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Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Bellevue high school campus the focus of Merced board race

High school district has three seats up for grabs.

Whether to build a new high school in North Merced -- a hot topic on Merced Union High School District school board agendas for months now -- has become a central issue among candidates vying for election.

Bellevue Road area high school is the name of the proposed new school.

Three seats on the board are open. All three incumbents are among the candidates to fill the seats.

In district one, Kyle Ford, a Merced Irrigation District staffer, is going up against Ida Johnson, the current board president.

Dave Honey, a district office administrator for the Winton School District and MUHSD board member since 1997, will run unopposed to represent residents of district two.

Three residents will compete to represent district five. They are Kenneth Mackie, an attorney and former teacher; Tim O'Neill, a board member since 2004 and business owner; and George Starling, a nursing supervisor at Emanuel Medical Center's outpatient office.

The district's teachers association has endorsed all three incumbent candidates.

The contested candidates met with the Sun-Star to answer a few questions.

District one:

Kyle Ford, a 35-year-old resident of Merced, ran for his 9-year-old daughter, who will become a Merced Union High School District student in a "mere five years," Ford said.

Ford worked in the district as a classified employee in more than one department, including information technology, for eight years, he said. "My background in technology would be a very huge asset to the board," he said

His biggest issue? "The new high school. I think that everybody wants the new high school built as soon as possible, but I don't think we need to rush into it and borrow funds to get it done. I think it is better to wait until there is state money available," he said.

Ford cited a recent 3-2 board vote to penalize any contractor on the project that spends less than 50 percent of the project's cost in Merced County. He said the penalties were too lenient, as did Honey and board member Sam Spangler.

Ida Johnson, a 58-year-old Merced resident and current president of the board, said she never doubted running for re-election. "We are in the middle of making a decision as to whether to go forward or not (with Bellevue Road area high school)," she said. "We have the knowledge now, we have the background and training now to make that decision. I would hate to quit in the middle of all these projects."

Johnson also said the new high school construction was the biggest issue the new board will confront. If elected, she would rather lose current low bids for the project than start building without guaranteed state matching funds. "I'm willing to wait rather than risk going in debt. I just don't see spending $15 to $20 million without knowing what is coming from the state," she said.

Johnson said she was proud to have been a member of the board during a time when they voted to provide resources for alternative schools at the East Campus Educational Center and install security cameras at all school campuses. She was first elected to the board in December 2005.

District five:

Kenneth Mackie, 54, said he's running because he thinks the current board has become "too entrenched."

"They need fresh ideas and fresh faces," Mackie said. "Even though I am retiring from teaching, I still want to help students and do what is best for them."

Mackie began teaching at Planada Elementary School district in the fall of 1993. He is on administrative leave so he could take a full-time position as a lawyer, he said, and will officially retire when he turns 55 in a few months.

Mackie said he is qualified to serve on the board because of his 20 years of experience in education and his background in law with an emphasis on employment and education law. "It's a rather unique combination," he said.

In June 2005, Mackie sued Planada Elementary School District when he was reassigned from band director to a classroom teaching position. He dismissed the case himself the following March after several piles of paperwork were exchanged and before a judge ruled.

Mackie said he is an "unwavering supporter" of visual and performing arts, which he would like to promote as a member of the board.

When it comes to the new high school construction, he wants more information, but is against breaking ground without adequate funding: "You have to have the money for not only the building, but everything that goes inside it -- the books, the chairs, the staff."

Tim O'Neill, 53, has shuffled two sons into (and one all the way through) Buhach Colony High School during his five years on the board. He decided to run for re-election because "these are particularly challenging times, so I think board members with experience are important right now."

O'Neill said the main issue for the incoming board will be student achievement. "Our scores are improving, but much more slowly than I'd like to see," he said. "It is a difficult issue, but I'd like to see our kids doing significantly better than they are doing now."

An unwavering voice for moving forward with new construction on the current board, O'Neill would like to move forward with interviews of potential builders of the new high school.

"Presuming that we receive an indication from the state that we will receive our funding, my preference would be to move forward with a scaled-back version of the high school to take advantage of some extremely favorable bids right now and put local people back to work," he said.

George Starling, 48, is a new resident of district five. He has lived in Winton for 48 years and has always been within the high school district's boundaries. As soon as the dust settled at his new place, he pulled papers to run for the board, Starling said.

A graduate of Merced High School and Merced College, Starling was a member of the Winton Water and Sanitary District Board for six years. "I've always been civically minded and I try to stay involved in local politics," he explained.

The most critical issue facing the board is state cuts, the father of six said. Starling said he would also like to explore key issues like overcrowding at the current campuses.

As for Bellevue Road area high school, "I would really want to look at more facts, but I think that if the current campuses are crowded and spread thin, it would be worth it in the long run," he said.

Reporter Danielle E. Gaines can be reached at (209) 385-2407 or dgaines@mercedsun-star.com.