Ghosts of past haunt district
Three candidates vie for two board seats as turmoil again roils Alum Rock board
SAN JOSE — Things had been looking up in Alum Rock Union Elementary School District for several years: Test scores climbed, unions amicably settled contracts and parents won more translators.
But in recent months, ghosts from the district’s dysfunctional past have returned to Alum Rock, which serves 12,000 elementary and middle school students in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Teachers picketed over contracts talks, parents complained about crumbling facilities and school board meetings erupted into verbal brawls.
On the Nov. 8 ballot, incumbents Dolores Marquez and Karen Martinez and challenger Bruce Huynh are running in an at-large race for two seats. The three candidates present voters with clear options.
At recent meetings, board members have argued over facilities, contracts, ethics, rules and protocol. They’ve called each other names, questioned motives and made snide comments.
“They should be acting with respect to each other and respect for the community they serve. That really was not coming across,” said San Jose resident Nicholas Adams, who has watched meetings televised on CreaTV cable.
Academically, Alum Rock students continue to struggle. On last spring’s statewide tests, just 37 percent tested proficient in English and 28 percent proficient in math. However, the English test scores mirror statewide results for Latinos — who make up 79 percent of Alum Rock. The district’s math scores are four points higher than statewide Latino math scores.
Martinez, 43, who works for a charter school and has championed parent choice, is seeking a second term.
Martinez’s daughter was
one of the plaintiffs in the failed Vergara lawsuit challenging the state’s tenure and other teacher-protection measures. The case, turned down by the California Supreme Court in August, originally named Alum Rock as one of the defendants.
Her involvement in the lawsuit, which alleged that her daughter got a substandard education while in Alum Rock schools, angered district officials and teachers, who have publicly disparaged Martinez. Her daughter, the youngest of Martinez’s seven children, now attends a charter high school.
Martinez said trustees’ infighting makes it difficult for Superintendent Hilaria Bauer to get clear direction. Martinez insists that despite her political differences with her board colleagues, “I’ve worked to have everybody get along and get over their agenda.
“I don’t need to like people on the board, but I have to get along with them,” she said.
She said she has advocated for getting the additional translators, fields for soccer games and the district’s “parent univer- sity,” which offers programs on parenting, education and college preparation.
She said she’s the only trustee to have visited almost annually all of the district’s 25 schools plus nine charter schools.
Martinez is supported by former Santa Clara County Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, and Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco, among others.
Challenger Huynh, 26, a substitute high school teacher, is running to improve education and student safety.
“Our schools have a long way to go,” said Huynh, who at age 12 immigrated with his family from Vietnam to San Jose. In walking precincts, he said he’s found residents turned off by the district’s political culture. As a result, “people don’t want to be engaged, they don’t think their voice means anything.”
He said he would fight for quality education and will listen to people rather than talking over them.
He also would like to provide mental health resources, address bullying and redirect discipline practices to focus on restorative justice rather than on punishment that he said is counterproductive.
“Our communities and students deserve a board who will bring back trust and hope,” he said.
Huynh is supported by the Alum Rock Educators Association, the Santa Clara County Democratic Party and state Sen. Jim Beall, DSan Jose, among others.
Board President Dolores Marquez, 65, who worked 30 years for the district, including as a child welfare and attendance liaison, is seeking her third term. She did not respond to questions about her candidacy.
On her ballot statement, she touts Alum Rock achieving its “most ambitious facilities upgrade campaign in its history” and says, “We have become a model for turning around a struggling school district.” She is critical of charter schools.
Marquez was forced out of her Alum Rock job in 2007 after the district alleged she improperly used her work time and district resources to campaign for her husband, Joe Frausto, then an Alum Rock trustee. She won a $17,700 settlement and agreed to stay away from district property and district employees during their work hours.
After she was elected to the board in 2008, police escorted her out of her first board meeting. The district subsequently set aside the agreement barring her from district property.