Three incumbent members of the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees are running for reelection this fall against two new challengers seeking seats on the board.
While incumbents Bob Griffin, Peter HanleyandLinda Lees Dwyer should have an easy road ahead, this election may prove to be a more difficult electoral year than many would have anticipated.
Challenger Mike Loy, a local contractor and Aragon High School parent, has deep roots in the community and is running a strong, grassroots campaign. But Loy’s early success is also due to the difficulties that plagued the school district in the recent past.
Three years ago the San Mateo Union High School District was in the throes of a great financial upheaval with a budget significantly out of balance and a bond-funded construction program that was nearly spiraling out of control.
The financial problems – what many called mismanagement – lead to the retirement of veteran administrator and then superintendent Sam Johnson, the firing of the firm managing the bond expenditure program, the retirement of one long time board member and the defeat of another at the polls.
Two years later, there is a new administration, two new board members, a new firm managing the district’s bond-funded constriction program and the budget – while experiencing a decline due to overall economic declines - is balanced and under control.
But the remaining board members must bear some of the burden of responsibility for the financial meltdown of three years ago. Among them, only Linda Lees Dwyer, who is now seeking her second term, can claim little in the way of responsibility for the financial problems as she had only been on the board for less than a year before the problems began to surface and were made very public by way of a series of blistering Civil Grand Jury Reports.
That leaves Robert Griffin, a CPA who is seeking his fourth full term on the board to extend his 14-tenure, and Peter Hanley, a management consultant who is seeking his third term on the board, as those who must answer for the fiscal failures of the district which cost many millions in bond funding and district jobs.
For voters, there is also the option of 23-year old Guadalupe Ortiz, the director of academic outreach for the San Mateo Youth Foundation (SMYF) and a community volunteer. Ortiz is new to the political scene, so has garnered little in the way of real support and is not considered a serious candidate.
The only local newspaper that has endorsed in this race, the Daily Journal, endorsed Loy, Lees Dwyer and Griffin. The basic rationale for the endorsement is to call for support of the two viable candidates with no culpability in the near fiscal collapse of the district and then, a decision between Griffin and Hanley. The Daily Journal supports Griffin for supposedly having deeper community relationships but there are other reasons.
In addition to failing to provide the necessary oversight to safeguard taxpayer dollars, Hanley is also a rabid supporter of school choice via charter schools, school vouchers and has frequently expressed a pronounced dislike for teachers’ unions and their policy pursuits.
Hanley has authored numerous articles on the various subjects. In one such article in the Daily Journal Hanley states that he is “…as an unabashed school choice proponent who promised voters in my ballot statement that I would examine this possibility, the progress to date is especially rewarding.”
In another appearing the Chronicle Newspaper, Hanley details the benefits of school choice - allowing public schools to compete with one another for tax dollars and allowing parents to divest from the public system altogether and divert resources into private institutions. In another Chronicle op-ed Hanley attacks teacher tenure.
While it is unlikely for incumbents to lose their offices – particularly in a school district spanning six cities and comprised of over 200,000 residents – Hanley may be vulnerable. Hanley does enjoy a tremendous amount of support from the local building trades unions and local leaders such as Assemblymember Jerry Hill, but he has failed to garner many of the key endorsements that an incumbent should have, including the Democratic Party and the teacher’s union. Moreover, Loy will make significant gains in the parent community in which he is active as the president of the Aragon High School Parent Teacher Organization.
The outcome of the race will be hard to predict but look for Lees Dwyer and Griffin to retain their seats and expect a real battle for Hanley to stay in office with Loy making great headway against a sitting incumbent.
There is growing confusion over who is funding the campaign in support of Burlingame Measures H and I. It seems the normally required campaign filings …
RSS
Home
Rumble in San Mateo Union High School District
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
.jpg)
