When to Stay Out of Votes Addressed by Banning School Board Candidates

At a pre-election forum this week, candidates for the Banning Unified School District board of trustees were asked to discuss reasons they would remove themselves from deliberations or votes if elected.

The seven hopefuls, Alfredo Andrade, Alex Cassadas, Ray Curtis, Deborah Dukes, Larry Ellis, Maxine Israel, and David Vanden Heuvel, are running for three seats on the district board in the Nov. 8 election.

The forum Sunday afternoon at First Missionary Baptist Church was moderated by Banning teacher Troy Sheldon.

Sheldon asked the candidates a total of seven questions or prompts. For reports on the first four prompts and candidates' responses, click , , , and .

The fifth prompt Sunday was "If elected to serve as a trustee, would there be any reason or reasons why you would not join in discussions, deliberations, and/or vote on matters that come before the board?"

Curtis, a retired administrator, was selected to respond first:

"Is there any reason why I would not as a board member? Well, if there were a conflict of interest, I'd have to excuse myself. If I had any personal interest in it, I'd have to step aside.

"Other than that, no. I think we have to remain in a constructive dialogue to find out what the results of the discussion will be. One of the things that I've found that works in a closed session with the superintendent . . .

"And what we did with the superintendent we basically said 'Ok that's nice, don't give us one idea, don't give us two ideas. Give us three ideas.

" 'And also . . . give us a plan to incorporate those items.' As a board we would say, 'Number one, number two, no. Number three is a maybe, give us two more.'

"So basically in the discussion . . . I don't anticipate stepping aside. I will not be a rubber stamp for the superintendent. I will speak my voice. I may be the one on a four-one vote. I will be representing the classified, certificated, and students of this district every day that I'm elected."

Dukes, an incumbent Banning Unified School District board member and its current president, responded:

"No I do not see anything that would come before the board, that I would take myself out of voting for. Right now I don't see anything. . . .

"As far as discussion, we do have cabinet suggestions, and we ask for options. There's a lot of things that you don't see happening at the school board, and it's because we said, 'No, we don't want that.'

"So there's a lot that you don't see. There's a lot of discussion. And there's a lot that we say 'No' to. It's not a rubber stamp for anybody.

"And as far as voting, I'm not a retired teacher, I don't get any benefits from the schools, so I can vote in all matters including negotiations. I have no one that is a officer on the negotiations committee, so I can be fair and negotiate. . . .

"I do listen to both sides. And as far as respect, I do think that respect is earned by both parties. You can't be calling board members idiots and saying, calling the superintendent and the cabinet Napoleon and Snowball . . . that's not respect.

"And then when you ask for accountability, that's all you're doing is asking for him to do their job. I don't think anybody should be ridiculed, because that's what . . . we're expecting, a hundred percent from everybody.

"And the citizens of Banning will be the person that re-elects me again, and that's who I am - the children and citizens of Banning."

Cassadas, a child care worker, responded:

"The only time I would have a discussion on, or if there's a conflict of interest . . . because as a board member you're supposed to be objective. You're supposed to try to keep out of things . . .

"With that, I also can have a lot of affect with what goes on with the school board, because I don't have to abstain myself in any voting decisions.

"With that, I love debate, I love conversation, I love getting everybody's opinion. So the more opinions and the more facts you get, the better outcome you'll get in the end.

"I think this community is an excellent community to raise your children . . . so if you incorporate that into the discussion, you can have a better outcome. It's ok to vote you know against other board members in a school board meeting.

"I really don't agree with having cabinet voting concensus. I would rather . . . have a discussion at a school board meeting. That doesn't happen currently.

"I would like to see, you know if a certain bill is going to be passed . . . we need to discuss that. Have the committees come up here, ask the questions, even after questioning time is done.

"That's what I want to bring to the table. The more we include the community, the better we have understanding of what's really going on within our school district and what's really the true negative and positive affect on our students."

Vanden Heuvel, a retired teacher, responded:

"Life outside Banning. I have 500 Facebook friends who are former students, living all over. Kentucky, Philadelphia, China, Texas, Florida, and they told me there's life outside Banning, so Mr. Curtis is in fact correct. There is life outside Banning.

"I'm not representing the classified workers, the certificated workers, and the students. I am representing the students. I'm not representing the community. I'm representing the students. Ok?

"I'm going to make sure the employees are treated fairly and are fairly compensated. Both the classified and certificated. I'm not against them. I'm totally for them.

"But I'm for the students first and foremost and only. And if the community doesn't like it, what's best for the students, I'm going to do what's best for the students. I respect community, I respect union, I respect just about everybody.

"But I'm going to act on behalf of the students. Period."

Ellis, a retired science teacher, responded:

"Um, yeah. Conflict of interest. I'm going to have some conflicts of interest. I'm a retired teacher, so there's going to be a conflict there. Possibly, if something comes up, a few times.

"There's going to be, my wife is a teacher at the high school. So there's going to be a conflict there. I still do Envirothon and I still do the solar boat competition, so if those come into play I can see there'd be a conflict of interest there, and I'd have to excuse myself. That's the way it is, if I'm elected.

"I strongly believe in open discussions at the school board meetings. People need to know what you think as a school board member, and we're not going to agree. Hell, I'm married. I know that two people can't agree . . . you know?

"So I can see that you know there is going to be conflict, and I think that's a good thing. We need to have ideas. We need to throw ideas out.

"Now, I also know that some things need to be discussed in private, ok? When it deals with personnel and other things, I mean that's just a given.

"I think I can be above board and when these conflicts occur I would excuse myself and it'd be up to the other board members. Thank you."

Andrade, a "para educator" or paraprofessional school employee, responded:

"As far as conflicts of interest, would be the only reason I would not participate in a discussion . . . I don't see anything where I would have to excuse myself.

"I work for a different district, so. But I do want to bring some of the creative ideas that we come up with at my district to this district. That would be incorporating more of the community aspect as well.

"I wouldn't be afraid as a board member to say my opinion. Because there's going to be positives, you're going to give negative comments, you're going to give positive comments. So you cannot be afraid, if somebody's going to call you a name, then you shouldn't take it personally. Because you're a public figure.

"So I would make sure that my opinion was out there, that the other board members know what I thought, and how I stand. That way it would be above board and there wouldn't be any conflict."

Israel, a parent, responded:

"The only way I would keep my mouth shut is if there's a conflict. Because I have my own kids who are students. That's the only way I would have a conflict.

"That's it. Like if it's my kid's teacher sitting right here. If it was something that's a problem with her, I couldn't sit in on that. That would be a conflict of interest.

"But there's going to be a lot of different times I stand my ground."

The California School Employees Association, the classified school employees union that represents more than 210,000 school support staff in California, has endorsed Andrade, Cassadas and Curtis.

The Banning Teachers Association, the union that represents more than 200 teachers in the Banning Unified School District, has endorsed Cassadas, Curtis, and Ellis.

Banning Unified School District serves about 5,000 students in a 300-square-mile area, from kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the district's web site.

The district includes four elementary schools, two middle schools, one comprehensive high school, and one continuation high school.

Banning Unified is one of the largest employers in the San Gorgonio Pass, with about 450 employees.

The revised district budget as of Sept. 2, 2011, was between $35 million and $37 million, which included total projected revenues of $35,005,383, total projected expenditures of $36,717,196, and a deficit of $1,711,813, according to board meeting minutes.

Stay with Banning-Beaumont Patch this week for more from the candidates' forum Sunday at .

The next scheduled forum starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at , 1335 W. Ramsey St., Banning.

The to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election is 5 p.m. Monday Oct. 24.