Votes Still Not In – But Incumbents With Commanding Lead in DJUSD Board Race

During a gathering of friends and family late Tuesday night at Mrs. Daleiden’s home, supporters of the incumbents appeared quite hopeful, even sure, that the three of them (Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Allen, and Mrs. Daleiden) would come out on top of the voters’ interests.

The question bothering everyone as the event carried on was; where are the election updates? Anxiously surrounding the nearest computer, several guests kept pushing the refresh button in hopes that somewhere on the internet, they would be able to have a more recent vote count.  The first post was given at 8:15pm, while the second lagged until 3:13am.

Regardless of this tiny hiccup in their celebration, they carried on—dining on delicious foods prepared by the campaign chef, everyone seemed incredibly thankful to have the returning three serving their community again.

Mrs. Allen commented, “I would love to see the final results, I would like to see a few more, but I’m glad to be finished, you know, it is what it is.”  Mrs. Allen later added that if the election continued to carry in her favor, she was “extremely excited to continue serving the schools in the district,” and planned to do even better this time around.

Mrs. Daleiden also graciously mentioned, “My heart really is, and has always been, with our schools and our students.  I am honored to be serving…for another four years.”

Mr. Taylor was also very proud, and included that he was happy to serve this district again.  The three incumbents expressed true appreciation to have the opportunity to work together again as a team.

Mrs. Daleiden stated, “we’re excited to return as the team that will confront the next four years together.”  This, above all else, seemed to be what everyone at the celebration was hoping for.  The three incumbents together again for the next four years. 

Also in attendance was Delaine Eastin (the former California Superintendent of Public Instruction), as well as current board member Susan Lovenburg, and both were in complete support of the incumbents.

This is Samantha Lynch reporting.

This was never a race, though I think it is healthy for candidates to be challenged.  Mike Nolan tried to play the role of critic lobbing an array of charges, but this was not the race to do that in.

The three incumbents have been through the wars, they have passion and concern and they have respect from a broad swath of the community.

Did I agree with them on every issue?  No.  I disagreed with them very strongly on Valley Oak, as I thought there was a uniqueness about the school that should be preserved.  I thought they should have allowed the neighborhood to have their Charter School as well.

But that is a subjective call.  We did not know at the time that they closed Valley Oak in 2007 what the schools would be facing in 2008 and beyond.

But the story of these incumbents really starts in 2006 when they were first seated.  This was a district that had huge problems.  We highlighted some in our expose on Tahir Ahad.  These three incumbents cleaned up that mess, joining Jim Provenza to convince Mr. Ahad to leave.  They brought in the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team to clean up the district’s finances and account management.

They got rid of longtime Superintendent David Murphy, who was a constant source of tension and problems.  They brought in the young and energetic James Hammond, who helped continue their work by strengthening community ties to the district, continued to clean up the finances along with new finance director Bruce Colby, and put aside years of turmoil and strife.

In 2005, the district and the city were at odds over things such the Grande Property and the handling of King High.  By the end of their first term, the city and school district were very much partners, working together for mutual benefit.

These were not subtle changes.  They were huge sea changes that helped completely change the culture from 2005 when they were first elected and more importantly, completely changing the culture from what was even happening in 2006 and 2007 when the Vanguard first emerged on the scene.

But the biggest work that the three incumbents did was on the budget.  In 2008, they emerged in crisis, needing to cut millions.  The district was largely caught flat-footed, and the board and district seemed to stumble and flail.  They ended up being able to right the ship thanks to community support, some cuts, and a better than projected budget.

The good work that they had done in the community paid dividends as the community would support the school district, first through the voluntary fundraising drive and then through the overwhelming passage of Measure W in November of 2008.

Without the work to shore up community trust, none of this would have been possible.  But no one really was credibly  able to question the financial crisis.  This would not have been the case a few years earlier.  So, the district has been able to survive the financial crisis based on hard work from the board, community support and, most of all, trust.

That is the legacy that is Gina Daleiden, Tim Taylor, and Sheila Allen.  The community trusts them to make the tough decisions.  Trusts that they will be honest.  And believes that they will do what is best for the district and the kids of this community.

And so as we look at their overwhelming victory, we understand it in that context.  They still have a lot of work to do.  The next challenge may be the toughest of them all – convincing the public to give them a $600 parcel tax.  But few in this community will credibly question those making the decisions.

—David M. Greenwald reporting