There is an effort underway by moms in Hollister schools to cause a special election to fill a vacancy on the Hollister School District school board. Last month four trustees appointed an individual to fill the vacancy when a member resigned. Four applicants from the community were interviewed at a meeting of the school board specifically for that purpose. Without any discussion among themselves, three of the trustees threw their support behind one of the applicants and made the appointment.
What makes this situation interesting is one of the other applicants, Bri Taveres, had run for the position before and had remarkable public support in her bid to be appointed at the school board meeting. None of the other applicants had support from the community or previously demonstrated any interest in the seat by running in a prior election.
According to a local news report, the school board deliberated in silence before selecting the applicant that they did.
The purpose of public meetings is for the public to witness decision making in progress by those charged with the custodianship of public assets and maintaining law and order. The public is supposed to hear the deliberations. If elected officials are silent, then any deliberations were in fact hidden from the public.
Regardless, the efforts of the moms involved are courageous. While the test scores of the Hollister School District reflect outstanding results for the students in their elite programs (Accelerated Achievement and Hollister Dual Language Academies), that is not the case with the rest of the students. Test results at Calaveras School reflect only 14 percent of the students met state requirements for English and math skills. Only 10 percent of the students at Gabilan Hills School met state requirements. Only 12 percent of the students met state requirements for math and 16 percent did for English at R.O. Hardin. The moms are fighting for change to improve academic achievement for all students.
Why is this single appointment important? The appointment of even a single member can make the difference between a board agenda being biased toward measuring academic achievement or “feel good” items. Did the school board just add a parent to its roles that is going to focus on student achievement for all the children in all the Hollister schools? The moms and other members of the community that showed up at the school board meeting, submitted letters, and spoke on Bri Tavares’ behalf, wanted that. What they got was an unknown, silence, and attitude of indifference. To a parent in an underperforming school, it can be disheartening.
Worse, there are some parents in the community that are working against these five moms who are making the efforts to make progress in our county’s largest educational system. Seemingly, the naysayers are communicating “Things are fine in Hollister Schools! Another year of mediocre results is OK.” They are actually fighting against people that want to make things better for students.
The Hollister School District has been put through the ringer in the past decade. The economic downturn significantly hurt their funding for many years, changing federal and state-mandated curriculum and regulations consume resources, and now there are a lot of new homes being built that the school district is going to have to accommodate. They are going to have to pass another bond measure to have the school facilities in the condition they want them. The public needs to support their measure, but the school board needs to earn the public’s trust. Allowing the public to pick school board members is a good start.
The students, parents, and Hollister School District need to support those parents who are going out on a limb to advocate for school board members who can build trust in the community and get students what they need to succeed.
These moms are heroes.