11 candidates vie for 4 out of 5 seats on BCSD’s board
The races for this year’s Bakersfield City School District board of trustees are a lot hotter than usual. They have attracted more candidates, more interest and more money (the last cycle attracted exactly $0).
And there are more seats up for grabs, too. Part of that has to do with the cycle the district is in. This would be a slightly busier year anyway with areas 1, 3 and 5 having their regular election.
But this year Area 4 is also open for a short-term position, because trustee Laura Guerrero-Salgado was appointed to take the seat of trustee Michael Horne, who resigned last year. The seat will be up for election again in 2022.
Two incumbents, Lillian Tafoya and Ralph Anthony, are facing challengers in their respective races.
But the biggest race is the open seat left vacant by Fred Haynes stepping down after eight years on the board. Four candidates are left vying for the Area 5 seat.
What this means is that all voters who live in BCSD boundaries, except for Area 2, will be electing a board member this election. The board controls the purse strings for a budget whose August revision clocked in at $338.1 million.
The Californian emailed candidates about their qualifications and why they were running. We also asked them about very unique decisions that they will have to make — or for incumbents, already have made — about how to educate
students in the middle of a pandemic. The state has restrictions on reopening schools under its tier system and guidance for those that do. But many decisions about when and how to reopen are ultimately in the hands of school boards.
BCSD is the largest K-8 district in the state with more than 30,000 students. Its board has approved a slow rollout at its sites that will take place over the coming months.
The Californian asked candidates what they look to for guidance when they need to make tough decisions about bringing staff and students into classrooms.
The candidates below are listed by area trustee seat they’re running for and in alphabetical order.
AREA 1
Michael Bryan Eggert:
Eggert worked for 25 years in BCSD, and he’s been active in employee groups. For 12 years, he was president of the California School Employees Association Chapter 48 board, representing classified staff during negotiations. He was also a member of the CSEA board of directors Area D for four years, where he negotiated for California staff and worked on national policy.
When his children were in school, he participated in their school site councils and parent clubs.
“I am running for my grandchildren; all of the children in our community deserve a quality and equitable education,” he said. “The board is stagnant; we need fresh ideas, to lead us through these ever-changing times.”
Eggert said that safety needs to be the highest priority and resources need to be allocated accordingly, if students and staff are going to return to the classroom. He also wants to ensure that those who want to continue virtual learning have that option. In the meantime, he wants to create a technology hotline at the district level that can assist parents with issues from 6 a.m. to when school closes.
Lillian Tafoya: Tafoya, who began her stint on the board in 1996, is the longest-serving board member. She’s running for reelection with the guiding values set forth in her childhood as one of 11 children: equity and education.
“I have focused on creating conditions that would maximize the potential of all our students, ensuring that they have equal access and that they have opportunities to achieve educational excellence and to fulfill their dream,” she said in a video sent to The Californian. “Children always have been and always will be at the center of my agenda.”
She said that “having experienced and effective board members is critical” in the face of the challenges COVID-19 presents.
“It goes without saying that the economy is important and that in school instruction is most effective,” she wrote in an email. “However, the health and safety of students and employees is my top priority! I consider health and science data as it relates to the viral activity in our community when expressing my opinion on opening schools. I insist that all CDC guidelines and safety protocols are in place and that parents can opt to proceed with distance learning.”
Tafoya is endorsed by the Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association.
AREA 3
Ralph Anthony: Anthony, the current board president, was elected to the board in 2018 and said that he wants to finish the work the board has started. He said the board has hit 25 of the 30 educational indicators it’s reaching toward. He touts the success of the district’s Parent University program and the “high quality professional educational development for all of our BCSD staff and administrators.”
“I have also completed many hours of community activity to help improve educational outcomes for all students, with an emphasis for students of color, students with learning challenges, foster youth, homeless youth, diverse cultures, and English Learners,” he said.
As the current president of the board, he said their team is working to meet metrics set by state agencies, including the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Education.
He said he sees this work as helping to “save lives — the lives of our students, teachers, staff, administrators, and parents — making sure we’re ahead of the COVID-19 trends.”
Chris Cruz-Boone:
Cruz-Boone was born and raised by a single teen mother in Area 3 where she’s running. She said that she feels like she understands the needs of kids like hers who are in BCSD schools. She also said that she ran because it felt like a rare opportunity to challenge the status quo in the district.
“It is time to reimagine what our schools can be and demand them to be their best,” she said. “My priorities if elected would be social justice, the arts, and higher education.”
She said she’s had a lot of struggles in her own household with Zoom fatigue, tears and sleep problems. She teaches her courses online, while her children — elementary through college students — are doing their own virtual learning.
“I cannot remove my lived-experience from every decision the board has to make about our prompt return to school,” she said. “However, it is disingenuous to pretend that if elected my passion for in-person instruction could overrule public health and state-imposed sanctions for reopening.”
Cruz-Boone is endorsed by the Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association.
AREA 4
Laura Guerrero-Salgado:
Guerrero-Salgado was appointed to the board in 2018. She is a mother of six who originally hailed from Orange County. Some of her children are enrolled in the district’s Dual Immersion Program. She was appointed by the board because of her work on the district’s parent committees and events.
She is endorsed by the Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association. However, she did not respond to The Californian’s request for more information about her positions.
Miguel Juarez Sr.: The importance of a clean classroom has become more important than ever, and Juarez believes that his background in the utility and maintenance department gives him the expertise and connections in the community to ensure students who eventually return to classrooms will be cleaned by state-of-the-art products and machines.
“My goal is to sanitize the schools and open them up, because that’s our future,” he said.
Juarez’s vantage point in maintenance has also given him a unique view on the way the district budget is spent. He sees money being wasted on expensive plants that aren’t cared for. It bothers him when he sees new superintendents come in and get their offices remodeled immediately.
“The money they spend on things like that — it’s not right,” he said. “We put those people in there to help us. Just give us our fair share. Those chairs are not theirs forever. It’s time to change the voices.”
Juarez said he’s not afraid to pound the pavement in the schools and community. His top priority is making sure parents have a voice. He sees a lot of families who are sometimes afraid to speak up, and he feels like he can reach out to them as someone who has spent his life there and who speaks Spanish.
“I want them to feel like they have a neighbor,” he said. “I love my district. I want to make a change.”
Ben Valdez Jr.: Valdez is a product of the BCSD schools. In the wake of his mother’s death, he is raising his nephew, who is currently a BCSD student.
His focus is making sure every child receives a quality education and every school is performing at optimum level. He also wants to focus on teacher retention.
“If elected I want to not only retain the great talent we already have, but make our district more attractive to future educators in the state,” he said.
He said that he wants to work with other board members on a safe plan to open schools.
“I believe that opening schools is a top priority,” he said. “However, I do not believe in doing so until it is safe. We cannot sacrifice the health of our community for convenience.”