Two vie for vacant SFPS board seat
Koch Boses, Triolo face off
Two candidates are facing off in the Nov. 5 election to replace Maureen Cashmon, who is leaving her District 2 seat on the Santa Fe schools board.
John Triolo is a retiree who spent 38 years as an educator, including 12 years as a superintendent in California, and has been active in volunteer work since arriving in Santa Fe in 2015.
Triolo’s opponent is Sarah Koch Boses, a nurse who grew up in Santa Fe, moved to Florida and has returned to the City Different to raise her four children.
Triolo, age 72, serves on the board of directors of the Rotary Club of Santa Fe and is a member of the governing council for The Masters Program, the early college charter high school housed on the campus of Santa Fe Community College. He holds a doctorate from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
In an interview, Triolo said he recently resigned as board president of Santa Fe’s Solace Crisis Treatment Center to make his run for the school seat and will resign from the board of The Masters Program if he wins the election on Nov. 5.
Triolo, whose campaign slogan is “Public Schools Matter,” said he is running for the SFPS board because “it is critical that current and future generations of children, youth and students receive a quality education. I want to help students in the Santa Fe Public Schools to have the same opportunities that public school provided me.”
Koch Boses, who did not respond to numerous email and telephone messages requesting an interview with Journal North, said in a response to a questionnaire from the Santa Fe League of Women Voters that she is running for the board because she feels “inspired.”
In a statement on the
league’s website, she said, “I know that quality public education is at the heart of a strong society. I feel concerned when funding and programs are cut. Teachers struggle with more expectations and the same pay. I’m dedicated to serving our community.”
One of the key issues facing the Santa Fe school board is whether older, smaller schools in areas with declining enrollment, such as District 2, should be closed in order to devote more resources to parts of the city, such as the South Side, where an immigrant population is fueling growth.
To Triolo, who served as superintendent in three different California school districts after working his way up from football coach and teacher, opening and closing schools to accommodate shifting enrollment is a familiar issue, one that requires careful consideration and difficult choices, he said. At a recent candidate forum, he said that closing schools should not be off the table.
Triolo cited hiring and retaining talented teachers and staff as one of the main challenges facing SFPS right now.
“We don’t want to see classrooms without qualified teachers,” he said in a telephone interview. Triolo suggested that the district use incentives such as hiring bonuses, relocation allowances and housing subsidies to attract teachers, especially in science, math and special education.
The high cost and low vacancy rate for housing in Santa Fe makes the City Different undesirable to young educators who may be laden with student loan debt, he noted.
In his statement to the League of Women Voters, Triolo said one change that would lead to major improvement in the school board’s effectiveness would be for “the board to fulfill their primary function: That is to oversee the education of students and be responsible for overall school district operation.”
While Koch Boses hasn’t devoted her career to education the way Triolo has, she has been active in the Parent Teacher Association and is married to an educator, a relationship that gives her a deep understanding for teachers and staff, she said in a statement. She has been endorsed by the NEA-Santa Fe.
On the League of Women Voters’ website, Koch Boses said although it is “difficult to give name to the one change that would lead to major improvement in SFPS effectiveness, I think I would name it equity.”
By serving as a school board member, Koch Boses said she wants to help all children have the same positive experience in school that she knows her kids will have “because of my ability to be personally involved, as well as other factors.”
One way to do that, she believes, is to increase two-way communication between educators and parents.
“I think it’s great that the school board livestreams their meetings,” she said in response to the league’s questionnaire. “What needs to be increased is engagement … . I want parents and teachers to know who I am and know how to get in touch with me.”