Anyone reading my posts knows by now (yeah, ad nausem, you may say) that the San Diego County Board of Education will fill Ernie Dronenburg’s vacancy Monday night. The Union-Tribune this morning runs a detailed list of the 11 candidates, as well as another story, "Education board to fill seat," on the recent history and responsibilities of this sometimes enigma-of-a-body.
The latter-mentioned story, although not crediting the FlashReport (every other newspaper around seems to be lately), does make mention that "Conservative blogger and La Mesa Councilman Barry Jantz and online newspaper Voice of San Diego both raised questions about the county Office of Education’s failure to post news of the board vacancy until just days before the Jan. 27 deadline to apply."
Factual, although I didn’t know that a strong belief in fully transparent government processes was something conservative. I thought it was common sense, a reponsibility to those represented by any government agency.
Be that as it may, as much as I’ve been all over the County Office’s case in recent weeks, it’s because I — and bunches of others — want the best for our education system and the best for our kids. Thus, we deserve the best representation possible.
With that said, we are blessed with a number of qualified applicants to fill the seat. I won’t get into all the names in this post, you can click on the U-T article above. With due respect to all the applicants, the local school board members on the list such as Republicans Arkan Somo and Rick Winet and Democrat Sharon Jones (from both traditionally public and charter schools) would seem to be the heavies, but no doubt politics will play some part in the selection.
Looking at the very largely GOP 3rd District (Hunter, La Suer, Hollingsworth represent much of the area), reality says something significant: If other than a Republican is appointed by the Board of Ed (or by County Supervisors in the case of a Board of Ed deadlock), a Republican will end up winning the seat in an upcoming election. Whether that plays in the selection — or the Board feels inclined to match Dronenburg’s GOP registration — remains to be seen.
The office is non-partisan of course, yet many — including the current board — remember how much partisanship and philosophy drove the board’s politics only a few years ago. The current County Board Members are 3-1 Republican, with the three Reps (Susan Hartley, Bob Watkins and John Witt) considered moderate. The brass tacks of all this is that if the Board is to seat someone whose Party registration reflects the seat, it will only be someone they view as reasonable, a team player, a consensus builder…much the way they ultimately viewed Ernie Dronenburg (although the Sups had to appoint him after a deadlock).
Having worked very closely for a number of years with the local school board folks on the list, I can say most emphatically that they fit that description to a tee. Leaders who have gained much respect both in their education roles and for their community involvement in general, they would be a real asset to the County Board of Education. The current members of the County Board of Education have every reason to feel very comfortable in selecting someone fitting the demographics of District 3 and who will work with them to serve the educational needs of San Diego County in the years ahead.