Tennis wants to continue to as ‘parent advocate’

CHICO >> Chico Unified School District Board Clerk Matt Tennis is running for reelection on the school board in District 4, having begun his term in 2020. Tennis is from Chico, having attended public schools as well as Chico State.

Tennis is a rice farmer and he and his wife run a greeting card manufacturing company. He has four children in the Chico Unified School District. He said his parents were involved in the agricultural community and established civic involvement in him.

“I learned good examples from them,” Tennis said.

Tennis said it was a “gut punch” when the schools shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he felt called to represent the people. He is a member of the Facebook group Chico Parents for In Person Learning and is very proud of it.

“It was a year and a half of disruption,” Tennis said about the shutdown. He said he disagreed with online learning with children sitting at computers for half a day.

“I had trouble sitting still as a student and was a bit of a dreamer,” Tennis said. “There’s no way that would have worked for me and it didn’t work for my kids. Zoom school was a total bust.”

Tennis said his stepping up was triggered by the shutdown.

“People were thankful I was involved,” he said. “I had people recognizing me and shaking my hand. I’m the only legitimate parent advocate. I’m the only not current or former employee of the school district on the school board. It makes me special and unique. There should be a strong parent voice on the board.”

He said the views on the school board and school district have not changed at all.

“They voted 16 times to shut the schools down and keep them closed and bragged about it. It was a terrible learning loss. There are only 42% of kids performing where they should be in math. Shutting down schools was a very bad thing,” he said.

Tennis said COVID-19 never posed a serious threat to children, that it was older people who were in danger.

“It was disastrous and it offends me,” he said.

Tennis was asked about charter schools.

“The board seems very unified in being supportive of charter schools,” he said. “We vote on charters all of the time.”

He said education should be the focus rather than party politics.

“Public education is very insular. I want to do my best for my kids. People appreciate my value and tell me this all the time,” Tennis said.

Tennis said staffing is a key issue and the district has been unable to find staff to fill positions.

“We need part-time and full-time workers. Chico Unified has a place for you if you need a job,” Tennis said.

Tennis said he has been really blown away by the professionalism of teachers and administrators in the district.

“Superintendent Kelly Staley is awesome. We have areas of needs we are serving as well as we can. We need to put an emphasis on security nationwide,” he said.

Tennis said the weakest aspect of the school system is teaching the fundamentals of reading, writing, math and history.

“We are grappling with a lot of societal ills,” he said. “There has been a de-emphasis on individual discipline and responsibility,” he said.

Tennis said his value to the board is essential.

“Without me Chico Unified would be a very different place,” Tennis said. “I’m the voice of parents and Chico Unified is very important. It’s an honor to serve, and I want to keep doing it.”