Since I always like to call these things before they happen, La Mesa-Spring Valley School trustees tonight will appoint Emma Turner to the vacant seat on the board.
The vacancy was created by Sharon Jones’ appointment to the SD County Board of Education, which I covered here pretty extensively. You may remember that two of the Republicans on the County Board, Susan Hartley and John Witt, sided with Nick Aguilar to appoint Democrat Jones to a clear GOP seat, which had been Republican Ernie Dronenburg’s. This was despite the fact that highly qualified folks like Arkan Somo and Rick Winet had also applied. Such is the nature of politics, like it or not.
However, this leaves Republicans Bill Baber, Bob Duff, Penny Halgren, and Winet himself on the La Mesa-Spring Valley Board, with a vacancy to fill. Four GOPers applied for the seat, and one subsequently withdrew.
How do I know that Emma Turner, a retired naval officer, member of the Spring Valley Community Planning Group, and member of the district’s Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee, will be appointed? After all, unlike the appointment of Sharon Jones to the County Board, which was also called on these pages, the La Mesa-Spring Valley process has been an open and even-handed one … no collusion in advance of the vote, such as was evidenced with the County Board of Ed. Hats off to the trustees in LMSV for living by fair and transparent principles in this process.
Turner will be appointed because she is highly qualified and meets the experience, involvement and commitment expectations of the current board members, plain and simple. I wish her the best!