Published in the June 24 – July 9, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
David Gerard
When I announced my run for the Morgan Hill Unified School District board of trustees last July 4, I had in mind that I’d focus on acceleration of student achievement, closing the district versus county and Latino/white achievement gaps, creation of pre-apprenticeship and career pathways for all students, college-bound or not and increased parent-volunteer participation in the schools.
I personally canvassed more than 14,000 voters, and spoke to more than 500. As my campaign blossomed, I added two more priorities based on what voters requested: Better service responses for special needs kids and greater transparency from the district office. I called my program “Let’s Build an Academic Powerhouse,” and I was elected.
So far in my first months in office I’ve already accomplished several goals and am progressing on a few more. I convinced the board to hold its first ever meeting during the school year in the San Jose portion of our district, thus increasing parent participation. I improved transparency by encouraging better advertisement of board meetings on MHUSD’s website. I’ve brought sunshine to the process of hiring consultants. I work closely with the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce and others to lay the groundwork for 21st-century career education — called Linked Learning — for every MHUSD high school student.
In addition, I’ve self-funded attending two weekend workshops in the California School Board Association’s Masters in Governance program as well as an international conference on how to remove emotional toxicity in public school administration.
Morgan Hill Life’s recent editorial referenced police at a recent school board meeting to “safeguard against the possibility of violence.”
The process that led to the call for police occurred just after open session but before closed session was called to order. To be on the safe side I will not describe what I witnessed, but I will say that as a doctor of psychology trained in crisis intervention, the decision showed poor judgment.
We admittedly have a diversity of styles — not each of which I endorse — on this board, but I respect everybody. Making the claim that our “bright future” is threatened by the board’s “growing animosity” and that the board has “two factions” whose friction may suddenly lower local real estate values is exaggerated.
Home values already suffer compared to the rest of the valley when home buyers check school data indicating MHUSD SAT scores have been as much as 156 points lower than the rest of the county since 2006 — and have actually gotten worse since 2012.
The district’s own data shows that English Learner Student achievement actually declined last year, Mr. Betando’s first as superintendent.
More than four-fifths of all board votes since January have been 7-0.
So I’d like to know which “faction” you imagine I belong to, as I was the maker of the motion, to accept Mr. Betando’s self-evaluation for the 2013-14 year. Asking questions is not an indication of animosity unless you’re afraid of the answer or are in denial of reality.
However, I do agree with your call to “encourage the … board to address their crisis of leadership and take steps before the new school year begins in August.” I’ve requested a special session to address exactly this four times since March but have been denied, most recently this month. My personal philosophy is “teamwork makes your dream work” and “it’s nice to be important but more important to be nice.”
I’m hoping Morgan Hill Life’s next editorial will endorse my call for a special session on board norms, relationships and values. Let’s heal the wounds and get back to serving our kids.
David Gerard is a member of the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s board of trustees. He wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life in response to an editorial published in the June 10, 2015 issue.
His opinion does not reflect that of Morgan Hill Life nor the opinions of all MHUSD board members.
