Dominic Falasco
Dominic Falasco was the Trustee Area 4 representative on the Los Banos Unified Board of Education in California. He served on the board from 2012 to 2016. Falasco lost a re-election bid in the general election on November 8, 2016.[1]
Falasco was arrested for drug possession in April 2016 and charged with two misdemeanors. He said he would fight the charges against him. He was not the only board member to be arrested in 2016. Two weeks after the candidate filing period closed for this election, incumbent Tommy Jones was arrested on bribery charges. Though residents of Trustee Area 2 and the president of the Los Banos Teachers Association called for his resignation, Jones maintained his innocence and refused to step down.
After a special meeting was called to censure Jones in September 2016, the school board race was split into two camps: those supported by the teachers union and those supported by the Community Advocacy Coalition (CAC), a local advocacy group. Members of the CAC said the audience at the special meeting, which included some teachers, had expressed "hatred and racism" after not enough members attended to provide a quorum. The teachers union president said the anger expressed at the meeting had not had racial undertones and had only been directed at the board members' absence. In reaction to the accusations of racism, CAC-backed candidates Jones, Gary Munoz, and Carole Duffy refused to attend a candidate forum in October 2016. Two candidates backed by the teachers union—Megan Goin-Soares and Margaret Benton—won election to the board. CAC-supported Munoz won election to the Trustee Area 4 seat.[2]
Outside of the arrests of two board members, a civil lawsuit was filed against the district, seeking to change the district's training and monitoring of teachers after a student was allegedly molested by two teachers. The district was also admonished in July 2016 when a civil grand jury found it had not followed protocol when it built the new Creekside Junior High School.
Biography
Falasco was born and raised in Los Banos. He works as an attorney and has had his own practice, Law Offices of Dominic Falasco, since 2007. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from California State University at Fresno and a J.D. from the Golden Gate University School of Law. He and his wife have four daughters.[3]
Elections
2016
Three of the seven seats on the Los Banos Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. In his bid for re-election to the Trustee Area 2 seat, incumbent and former mayor Tommy Jones, who was arrested on bribery charges at the end of August 2016, was defeated by challenger Megan Goin-Soares. Trustee Area 4 incumbent and attorney Dominic Falasco was also arrested in 2016 and charged with two counts of misdemeanor drug possession. He said he would fight the charges against him. Falasco was defeated by challenger Gary Munoz in the election. The Trustee Area 6 race featured incumbent Carole Duffy and challenger Margaret Benton. Benton defeated Duffy to take the seat.[1][2]
Results
| Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Gary Munoz |
49.89% | 660 |
| Dominic Falasco Incumbent | 49.51% | 655 |
| Write-in votes | 0.6% | 8 |
| Total Votes | 1,323 | |
| Source: Los Banos Enterprise, "Falasco loses recount, Munoz keeps Los Banos school board seat," December 16, 2016 | ||
Funding
Falasco reported no contributions or expenditures to the Merced County Elections Office in the election.[4]
Endorsements
Falasco was endorsed by the Los Banos Teachers Association and fellow Los Banos Unified Board of Education member Dennis A. Areias.[5][6]
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Dominic Falasco |
50.1% | 670 | |
| Nonpartisan | Colleen Menefee Incumbent | 48.3% | 645 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 1.6% | 21 | |
| Total Votes | 1,336 | |||
| Source: Merced County Registrar of Voters, "November 6, 2012 Election Results," accessed July 24, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Falasco interviewed with the Los Banos Enterprise about his campaign for another term on the school board. The questions from the Los Banos Enterprise are bolded, and Falasco's answers follow below.
| “ | Q: Why did you decide to run?
A: Falasco said he wants to help fix an impending crisis in the near future of finding space to fit the growing student population. “One of my daughters is a senior at Los Banos High, the other is a third-grader,” Falasco said. “I’ve been involved actively in education, and my family has been involved. It’s something I’ve felt very strongly about.” Falasco said he wants to be a part of finding solutions to accommodate the increased housing projects that are sure to add more students to a district already talking about building more schools and expansions. Q: What makes you the best candidate? A: Falasco said he isn’t beholden to special interests, and that he has the skills to talk to both sides of an issue to reach a consensus. “I try to be fully responsive to people I serve in the district,” Falasco said. “I’m in regular contact with people, with the administration.” Falasco said his record includes being a big proponent of the new Creekside Junior High project, and convincing other trustees and school officials on big projects. Q: Name three issues important to you. A: Falasco is a big proponent of reducing class sizes. “We need to put teachers in position to teach more effectively,” Falasco said, adding that teachers have told him they often need to police a class in addition to teaching. Falasco wants to build more facilities to house the additional students expected to come as Los Banos adds more homes. He also wants to address school safety in the midst of the increase in shootings across the country. “There are programs out there we’re looking into, including training staff on what to do if there is a gunman on campus,” Falasco said. Q: What is the first thing you want to do? A: “We need another elementary school out there,” Falasco said. Falasco believes that the immediate focus needs to be on building to accommodate growth. “These things take years,” he said. “If we don’t start now, we’re going to be pushing it to meet our needs two years (late).” Q: How will you address future anticipated growth? A: Falasco plans to support building new facilities and add more classrooms to reduce class sizes. Q: How will you approach low student test scores? A: Falasco wants to put more emphasis on data-driven teaching. “(Introducing students to) iPads and that stuff are a great starting point,” Falasco said. “But we need to have something where that iPad data is funneled to teachers.” Falasco said the district has shown improvement in its test scores. And while it was an important barometer of how the school district is doing, he said the district has shown improvement in other areas, such as rates of students going to four-year colleges. Q: What can you say about your opponent? A: Falasco said he has no ill feelings toward Munoz, even after Munoz’s son confessed to vandalizing Falasco’s campaign signs. “We’ve always been cordial to each other,” Falasco said. “I’ll leave it for the voters to decide. It’s not about me or Mr. Munoz, it’s about what’s best for the kids.”[7] |
” |
| —Dominic Falasco (October 26, 2016)[3] | ||
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Merced County Registrar of Voters, "2016 Presidential General- November 8: Qualified School District Candidates," accessed August 15, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Merced County, "November 8, 2016 General Election Unofficial Results," accessed December 12, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Los Banos Enterprise, "Candidate profile: Los Banos school district board Area 4," October 26, 2016
- ↑ Merced County Elections Office, "Campaign Docs Retrieval: Search By Election," accessed February 24, 2017
- ↑ Los Banos Teachers Association, "2016 November Elections-LBTA Endorsed Candidates," accessed September 28, 2016
- ↑ Los Banos Enterprise, "Letters to the Editor (09/16/2016): A call for a special meeting to vote on censure of Jones," September 14, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Los Banos Unified School District Elections | |
| Merced County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 2: • Incumbent, Tommy Jones • Megan Goin-Soares Trustee Area 4: • Incumbent, Dominic Falasco • Gary Munoz Trustee Area 6: • Incumbent, Carole Duffy • Margaret Benton |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
