Jerri Thiel is competing for reelection to the Lompoc Unified School District (LUSD) board of trustees for District 1. In her current term she has a credible voting record and has proven to be an able representative for her constituents and everyone else in the entire school district.
Back in 2017, I wrote this Noozhawk commentary concerning the Lompoc Unified School District, “Lompoc Schools Are Failing Students,” (March 28):
“The Lompoc Unified School District has failed to provide an adequate education for its students as demonstrated by the state’s objective measurement system. The most discouraging metric was that students weren’t making progress toward English language proficiency from one year to the next as measured by the California English Language Development Test results.
“Country singer John Conlee performed a hit called ‘Stuff That Works’ several years ago, his premise was that we shouldn’t change anything that’s working well. Back when I went to school the focus was on reading, writing (penmanship and composition) and arithmetic.
“Today the focus must be on something else because too many kids are graduating high school who lack these basic skills.”
Let’s fast forward seven years to 2024. Have things improved? LUSD currently has 8,955 students attending class on 16 campuses. The district superintendent recently distributed a community report describing what LUSD is doing to help our kids succeed in life.
The latest Local Agency Accountability Report Card available for the LUSD was posted on the California Department of Education website for 2022; it was a dismal evaluation. For example, only 35 percent of the 4,434 students tested met or exceeded state English language arts/literature standards and only 21 percent met the mathematics standard.
According to her campaign website, Thiel’s priorities are to prepare students to be college and/or career ready, on grade level in English language arts and math and emphasize a focus on reading, writing, math, history, civics, and science. Considering the low achievement levels of students in LUSD, this might just help them.
Recently she was the lone “no” vote on a motion to place the Measure M school bond on the ballot. I asked her why. She said that the district paid a consulting group to poll potential voters, and the staff used the results to come up with the proposed language for the bond measure.
But Thiel did some polling of her own by using her feet and reaching out to her constituents to see what they thought. She said that there many people on fixed incomes who own homes and felt that the additional burden of paying for the bond would have an impact on their in-home budget. Secondly, those who rent homes will undoubtedly see a rent increase to cover the cost the owner of the property will pay.
Besides, the bond will only cover less than one-third of the cost of improvements, and the LUSD has established no priorities—it just has a generic statement to explain what voters are being asked to approve.
A vote for Jerri Thiel is for someone who will represent your interests and the future of students in the entire school district.
Ron Fink writes to the Sun from Lompoc. Send a letter for publication to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 10, 2024.