Orange County Board of Education District 5 Election

Board of Trustees candidate Kimberly Clark seeks to serve on the Orange County Board of Education Trustee for District 5. With her student-centered focus, Clark pledges a new voice for real change for the Orange County Board of Education. As the election for the Trustee seat for District 5 draws near, Ms. Clark reminds voters she will be an active trustee, not beholden to any political party, will represent the public interest, and will always put students first.

School boards are non-partisan, and Kimberly Clark believes that as a non-partisan candidate, she will best serve the people of Orange County as the next trustee of the Orange County Board of Education for District 5. Shunned by both the local Democratic and Republican parties, Ms. Clark will truly make decisions which are best for all students in Orange County.

The Democratic Party, with Mary Navarro as its candidate, is solely interested in eliminating charter schools in the county and protecting local control of neighborhood schools for teachers. As the “teacher’s choice”, Ms. Navarro will work to preserve teacher jobs, even those teachers that are detrimental to students and those schools that are failing to serve their students. Protecting parental choice to choose which school is right for their children is not the Democratic Party’s focus. As a hopeful female candidate of color for office in 2016, Ms. Clark was ostracized from a prominent woman’s group led by powerful democratic women in Orange County that seeks to groom female candidates for public office. Once she made known that charter schools were essential to parental school choice, and that she was an advocate for charter schools, she was no longer welcome and received no support from the Democratic Party of Orange County.

Turned aside by the Democratic Party, Ms. Clark sought support from the Republican Party of Orange County in 2016 only to realize that that party officials had no interest in becoming a more inclusive party, one that would be interested in supporting a woman of color. Seeking the opportunity to gain an endorsement by the Orange County Republican Party, Ms. Clark contacted the Republican Party Office regarding the endorsement process. She was forwarded the questionnaire for non-partisan candidates and was instructed to secure signatures from three members of the Orange County Republican Party Central Committee so that her application could be submitted. After a month of trying to collect signatures, Ms. Clark was devastated and disappointed that thirty-two members of the Republican Central Committee, did not respond to her inquiry, and that several members wrote back indicating that they would not endorse her or sign her application. After much thought and deliberation, she realized that a majority of OC Republican Party members are not interested in supporting her or new candidates who may not reflect the typical Republican candidate. Candidates who are not well connected socially or financially with the Republican power structure in Orange County are not welcome. As a Republican Party insider with powerful connections, OC Board of Education candidate Lisa Sparks had little resistance in earning the Republican Party endorsement this election year.

As the election on June 5th looms near, Kimberly Clark is hopeful that party leadership members change their outlook, and are open to candidates who are passionate and belief that they can make a difference. “I invite you to view my campaign website www.votekimberlyclark.com, which illustrates who I am and highlights my vision for the Orange County Board of Trustees.”