Trustee Amy Porter Jensen resigned with one year left on her four-year term
CLICK HERE FOR APPLICATION LETTER FROM MHUSD: MHUSD Board of Education – Notice of Intent
CLICK HERE FOR CANDIDATE INFORMATION PACKAGE: Board of Education Candidate Information Packet
Published in the November 25 – December 8, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
The Morgan Hill Unified School District board set a deadline of 5 p.m. Dec. 4 for candidates to apply to fill the vacant seat on the board created after trustee Amy Porter Jensen resigned last month.
The trustees voted 5-0 at a Nov. 12 meeting to appoint a seventh member. Trustee Ron Woolf was absent.
Current board members will interview verified candidates at a Dec. 8 special meeting. They’ll go through at least two rounds of questions until the board votes on a finalist.
Potential candidates must be at least 18 years of age and registered to vote within the MHUSD boundaries. They will serve as an appointed trustee until November 2016, the date Porter Jensen’s term is set to expire.
Several candidates interested in filling the appointed trustee position attended a special meeting Nov. 19 at the district office where three board members and MHUSD staff answered their questions about what it means to serve on the school board.
Candidates must obtain a copy of the Candidate Information Packet, which includes a candidate application, and submit the application by the deadline to the superintendent’s assistant Jayne Giangreco at the district office, 15600 Concord Circle.
The board has a deadline of Dec. 29 to make the appointment. If they do not, Santa Clara County Schools Superintendent Jon R. Gundry, as required by law, will order an election which will cost several hundred thousand dollars.
“Foremost, we are hoping to attract candidates who want to use a trustee role for guiding the district in the best interest of students,” said MHUSD Superintendent Steve Betando. “We have a thriving district with impressive employees, involved parents, and business or community partners. We have reinvented our neighborhood schools with great new programs, improved curriculum and instruction, and high expectations in our Morgan Hill, San Jose and San Martin communities.”
Board members come from all walks of life and possess many attributes that any member of the public might consider important, said MHUSD Board President Bob Benevento. One of the most important qualities the board will consider is that candidates for board membership understand their role.
“For example, as an individual member, the trustee has no authority, only the board has authority,” he said. “The candidate for trustee must remember that the focus should remain on student learning, not politics, and that they are responsible for all students, not a select cross section of the community or constituency.”
The candidate must be able to respect and work with a diversity of perspectives and styles, Benevento said. The candidate should be able to listen, acknowledge and deliberate respectfully, but most importantly, must be committed to the democratic process and be able to accept the will of the majority, not work to undermine it, he said.
“I think the candidate must have an understanding that the role of the board is as a legislative body that develops, evaluates and oversees,” he said. “Anybody who cares about the future of our country, our state, our county and our community should consider being involved with the education of our children in some fashion or another. The school board might be considered the bedrock of our democracy, and if you care about the future of democracy, then you should consider a seat on the school board.”
Porter Jensen left the school board Oct. 28 because of stress arising from a recall campaign against Benevento initiated by “Parents For Positive Change,” a group angered by a board decision to move sixth graders into middle schools. Several board members including trustees Benevento and Porter Jensen said they received numerous emails on a daily basis from recall organizer Rob Guynn to the point they called “harassment.”
Porter Jensen filed papers with the Santa Clara County Superior Court in October, accusing Guynn and his wife, Monica Guynn, of inundating her with hundreds of emails concerning the recall. She also claimed Rob Guynn made a “disturbing” phone call to her.
The court granted her a temporary restraining order against Guynn, but that order against Guynn was dismissed Nov. 17 in the San Jose Superior Court after she, or a representative for her, failed to appear before the judge.
Despite the controversy now facing the board, MHUSD schools are doing well in the mission to educate young people, Betando said.
“Our schools have never looked better and our budget outlook is exceptional. Our administrative team is stronger than any I have seen. The students are achieving in tremendous ways,” he said. “I invite community members who wish to help us continue on our trajectory of even more success to consider applying as an appointment candidate for the Morgan Hill Unified School Board for the one-year term.”
