Santa Maria school board candidates faced off at voters forum

Although a debate it wasn’t, attendees of a recent Santa Maria school board candidates forum were still treated to some unexpected, you-just-pet-the-cat-the-wrong-way kind of statements.

At about 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 24, audience members and candidates sauntered into the Betteravia Government Center gallery for a mixed question-and-answer forum for both Santa Maria-Bonita School Board and Santa Maria Joint Union High School Board candidates. The League of Women Voters held the forum.

All four of the Santa Maria-Bonita candidates—Bruno Brunello, Ricky Lara, Janeen Miller, and Will Smith—were in attendance. All five of the high school board candidates—David Baskett, Carol Karamitsos, Dominick Palera, Diana Perez, and Gerald Walsh—were also there.

The atmosphere was campaign casual as the candidates ticked off the minutes till the 7 p.m. start. A high-energy Smith snagged the jovial Lara, offering apologies for not being able to catch him on the phone to wish him well as he had the other candidates. Shortly afterward, the forum began.

click to enlarge Santa Maria school board candidates faced off at voters forum
PHOTO BY MICHAEL MCCONE
NOT PACKED: There were lots of empty seats at the Santa Maria school boards candidate forum on Sept. 24.

Each candidate was given four minutes for an opening statement.

For Santa Maria-Bonita, Brunello painted himself as the fatherly figure, ending his statement with, “Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Lara embraced his position as a non-educator; Miller stressed class size; and Smith spoke harshly about the district, asserting, “I’m a team player, but at the same time, when I’m on that team I represent the community.”

For the high school district, Baskett stood out by recounting old-school discipline and lamenting what the loss of that authority has cost this generation; Karamitsos stressed board cooperation rather than individualism; and Palera presented himself as the protector (he did serve in the Marines and spent 30 years in the sheriff’s department).

“I worked in the fields. I know it can be done. Education is the key,” Perez said, with an emphasis on what education can do for children and where it can take them. Walsh presented a kind of sentimentality for the way the high school board currently operates.

“We have a good working board, and I’d like to keep it that way,” he said.

After the opening statements, questions were gathered from the audience on 3-by-5-inch cards, and each candidate was given one minute to answer the question. Addressing class size, Smith distanced himself from the pack by advocating for a track system—a year-long school calendar with groups of students and teachers on a rotating schedule—which he said would allow the district’s existing facilities to accommodate more students without the need for bond money.

Everything from fences to more staff was suggested in response to a question about school security, but high school district candidate Baskett stepped onto a tightrope and suggested schools could benefit from trained, armed faculty members. Responses to Baskett’s suggestion came mostly from other high school district candidates.

Both Karamitsos and Walsh said they didn’t want armed individuals on school campuses.

“We’re doing an adequate job,” he said. “I want to keep the status quo.”

In a follow-up interview with the Sun, Walsh explained his position.

“Ten years ago we had one security officer per campus. Now, we have three per campus. That’s what I think is adequate,” he said.

Walsh said that the district is in a good position—emphasizing that with the beefed-up security, things haven’t gotten worse over the last 10 years.

Baskett isn’t so sure.

“Unless you are proactive you will have a tragedy. If you are proactive you may still have a tragedy, but there will be fewer,” he told the Sun.

He also wants people to know that armed faculty is not a first, second, or even third line of defense. Rather, it’s a “last ditch defense to save lives.”

“No matter what you do—security, safeguards—when a person is willing to die after killing others … when they know there is a gun-free zone and everybody is obeying the rules, he is in charge. Then the only way to stop that is with lethal force,” he said. “To deny that equal protection, I think, can be very sad when an event happens.”

As of press time, Karamitsos was unavailable for additional comment.

The inflammatory topic of school security didn’t ignite at the forum, as the format didn’t allow for open debate. For the remainder of the evening, candidates had a tendency to agree on topics ranging from, “How do you make sure the needs of classified staff are met,” and, “What do you do to make sure all stakeholders are heard and valued?”

For the most part, the closing statements were two-minute reflections of the candidates’ opening remarks for Palera, who dug a bit at Walsh’s previous statements.

“An adequate job will never be enough,” he said.

 

Contact Staff Writer Michael McCone 
at [email protected].

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