singapore, learned to speak Malay and attended high school. This was a very different sort of education than the one I was used to in California, with rote learning in a foreign language, regimented classes, school uniforms and caning for misbehavior. My experience with the Malaysian system -which is entirely focused on preparing students for several make-or-break national examinations - made me somewhat skeptical of exam-focused systems, and wary of our country's increasing focus on exams as a learning measurement tool.
I received my undergraduate education at UC Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in studio art and Asian Studies. Thereafter, I studied illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Following my formal education, I won a two-year fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs, and returned to Malaysia to study visual communication. As a "participant observer" in several international advertising agencies I learned how multinational corporations working in multi-racial societies incorporate traditional symbols to sell their products. I worked on numerous ad campaigns in both countries. My reports were published by the Institute, and later by Universities Field Staff International, the Far Eastern Economic Review, Worldpaper, Asia 2000, Garuda Magazine, and the Malaysian Journalism Review.
I have taught in both public and private colleges: the University of Delaware, Newark; University of the Arts, Philadelphia and University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea. As a Fulbright Fellow I taught at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. As a consulting associate of the Universities Field Staff International I lectured at college campuses across the United States. My children are both in the San Juan Island Public school system. My son Parks is entering fourth grade. My daughter Wynn is entering sixth grade. My wife Rebecca (color consultant and owner of a local e-business, Balibuys.com) and I have done volunteer work in the schools. Rebecca has been a classroom assistant for several years in both Wynn and Parks' classes. Î have been an art docent at the elementary school and talked to classes about art and illustration. I have also spoken to the high school art class about a career in illustration.
Sharon Kivisto
and
Matt Pranger
can be reached:
phone:
360.378.3748
fax:
360.378.9748
by e-mail:
news@sanjuanislander.com
by mail:
San Juan Islander
PO Box 1118
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA