Lately I have been receiving quite a few e-mails
from people asking me about my thoughts concerning
the school board candidates. The following are my
thoughts and represent my opinion alone and not
necessarily that of LVCS.
Regardless of whom you vote for, the one thing that
is very clear is that the LVJUSD Board needs to be
changed. I constantly hear from people in the
community that they just don't trust this school
board. If that is the case, then this is your
opportunity. If Bill Morrison and Tom McLaughlin
are re-elected to the Board then this community
has no one to blame but itself for the decisions
and actions that the Board will take over the
next two years. There are complaints of information
being withheld, misleading the public, and overall
acting not in the interests of the public, but in
their own self-serving interests. Now is the time
for change and it begins on November 2nd.
I personally support Measure D. I say this
knowing that at the moment not one penny from
it will go to help the children of the charter
school. But there are 13,600 other children
in Livermore who greatly need this money and
it will help to bring back a portion of what
has been lost over the years. The main argument
against Measure D is that people don't trust
the Board to do what is right with the money.
First off there is supposed to a citizen oversight
committee to ensure of the proper handling of
the funds. More importantly, this is our
opportunity to make a change to the Board to
attempt to bring back Trust. This Board is
supposed to represent the community. They are
an extension of our voices and yet it seems
that our voices have fallen on deaf ears. They
only seem to listen to what they want to hear.
How many times have you attended a Board meeting
only to watch the Board members yawning, looking
away, doodling on paper or basically being on
the verge of sleeping when the public is speaking?
Bring the Board back to the people by electing
new Board members that will listen to us and better
serve the community.
I am voting for Bill Dunlop for the two-year
seat, Rick Swiers for the four-year seat and
Wenbo Yuan for the other four-year seat. Nearly
13 years ago, Mr. Dunlop co-founded LVEF. He
obviously saw a problem with the District at
that time and decided to do something about
it. He is pro-active rather than re-active.
He is a visionary who through his actions
demonstrates his desire to do everything he
can to resolve problems and retain programs,
rather than cut first and ask questions later.
Think about this. Why did this current Board
wait until after $12 million dollars have been
cut from the budget, schools were closed,
class size reduction nearly eliminated, high
school sports all but lost, enrichment
programs decimated and so forth until deciding
to do a Parcel Tax. The writing was on the
wall a long time ago and they could have done
a parcel tax then and not divided the community
and put our children's educational future in
harm's way. Mr. Dunlop is exactly that kind
of visionary thinking that we need on this
board. Please join me in supporting Bill Dunlop
for the two-year seat.
Rick Swiers is a local business owner with a
long history of handling major budgets for
well-known companies like SONY. He is a
man of the people and everything that I
have read and heard suggests, that he is
going to have a more open Board with far
more disclosure. He wants to bring the
Board back to the people as they represent
us. He has a can do attitude and firmly
believes in planning for the future rather
than just for the next budget revision.
We need a Board member who will ask the
tough questions and not just accept things
as presented. Rick Swiers is my choice
for the four-year seat for the Livermore
Board of Education and I hope he is yours as well.
Wenbo Yuan has a strong background in
architecture, building contracts and
working with local City officials. Given
all of the money that is being spent and
will be spent by this Board with Measure L
funds to upgrade facilities, I think it is
high time, we have someone on the Board with
a strong background in this area and who
will ask the tough questions about the
proposals being put in front of the Board.
I think she will be s strong advocate for
pushing the curriculum envelope and trying
to ensure that our District is no longer the
lowest performing District in the valley
when it comes to API scores. I have attended
my fair share of Board meetings and Ms. Yuan
is always present asking questions and
questioning certain actions. Ms. Yuan would
make an excellent Board member and she has
my vote for the other four-year seat and I
hope she has yours as well.
Remember above all, now is the time for
change. We need to do everything possible
to ensure that there are three new Board
members elected on November 2nd. Put a
sign on your front yard, tell a friend or
neighbor, and spread the word through e-mail.
Do whatever you can to effect change with
the current Board. Now is our time.
Lon Goldstein
