Sweetwater Union High School District, Board Race

The Sweetwater Union board was at the epicenter of the recent scandals of bribery and quid-pro-quo relationships between contractors and board members. The ending result was that four of the five board members were forced off the board by a judge, as they pled guilty to lesser offenses. The fifth board member is not running for re-election which makes all five board seats up for election

Trustee Area 1:

There are three candidates for this seat: Burt Grossman, Arturo Solis, and Jerome Torres.

Arturo Solis is the least qualified and we get the sense that this candidacy has more to do with a political movida than actual concern about the students or the district. His wife is a council member on the National City city council and with her connections and ambitions this is more about solidifying political power in the South Bay.

We like Burt Grossman on a personal level. He even wrote a football related column for La Prensa San Diego. What we don’t like is his commitment to his campaign or should we say lack of commitment. We believe that he is depending solely on name recognition to get him over the top. That may very well be enough for him to win, as he is an ex-San Diego Charger. But we believe it takes more than just signing up for the job.

Jerome Torres is a committed individual who has a long track record of political involvement. He presently presides as chairman of the City of Chula Vista’s redistricting commission. On top of this he has extensive working knowledge of education systems and of budgets. This is the kind of knowledge and background that the new board will require.

We Endorse Jerome Torres for Trustee Area 1.

Trustee Area 2

Trustee Area 2 has four excellent candidates running for this seat which makes it a difficult choice, but one that we relish.
The fifth candidate running for this seat is disgraced incumbent Bertha Lopez who was charged with bribery, and pled guilty to accepting gifts from contractors. She was booted off the board and now wants to once again represent the seat she disgraced. Her running after being convicted is wrong on so many levels that we are asking the voters to vote for anyone, anyone but Bertha Lopez, you have four good choices.

The four other candidates are Adrian Arancibia, Kevin O’Neill, Kevin Pike, and Dana Toogood.

As noted these are four excellent candidates but we whittled our choice down to two, Kevin O’Neill and Adrian Aran-cibia. O’Neill knows the budget issues, has been involved with the school board as a concerned citizen, and has an intimate knowledge of the issues, but ultimately we believe that Adrian Arancibia was the best choice for this seat.

Arancibia is a relative newcomer to politics which allows for a fresh perspective. Arancibia comes with an educational background, having earned a PhD, as a teacher in the South Bay, and at present as a college professor at a local community college. Arancibia also has a background in the arts, which he will bring to the board, as co-founder of the Taco Shop Poets and as a co-founder of Voz Alta, an arts center.

Arancibia understands the issues of the district with a priority of restoring respectability to the district.

Arancibia has the endorsement of the Teachers and Classified employees, as well as some local Democratic elected leaders.

We Endorse Adrian Arancibia for Trustee Area 2

Trustee Area 3

Trustee Area 3 is similar to Trustee Area 2 in that they have three good candidates and a fourth Jim Cartmill (see our comment on Bertha Lopez in Trustee Area 2, which applies to Cartmill here.)

In our estimation there are two good choices for this seat – Chris Shilling and Frank Tarantino.

Tarantino is eminently qualified and would make for a good choice. But we have chosen to endorse Chris Shilling.

Shilling is equally qualified. Shilling has a long list of community involvement and is presently chairman of the Board of Ethics for the City of Chula Vista. He has children in the school district. A lifelong resident of Chula Vista, he graduated from the Sweetwater school district and went to earn his Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership with BA in Business Management.

We like Shilling in that he is young, enthusiastic, and brings a set of fresh ideas to the table.

For these reasons We Endorse Chris Shilling for Trustee Area 3

Trustee Area 4

Trustee Area 4 has five candidates running for this seat. Of these candidates we believe that Nicholas Segura represents the best interests of the students and of the district.

Segura has been involved with the community in several areas including Little League, school site council, and he is a mentor for Electrical and Sound & Communication Apprenticeship Programs. At present he sits on Southwestern College Prop “R” Citizen Oversight Committee, currently serving as Vice-Chairman.

Segura has received major endorsements from the Sweetwater educators, the classified employees and many of the South Bay politicians.

Nicholas Segura is the best fit for this Trustee Area and we endorse his candidacy for Trustee Area 4.

Trustee Area 5

Trustee Area 5 is primarily Imperial Beach and the one person who stands out from the other candidates is Paula Hall.

Ms Hall is an educated person with a BA in Humanities and she works as a budget analysis for a school district, which means she has a better than average understanding of budgets.

What sets her apart from the other candidates is her commitment to the district and her involvement with the district before and during the scandal that brought down the school board. She has been an active community member and the primary job of an elected school board member is to represent the community, be the voice for her community. Paula Hall has been fulfilling this role already at school board meetings and will continue to do so as an elected member.

We Endorse the election of Paula Hall to Trustee Area 5.