Slate of candidates pull out of LWV forum
by Mark McDermott
The slate of school board candidates that calls itself “the Trifecta” pulled out of last week’s League of Women Voters forum in protest over candidate Johnny Uriostegui’s opening statement being disallowed.
The slate, which also includes Cristy Barnes and Mike Welsh, decided not to participate on the day of the event, September 21, after Uriostegui exchanged a series of emails with LWV director Jeanne Hamilton. What began as a scheduling conflict — Uriostegui was not available the day of event — turned into a heated exchange over the opening statement he had submitted. His statement was going to be read by a proxy at Wednesday night’s forum, which Easy Reader also sponsored. Hamilton rejected the statement. She explained why, to the audience, at the beginning of the forum.
“Candidate statements should focus on personal qualifications and positions,” she said. “Personal attacks, innuendo, or disparaging remarks regarding other candidates will not be accepted. The league format has always provided a forum for the candidates to talk about themselves and their ideas and proposals. The League is supporting positive information. In this highly charged political time, the League believes it even more important that candidates do not make personal attacks or disparaging remarks. Our hope is that the candidates will be forthcoming about their candidacies. It’s unfortunate that the three have decided not to participate and give this audience their ideas.”
Uriostegui’s opening statement was widely disseminated on social media. In it, he focused on the issues that caused him to run and touched only briefly on his own biographical information.
“Our school district is at a critical turning point,” he wrote. “We have the opportunity to change the trajectory of our district for the better with this election. Parents and residents have realized serious concerns need to be addressed for the sake of our children’s future.”
He listed five areas of concern. The first was his belief that the current school board was unresponsive to the community. “A large number of parents feel their documented concerns have not been acknowledged or addressed by the current School Board,” he said.
His second concern was enrollment decline. He wrote that 10 years ago, 92 percent of school-aged children in town attended MBUSD, a number he said has shrunk to less than 74 percent.
“The School Board’s decisions are a direct factor causing this dramatic reduction in enrollment,” he wrote.
Uriostegui said that enrollment had declined by 1,000 students since 2015, creating a $12 million funding gap, and accused the district of increasing non-teacher hires over the same time period. Finally, he argued that the school board wasn’t doing enough to combat anti-Semetic graffiti that has been appearing on MBUSD campuses.
“The significant uptick of hate crimes over the last two years on our campuses is troubling, and has not been adequately addressed leaving our children vulnerable,” he wrote.
Enrollment numbers have been at the center of the slate’s critiques. It is true that MBUSD has faced declining enrollment, but it is also true that most districts locally, and in the state have faced declines, losing students to private schools. LAUSD has seen a 19 percent enrollment decrease, for example, while Orange County schools lost 10 percent during the pandemic, despite opening its schools earlier than LA County. MBUSD enrollment was in decline before the pandemic, but that decline hastened during the pandemic. Statewide, enrollment declined from 5.9 million in 2015 to 5.7 million at the end of the last school year. According to the district, MBUSD declined from 6,890 at the end of 2015 to 5,800 last June. Superintendent John Bowes announced two weeks ago that the new school year thus far has seen an uptick, to 5,912.
At issue, under League of Women Voters rules, was Uriostegui’s statement implicitly criticized two of the opposing candidates, school board member Jen Fenton, and Measure A leader Wysh Weinstein.
“The candidates here who created and endorsed the ill-conceived Measure A Parcel Tax ruined the opportunity to build essential trust with parents and residents to make our school district financially and academically strong for decades to come,” he wrote.
In an interview, Uriostegui said he was perplexed at how his statement could be perceived as personally disparaging. He argued that criticism is inherent to any challenger taking on incumbent elected officials.
“She said I couldn’t criticize the board, or any of their policies or actions, because one of the board members was running,” he said. “And I just said, ‘Look, if I was happy with the board’s actions, I wouldn’t be running.’ She said the same thing to Mike and Cristy, and they said the same thing — we wouldn’t be running if we thought everything was great.”
Uriostegui said that Hamilton offered to rewrite his statement for him to make it acceptable for the forum.
“I said, ‘I appreciate the offer but I am fine with what I sent to you,’” he said. “’If you are not comfortable with it, I get it.’ She elected not to read my statement. That’s on her.”