Napa Valley Unified School District Continuation School
With worries about recent closures of local schools and the continuing enrollment declines in the Napa Valley Unified School District, voters will be selecting three board members, out of seven total, for the district's board of education in the Nov. 8 election.
Two candidates are vying for NVUSD trustee Area 1, which includes a northern portion the city of Napa and Yountville, as well as unincorporated areas of Napa County. Three are running to take the Area 6 seat, which covers much of the Browns Valley neighborhood on Napa's west side and runs slightly across Highway 29. And two are seeking the seat for Area 7 covering a wide swath of west Napa.
Area 3 is also technically in play this fall, but incumbent Cindy Watter is unopposed and will retain that seat by default.
Other local education races outside of NVUSD are, for the most part, not competitive. Five Napa County Office of Education board seats are up for election, but only one is being contested. And no Napa Valley College board seats are contested this year — of four that are open — though the NVC board will receive two new members who are running unopposed.
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NVUSD Area 1
Robin Jankiewicz, currently president of the NVUSD board, is running to retain her Area 1 seat against challenger Jim Silver, a parent of three children in district schools and managing director at Ren Acquisition Inc., part of the New Frontier Wine Company.
Jankiewicz — a former investment banker, former district parent and longtime Napa resident — was originally selected by a past school board to her current seat in 2018, and she ran unopposed for a full term later in the year.
She said her first priority in leading the board, and in running for re-election, is to make sure the district remains financially stable, which she said gives it room to pursue important educational goals from a holistic standpoint. Fiscal stability is largely what the board has tried to achieve during her tenure, she said, which has coincided with a period of rapidly declining enrollment and, therefore, enrollment-based funding from the state.
"Parents advocate on behalf of their children; my job is to advocate on behalf of 16,000 children," Jankiewicz said. "During my tenure on the board we have exercised financial stewardship, increased cash reserves and created a much more stable financial outlook."
Jankiewicz added that many important issues within education — achievement gaps, language barriers, serving all types of learners — exist within the context of how well individual districts can support their educators, which also goes back to fiscal stability.
Robin Jankiewicz
"If we don't control and we don't exercise financial ownership and oversight, we're not able to provide what our job is about," Jankiewicz said. "Our job to provide the best quality education we can. It is our responsibility to execute financial oversight in order to deliver what we are supposed to deliver."
In regard to the Mayacamas Charter Middle School — which Jankiewicz, along with the rest of the board, voted to deny last year, a decision recently overturned by the California Board of Education — Jankiewicz said she isn't opposed to charter schools, but she didn't believe Mayacamas would complement what the district already offers.
Given that and the financial impact the school would have on the district, Jankiewicz said, it wasn't in the best interest of the board to support the school.
"It's the choice of the few at the expense of many," Jankiewicz said. "Everyone understands the desire for choice, but we have to be prudent enough to understand the impact of that choice. It is the the role of the trustee to understand the impact in its totality, the impact on 16,000 students."
Silver, a political newcomer and five-year Napa resident, said he was inspired to run for the position on Dec. 9, 2021, the night the NVUSD board voted to deny the Mayacamas charter.
"It doesn't matter what you think about the charter school; the way the petitioners were treated by the board was a travesty. It was unbecoming of the office these people held," Silver said. "And so it was that night I decided to run."
Jim Silver
Silver said he was generally satisfied with how the district handled the COVID-19 pandemic, but he feels the district's educational offerings have fallen steeply in quality over the past five years, and he wants to reverse that decline. Parents in the district have had a difficult time with school closures and displaced students, Silver said, and he expects enrollment will continue to drop unless the district does more to improve NVUSD's reputation.
Silver also said he believes the district should prioritize providing a "perfect education" over a "perfect budget."
"I don't believe in fiscal responsibility at all cost," Silver said. "I believe in fiscal responsibility that results in a perfect education for children."
He added that the board should be trying to sell the district to families who may or may not want to come to Napa, who could potentially grow the local tax base and increase enrollment. He also thinks Napa should have a greater quantity of small schools with low student population instead of larger schools.
"Napa Valley is the kind of community that should have small schools dotted around all over the place," Silver said. "We should not be moving 20,000 cars a day up and down (Highway) 29 trying to drop off kids to mega-schools."
Silver also expressed unease with members of the district administration living outside of Napa and board members not having kids in NVUSD schools.
"It's surprising to me that there isn't more of a touch point between the board and the population, the parents and the teachers," Silver said. "They seem to be floating by themselves alone and away from the population. I'm out here and I can tell you the parents are really, really angry."
NVUSD Area 6
Elba Gonzalez-Mares is running to retain her Area 6 seat against Tyrone Navarro and district parent Summer Gilgallon.
Navarro didn't respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday afternoon. He said in an email Thursday that he isn't running an active campaign at this point, that he threw his hat in the ring because he thought Gonzalez-Mares wasn't running for reelection.
"While I think I could serve well as a Trustee of the NVUSD, I am not running an active campaign because I feel the current incumbent is doing a good job at representing the district," Navarro said in an email.
Gonzalez-Mares, a longtime Napa resident and alumna of Napa district schools — as well as the executive director of the Community Health Initiative Napa County — has served on the NVUSD board since 2016, except for a roughly six-month period when she moved to a new area of Napa. Like Jankiewicz, she stressed the importance that fiscal responsibility has played during her time on the board. She said she thinks the board has done a great job communicating about the impact of declining enrollment with the Napa community.
Elba Gonzalez-Mares
"As a board member, that was really critical because we can't really talk about programs or curriculum or staff and looking at their salaries and trying to be competitive if you don't have that stability in your finances," Gonzalez-Mares said. "We're no longer at that critical stage; we can reorient our time and expertise and skills to talk more about programs and curriculum."
Gilgallon said she's lived in Napa for six years, and she decided to run for the board because she feels there's a need for greater transparency at the board level. She said she's seen a lot of confusion and mistrust in the community toward district schools, and it's felt like "no one really understood why we can't seem to fix some of these major problems that we're having."
"It feels like there's a very kind of defensive culture being created on this school board," Gilgallon said.
Summer Gilgallon
"And instead of approaching the community from the standpoint of 'We want to hear from you,' some of these people on the school board don't even have kids in the district. That's frustrating. And we feel like as a community no one is asking us what are our main concerns."
Gilgallon said she wanted to bring some positivity to the board and think of ways to solve the district's financial problems. She suggested a special local sales tax for funding schools might be possible, and she wants to see the board advocate at the state and federal level for other plans to get a greater amount of financial resources.
"Where's the positivity and creativity, what are we doing for the future?" Gilgallon said. "…We just need some new energy."
NVUSD Area 7
Area 7 is the only trustee zone up for election with no incumbent in the race, as former trustee Jason Dooley vacated the position in May.
Patrick Mathis, a district parent who works at a winery, is running against Julianna Hart, a NVUSD alumna and senior studio manager for Sephora, for the seat.
Mathis said his interest in running was piqued after having children attend the district. He said he's been actively trying to learn how things work — and would continue doing so while on the board — and he believes his focus on the board would be financial stewardship.
Patrick Mathis
Mathis added that he knows "right-sizing" the district by closing schools isn't popular, but he noted that enrollment continues to drop and further school closures will likely be necessary. It's important that the district get a strong hold on its finances, he said, so that necessary improvements to schools and programs can be made.
"There is going to be more school closures," Mathis said. "It's something there's going to be some concern about. But I don't want to have a financially bankrupt and, ultimately academically bankrupt, district."
Julianna Hart.
Hart said that, owing to her past attending the district and having her children attend the district, it's been upsetting to see programs be cut and schools close. She suggested that it's necessary to have options in schools to find themselves, including career technical education options such as welding classes.
"I fully understand the importance of providing a quality education to our children, which can be daunting during this time of significant financial difficulties facing the district," Hart said in a press release. "We need trustees who can find creative solutions, who are willing to challenge the status quo, and who will focus on providing a better education while providing fiscal responsibility to the community."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that Jim Silver is a five-year Napa resident.
As part of its science curriculum, and to encourage healthy eating habits, students at Redwood Middle School are re-planting the school garden. Such efforts can impact childhood obesity, experts report.
Photos: Napa students dig into the Redwood Middle School garden
Napa kids plant garden
These Redwood Middle School students aren't afraid to get their hands dirty in the school garden. It's part of their science curriculum.
Napa kids plant garden
Redwood Middle School students from Napa shovel compost for the school's garden. The seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Redwood Middle School seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Redwood Middle School seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Instructions for students working in the garden at Napa's Redwood Middle School.
Redwood Middle School students from Napa shovel compost for the school's garden. The seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Redwood Middle School students from Napa shovel compost for the school's garden. The seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Connor Walters, seventh grader at Redwood Middle School in Napa, shows the little sprout he's growing as part of the school's science and garden program.
Redwood Middle School students from Napa shovel compost for the school's garden. The seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Redwood Middle School students build a new raised bed for the school garden.
Napa kids plant garden
Students pull out old vegetables in the Redwood Middle School garden.
Redwood Middle School students from Napa shovel compost for the school's garden. The seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Redwood Middle School students from Napa shovel compost for the school's garden. The seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and making healthy eating choices.
Napa kids plant garden
Redwood Middle School students from Napa shovel compost for the school's garden. The seventh and eighth graders are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and about making healthy eating choices.
You can reach Edward Booth at 707-256-2213.
Source: https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/napa-valley-unified-school-district-sees-competitive-school-board-races/article_a4be6584-4a88-11ed-8aab-b33b8338fcd8.html
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