Who's Your Next School Board Member?

Someone will be voting in your place on Thursday, choosing an elected official for a two year term. Who will be the next member of our school board?

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The School Board meets Thursday to choose a replacement Supervisor for mid-term resignee Pollyanna Cooper-Levangie. How far reaching is this appointment, and who are the candidates?

 Let's look into it together, on today's RadioElkGrove.
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For the second time this year, the Elk Grove Unified School District will appoint a replacement to the Board of Supervisors. But the process to date has been a little obscure.

That changed today, with the release by EGUSD of the application materials of four current applicants for Thursday’s appointment proceedings. Today we'll give you a snap-shot of the candidates.

Thursday, The EGUSD board will appoint a replacement for recently resigned member Pollyanna Cooper-Levangie in a special meeting held at the District office on Elk Grove-Florin Road.  (Agenda)

This is the same process that the board used in March of this year to appoint Jacob Rambo to the board, filling the post left open by Supervisor Pamela Irey.

While both appointments save the district over a quarter million dollars each in special election costs, Tomorrow's appointment will have a greater effect on the district. Unlike Rambo, who will only continue on the board if successful in the this November’s election, the position vacated by Cooper-Levangie will be filled by the appointee for the next two years. That's the time left in Cooper-Levangies' term at the time of her resignation.

That makes this appointment much more significant. The appointee will serve the next two years, influencing board policies and the education of our children.

The potential appointees include, alphabetically: Matthew Boyd Hoyt, Jose Reynoso, Bobbie Singh-Allen, and Brad Lee Strong.

Since this appointment is for a position that would otherwise be filled by public election, the application profiles were released today by the District office. Once again alphabetically, here are the candidates.

[Note: All information is drawn directly from candidates submitted statements.]

First, Matthew Boyd Hoyt is an Elk Grove High school Graduate and former Valedictorian. Hoyt was formerly Special Assistant in Public Diplomacy and Affairs with the US Department of State, and spent 7 years with Kaiser Foundation, Health Plan, Oakland as an analyst and Executive Consultant in operations.

Hoyt has recently relocated back to the District, returning, as he says, to his “roots”. Hoyt has 3 children enrolled in the district, and one more entering kindergarten in a couple of years. Hoyt's experience in public affairs, and his knowledge and experience in health care seem great assets for a district in which health care is a major issue in our constant labor relations.

The next candidate, Jose Reynoso has a strong background in pubic service and in the spanish speaking community, having worked in media for 40 years in the area. He is owner of Reynoso and Associates, Spanish Media Consultancy, and worked as an on-air personality for a number of media outlets from Tracy to Sacramento. He was the Spanish language play-by-play voice for the Sacramento River Cats from 2000-2009.

Reynoso has also been involved in public service as a former member of the California State Fair Cutural Advisory Council, member of the board for “BreatheCalifornia” and the Sacramento County Sheriffs Advisory Council.

Reynoso offers his experience in communications and connections to the Latino community as the main contributions he will bring to the School Board. Missing seems to be any background in education, public administration, or any of the issues that face the district on a day-to-day basis.

Connected to education and our school district, the next candidate, Bobbie Singh-Allen is the mother of two students, one attending Elliott Ranch Elementary and one at Elizabeth Pinkerton middles school. Referring to herself as an “Active Community Parent” Singh-Allen has lived in Elk Grove since 1992, and has been a member of Laguna Sunrise Rotary, served on the board of the Elk Grove Food Bank and the Elk Grove Teen Center, where one of her projects was the Homework Help Program, utilizing honors and AP students to help younger students.

Singh-Allen worked for the late Joe Serna, Jr., then mayor of Sacramento, developing a reading program for “at risk” children, and helped launch the “Mayor's Summer Reading Camp” at that time. She currently holds the position of Executive Vice President of the California Lodging Industry Association, and holds a BA in Government from CSU, where she is also is a current Masters of Arts candidate, also in the field of Government. Among other recommendations, Singh-Allen received a letter of reference from Pamela Irey, recently retired EGUSD Board Member.

The final candidate also has ties to the Elk Grove School District. Brad Lee Strong served six years with the Elk Grove District as a member of the School Finance Committee, responsible for review and recommendations on the district's finances.

Strong is a public policy consultant, having served several members of legislature and worked for the Select Committee on Education Technology. Strong states he helped write many pieces of legislation affecting complex school issues. Strong also spent 7 years as director of “Ed-Voice” a non-profit advocacy group focused on improving schools, and 5 years as Senior Director of Education Policy at “Children Now”. A resident since '93, Strong is the father of two EGUSD students: one each at Toby Johnson Middle school and Franklin High.

This can only be a brief glimpse of the candidates, until Thursday night's meeting.

The process on Thursday will be simple enough. Each candidate will have an opportunity to make a presentation, there's a time for public comment where you can weigh in with your views, after which the Board will make a selection. Even though the Board has complete authority to take this action, it seems only right that the public get a chance to get a look at the candidates before hand.

The Special Meeting of the school board will convene Thursday at 6 pm at the Robert Trigg Center.

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RadioElkGrove is written and produced by Denny Gomez.

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Our theme music “Victory” and incidental music were written and produced here in Elk Grove by Local Composer and musician Jason Elmore.

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