Los Banos Unified School District elections (2016)

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← 2014
Los Banos Unified School District Elections
General election date:
November 8, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
10,065 students

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. A recount requested by Falasco showed Munoz defeated him by five votes. The Trustee Area 6 race featured incumbent Carole Duffy and challenger Margaret Benton. Benton defeated Duffy to take the seat.

After Jones was arrested, residents of Trustee Area 2 and the president of the Los Banos Teachers Association called for his resignation. Jones, however, maintained his innocence and refused to step down. Members of the school board responded by calling a special meeting to censure Jones in September 2016. This action helped to split the school board race into two camps: those supported by the teachers union and those supported by the Community Advocacy Coalition (CAC), a local advocacy group. Two candidates backed by the teachers union—Goin-Soares and Benton—won election to the board. CAC-supported Munoz won election to the Trustee Area 4 seat.

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, Munoz, and Duffy refused to attend a candidate forum in October 2016.

The 2016 race mirrored the district's 2012 school board election in which each seat on the ballot had two candidates running. The 2016 election also added three new members to the board, as voters decided to do in 2012. A total of four new members were elected in 2016 as a newcomer defeated an incumbent in a recall election on August 23, 2016. Click here to see how else this race compared to past elections in the district and the state.

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.

See also: What was at stake in the Los Banos Unified Board of Education election?

This election was one of Ballotpedia's top 10 local-level races in 2016. Click here to read the full list.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Los Banos Unified Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held by district on a staggered basis every November of even-numbered years. Four seats were up for election on November 4, 2014, and three seats were up for election on November 8, 2016. There was no primary election.

To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to register with the county elections office by August 12, 2016. If incumbents did not file by that deadline, the filing deadline was extended for non-incumbent candidates until August 17, 2016.

To vote in this election, residents of the school district had to register by October 24, 2016. Photo identification was not required to vote in this election.

Trustee Area 2

Results

Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Megan Goin-Soares	72.35%	997
Tommy Jones Incumbent	26.92%	371
Write-in votes	0.73%	10
Total Votes		1,378
Source: Merced County, "November 8, 2016 General Election Results," accessed December 12, 2016

Candidates

Tommy Jones		Megan Goin-Soares
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2016 Former mayor, Los Banos		Customer services

Trustee Area 4

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

Candidates

Dominic Falasco		Gary Munoz
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2016 Criminal defense attorney

Trustee Area 6

Results

Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 6 General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Margaret Benton	63.65%	984
Carole Duffy Incumbent	36.09%	558
Write-in votes	0.26%	4
Total Votes		1,546
Source: Merced County, "November 8, 2016 General Election Results," accessed December 12, 2016

Candidates

Carole Duffy		Margaret Benton
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2016		Realtor

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: California elections, 2016

The district's school board election shared the ballot with a number of statewide ballot measures as well as elections for the following offices:

• President and Vice President
• U.S. Senate
• U.S. House of Representatives
• California State Assembly

• Merced County Supervisor
• Los Banos City Mayor
• Los Banos City Council

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for California school board elections in 2016:

Deadline	Event
August 1, 2016	Semi-annual campaign finance report due
August 10, 2016 - November 8, 2016	24-hour campaign contribution reporting period
August 12, 2016	Candidate filing deadline
August 17, 2016	Extended filing deadline for non-incumbent candidates for open seats
September 29, 2016	First pre-election campaign finance report due
October 24, 2016	Voter registration deadline
October 27, 2016	Second pre-election campaign finance report due
November 8, 2016	Election Day
January 31, 2017	Semi-annual campaign finance report due

Endorsements

The Los Banos Teachers Association endorsed Trustee Area 2 challenger Megan Goin-Soares, Trustee Area 4 incumbent Dominic Falasco, and Trustee Area 6 challenger Margaret Benton.

The Community Advocacy Coalition (CAC) endorsed Trustee Area 2 incumbent Tommy Jones, Trustee Area 4 challenger Gary Munoz, and Trustee Area 6 incumbent Carole Duffy.

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

Candidates in this race were required to file two pre-election reports. The first was due on September 29, 2016, and the second was due on October 27, 2016. If candidates received more than $1,000 from a single source between August 10, 2016, and November 8, 2016, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours of receiving the contribution.

Candidates who did not raise or spend more than $2,000 on their campaigns had to file an exemption form by September 29, 2016. They did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.

Candidates who had a remaining balance from previous campaigns or who had raised or spent money on their campaigns prior to the candidate filing deadline had to file a semi-annual campaign finance report by August 1, 2016. The next semi-annual campaign finance report was due January 31, 2017.

Reports

No contributions or expenditures were reported in the election, according to the Merced County Elections Office.

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2016 See also: John Mueller recall, Los Banos Unified School District, California (2016) John Mueller, Trustee Area 7 Board Member, Los Banos Unified School District Result Votes Percentage Recall 182 51.85% Retain 169 48.15% Election results via: Merced County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results: Recall of John Mueller," accessed September 1, 2016  Mueller's successor candidate, Trustee Area 7 Board Member, Los Banos Unified School District Result Votes Percentage Ray Martinez 187 96.89% Write-in votes 6 3.11% Election results via: Merced County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results: Recall of John Mueller," accessed September 1, 2016  2014 See also: Los Banos Unified School District elections (2014) Trustee Area 1 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Dennis A. Areias Incumbent 55.8% 392      Nonpartisan Fredrick D. Todd 43.2% 303      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 1% 7 Total Votes 702 Source: Merced County, "Official Results for Election," accessed December 22, 2014 Trustee Area 3 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Marlene Smith 59.2% 323      Nonpartisan Andree A. Soares Incumbent 40.5% 221      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.4% 2 Total Votes 546 Source: Merced County, "Official Results for Election," accessed December 22, 2014 Trustee Area 5 This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Newcomer Anthony J. Parreira won election to Trustee Area 5 by default. Trustee Area 7 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan John Anthony Mueller Incumbent 51.8% 325      Nonpartisan Ruben Santos 48.2% 303      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 628 Source: Merced County, "Official Results for Election," accessed December 22, 2014 2012 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Tommy Jones 67.1% 727      Nonpartisan Thomas Higby 32.7% 354      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.2% 2 Total Votes 1,083 Source: Merced County Registrar of Voters, "November 6, 2012 Election Results," accessed July 24, 2014 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 4 General Election, 4-year term, 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 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 6 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Carole Duffy 52.4% 695      Nonpartisan Jack Vasquez Incumbent 47.2% 626      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.5% 6 Total Votes 1,327 Source: Merced County Registrar of Voters, "November 6, 2012 Election Results," accessed July 24, 2014 2010 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Chase Hurley 29.6% 3,146      Nonpartisan Andree A. Soares 27.6% 2,933      Nonpartisan Susana Gonzalez 17.2% 1,828      Nonpartisan Cory Tennant 13.1% 1,387      Nonpartisan Francisco Vazquez Jr. 12.1% 1,289      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.4% 38 Total Votes 10,621 Source: Merced County Registrar of Voters, "November 2, 2010 Election Results," accessed October 8, 2014 Los Banos Unified School District, Trustee Area 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Dennis A. Areias 55% 3,828      Nonpartisan Joe G. Gutierrez 44.8% 3,117      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 20 Total Votes 6,965 Source: Merced County Registrar of Voters, "November 2, 2010 Election Results," accessed October 8, 2014

What was at stake?

2016

Issues in the election

District 4 recount

After official results showed Gary Munoz had beaten incumbent Dominic Falasco for the District 4 seat by three votes, Falasco filed a recount request with the Merced County Registrar of Voters. The recount showed Munoz had won by a total of five votes rather than three.

“I am obviously disappointed with the results, but I accept the outcome,” Falasco said after the recount results were released.

Munoz did not participate in the recount. “When the recount came up, all the stress kind of came back,” he said. “I didn’t want to feel all the tension and stuff, so I let it alone.”

Candidate forum

Trustee Area 2 challenger Megan Goin-Soares, Trustee Area 4 incumbent Dominic Falasco, and Trustee Area 6 challenger Margaret Benton attended a candidate forum on October 27, 2016. The other three candidates in the school board race refused to attend due to fears that they would be racially harassed.

The three candidates who attended the forum answered questions from the audience. The questions for each candidate appear bolded below, and the candidate's response follows, as recorded by the Los Banos Enterprise.

Megan Goin-Soares

How would you address helping teachers deal with children with special needs, or children who require extra attention?

“	I would be a proponent for education and training for teachers. It’s important to help them understand where these kids are coming from.	”
—Megan Goin-Soares (October 27, 2016)

What do you think are the main issues facing the school district as a whole?

“	The main challenge is facilities. When I was in high school, I sat on a couch in English class. It showed the need for another high school. We need to make sure there is sufficient areas for teachers to teach. I also see finding a permanent superintendent high on the priority list. We need a captain, a permanent captain, for our ship. We need a visionary.	”
—Megan Goin-Soares (October 27, 2016)

Dominic Falasco

What is the most important problem facing the school board?

“	The most pressing is the crowding situation. The most important thing is to reduce classroom sizes. Hopefully if Proposition 51 passes, we can get some money back to build more classrooms.	”
—Dominic Falasco (October 27, 2016)

What makes you so passionate?

“	I have two daughters in the school district and another two who have graduated. I’m invested in seeing my kids, and all the kids, do their best with the educational opportunities we give them.	”
—Dominic Falasco (October 27, 2016)

What new programs would you be willing to introduce?

“	I’d like to see more computer-oriented vocational programs. One example is video game programming. People laugh at that, but that’s a big position out there with many jobs created. We need more tech-related programs like that.	”
—Dominic Falasco (October 27, 2016)

Margaret Benton

How would you like to expand programs like the ROP?

“	We currently do have the FFA and mechanics programs, and now culinary. I would like to see more programs related to computer skills, coding, repair and programming.	”
—Margaret Benton (October 27, 2016)

What is the biggest challenge facing the school district?

“	I think we need to give our teachers the tools they need by building more facilities. We should work on finishing up another wing on Pacheco High, and maybe build another school. That’s going to be a huge challenge.	”
—Margaret Benton (October 27, 2016)

What would you do to bring unity to the school board?

“	I would lead by example. I believe if we can change some of the members of the board, we can be more cohesive.	”
—Margaret Benton (October 27, 2016)

Amid all the negativity surrounding the school board, what do you think we have going for us?

“	We have amazing teachers. We have a pretty good school board, and well, half of them are wonderful. The kids are amazing, too. They deserve to have a quality education.	”
—Margaret Benton (October 27, 2016)

Candidates refuse to attend forum

Trustee Area 2 incumbent Tommy Jones, Trustee Area 4 challenger Gary Munoz, and Trustee Area 6 incumbent Carole Duffy announced that they would not attend a citywide candidate forum on October 27, 2016, due to fears that they would be racially harassed. All three candidates were supported by the Community Advocacy Coalition (CAC), a local group that was criticized in a special board meeting on September 22, 2016.

Jones and Duffy, along with board member Ray Martinez and Board Vice President Marlene Smith—both of whom were also backed by the CAC—did not attend the special meeting that was called to discuss the possible censure of Jones, who was arrested on bribery charges in August 2016. Without the four members, the three remaining members were unable to discuss the censure without a quorum. Audience members at the meeting, which included a number of teachers, expressed anger at the four members who had not attended.

CAC representative Baldo Salcido said he had "been subjected to hatred and racism" when he attended the beginning of the special meeting, according to the Los Banos Enterprise. “Personally, I’m recommending anybody not to participate,” Salcido said about the candidate forum. “When you open it up to the public, I don’t feel we should subject our candidates to racism and hatred. I don’t feel it’s going to be fair for the candidates.”

“I’m not going to put myself in that position,” said Munoz. “If it was going to be a forum for just the students, I would have been glad to attend. But inviting the community to also be involved ... these people don’t get it.”

Los Banos Teachers Association President Jason Walsh said the anger expressed at the meeting had been directed at the board members' lack of attendance. “No, it’s not based on race,” Walsh said. “Very simply, that’s an excuse to avoid answering difficult questions.”

Salcido said one sign that the audience's anger had racial undertones was that it had been directed at the predominantly Latino CAC as well as Martinez, who was Latino, and Jones and Smith, who were members of the NAACP.

Walsh said the teachers union was willing to work with anyone to advocate for students, but he also said that the union did not agree with the CAC's support of a construction contract with a company owned by Greg Opinski, who was arrested on bribery charges along with Jones.

The Los Banos Teachers Association endorsed Trustee Area 2 challenger Megan Goin-Soares, Trustee Area 4 incumbent Dominic Falasco, and Trustee Area 6 challenger Margaret Benton, Jones', Munoz's, and Duffy's opponents, respectively. Two candidates backed by the teachers union—Goin-Soares and Benton—won election to the board. CAC-supported Munoz won election to the Trustee Area 4 seat.

Issues in the district

• Bribery charges
• Censure
• Recall
• Grand Jury report
• Lawsuit
• Drug possession charges
• Superintendent resigns

Board member arrested on bribery charges

The arrest

Tommy Jones

Board member Tommy Jones was arrested on two charges of attempting to bribe a public official on August 31, 2016, which was the culmination of a 10-month investigation. Greg Opinski, a member of the Merced Union High School District board of trustees and a former contractor with the Los Banos Unified School District, was also arrested as a result of the investigation. He was charged with two counts of bribery, two counts of attempted bribery, and one count of aiding and abetting a conflict of interest with a public official.

According to prosecutors, Jones and Opinski paid Los Banos Unified trustee Dominic Falasco $12,000 to vote in favor of awarding Opinski's company a $541,000 construction contract to build 15 elementary school classrooms needed to accommodate rapid student enrollment growth in the district. Falasco, however, had been working with investigators since October 2015 and had been secretly recording the conversations he had with Jones and Opinski. He turned in “more than 10” recorded conversations to the authorities. Falasco had also voted to award the construction project to Opinski's company as part of his cooperation with the district attorney’s office. If convicted, Jones could face up to five years in prison, and Opinski could face up to seven.

“Mr. Jones is insisting on his innocence and he is going to meet these charges in the court of law, not in the court of public opinion,” said Kevin Little, Jones' attorney. “This is a political issue and there were no crimes committed. That is my client’s very firm position.”

Jones lost his bid for re-election on November 8, 2016.

Arraignment

Jones' arraignment was originally scheduled for October 7, 2016, but it was postponed numerous times when attorneys for both Jones and Opinski asked to move the hearing outside of Merced County and to have different judges preside due to conflict of interest concerns. Once the arraignment was held, both Jones and Opinski pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges. No trial was held prior to the 2016 election.

Contract with Opinski

The Los Banos Unified Board of Education first appointed Opinski to manage a district construction project in May 2016, a decision that overruled a recommendation from the board facilities committee. On July 26, 2016, they voted 4-3 to award his company the construction project. That vote highlighted tensions among the board members. Board President Anthony Parreira and members Dennis Areias and John Anthony Mueller, who was ousted from his position in a recall election on August 23, 2016, voted against hiring Opinski due to the fact that he sued the school district in 2008 over a former construction project at Pacheco High School. A number of community members and former school board members who attended the board meeting also cautioned against hiring Opinski.

Jones, Falasco, Board Vice President Marlene Smith, and board member Carole Duffy voted in favor of hiring Opinski. During the discussion, Smith, who was first elected to the board in 2014, said she was "sick of the bickering," according to the Los Banos Enterprise. “This is a bunch of mess. … We have not done one productive thing for one kid in this school district," said Smith.

Areias blamed the bickering on Jones. He said the board had not had problems until Jones joined the board in 2012. Areias also said that Jones "can’t speak the truth and he continues to get away with it.”

Jones, however, blamed Areias, calling him a "bully." Jones said, "It’s not with me, Mr. Areias has an attitude."

New contract

Carole Duffy

The same day Jones was arrested, the Los Banos Unified Board of Education voted 5-0 to end the construction contract with Opinski's company. Jones, who was released on bail within a few hours of his arrest, and Duffy recused themselves from the vote. Jones said he abstained because he did not think it would be right to do so with the criminal allegations against him, and Duffy recused herself because she used the same attorney as Jones and thought that might be a conflict of interest. Duffy did say, however, that she would have been in favor of ending the contract.

Marlene Smith

On September 8, 2016, the board unanimously voted to move forward on a new contract for the elementary school additions with Bush Construction, the company the board facilities committee originally recommended. At the meeting, Smith and Duffy were asked to explain why they voted in favor of the contract with Opinski's company. Duffy did not answer the question. “All I’m saying is I’ve done nothing wrong,” she said.

Smith, however, said she made a mistake. “All I can say is, if I committed a sin or a crime, I’m sorry,” Smith said. She also said she had relied on Falasco’s expertise as a defense attorney when she cast her vote, not knowing at the time that he was voting under the direction of the district attorney's office.

Residents call for Jones' resignation

Trustee Area 2 residents along with Jason Walsh, president of the Los Banos Teachers Association, called for Jones' resignation at the meeting, but Jones refused to step down. “This is still America. ... In America, you are allowed a day in court. And I look forward to my day in court as all other Americans will receive,” said Jones.

The Modesto Bee's Editorial Board also called for Jones' resignation in an article published on September 3, 2016. The article said Jones "is going to be far too engrossed with his own criminal defense to devote any attention to the children of Los Banos."

Special meeting for censure discussion lacks quorum

Dennis Areias

After Jones refused to resign, Areias called on the other members of the board to censure Jones through a letter to the editor of the Los Banos Enterprise. Censuring a board member acts as a public admonishment, but it does not affect a member's status on the board. Though a special meeting was scheduled on September 22, 2016, to discuss the censure, only three members—Areias, Parreira, and Falasco—attended, which meant those in attendance could not discuss the censure due to a lack of quorum. The possible censure of Jones was added to the agenda of the board's next regularly scheduled meeting on October 13, 2016.

Instead of discussing a censure at the special meeting, the three board members held a 30-minute session for public comments. A number of residents who attended the meeting spoke of supporting candidates Megan Goin-Soares and Margaret Benton to replace Jones and Duffy, respectively. Both Goin-Soares and Benton were elected to the board on November 8, 2016.

Baldo Salcido, a member the Community Advocacy Coalition, the group that sought the recall of Mueller, delivered a statement to Parreira earlier in the day on September 22, 2016, that criticized the special meeting and warned that there would be a lack of quorum. Salcido said he did not know who wrote the statement. He said it was delivered to his house with instructions to distribute to Parreira and the superintendent, which he did. If the statement was written by one of the four absent trustees, the California Open Meeting Act could have been violated.

In addition to criticizing the special meeting, the statement criticized the move to censure Jones. It read: “members of the board believe that the proposed censure of board member Tommy Jones would be unprecedented in that it is based only on an accusation and not any legal finding of wrongdoing or impropriety.”

All four trustees had excuses for not attending the special meeting. Smith had a prior engagement, Duffy had a doctor's appointment, Ray Martinez was filling in for his pastor for services at his church, and Jones was out of town.

At the board's regularly scheduled meeting on October 13, 2016, members voted 4-3 to add a discussion to censure Jones to their next meeting's agenda, which was scheduled for November 10, 2016. Parreira, Falasco, Areias, and Duffy voted in favor of adding the item to the next agenda, while Jones, Martinez, and Smith voted against. Those who voted against moving forward with the censure said they should wait until Jones' investigation had concluded. Falasco argued that the censure vote was not a conviction.

At the meeting on November 10, 2016, those seeking to censure Jones agreed to drop the issue due to his defeat in the election on November 8, 2016.

Recall ousts board member

John Anthony Mueller

See also: John Mueller recall, Los Banos Unified School District, California (2016)

John Anthony Mueller was ousted from his position as the Trustee Area 7 representative on the Los Banos Unified Board of Education by a margin of 13 votes in a recall election on August 23, 2016. His opponent, Ray Martinez, was elected to the board in his place in the same election.

Mueller's recall notice provided six reasons for the recall effort. They said he refused to communicate with those he represented and that he acted disruptively in board meetings. They also blamed him for low test scores in the school district and of condoning nepotism. Recall supporters also disagreed with his approval of a deal to build a new junior high school, and they did not like that he did not favor using local contractors for the building process.

Mueller responded to each criticism listed against him. He said his personal cellphone number was available at the district office and on the district's website for anyone who wanted to contact him. He also said he was not the only member to vote for the deal to build a new junior high school. It had been a unanimous decision by the board. He said that the board chose Oral E. Micham Inc. as its contractor because the company had experience building a similar design.

Mueller said the accusation about low test scores was not true. He said test scores had risen during his tenure on the board. He also said he was passionate about his position and that, though he represented the Trustee Area 7 constituents, he also had to vote how he felt.

Civil Grand Jury finds district did not follow protocol in building new school

The Merced County Civil Grand Jury's annual report released in July 2016 revealed that the Los Banos Unified School District did not follow protocol when it bought land to build the new Creekside Junior High School. The grand jury's investigation showed that the district had bypassed protocols set up by state public utilities, education codes, and the Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC). The report detailed possible safety issues at the school, which was built near the Los Banos Municipal Airport, and mentioned the grand jury's concern at the school district's response.

“When asked why LBUSD chose to go ahead with this purchase/construction and circumvent the proper established procedures, LBUSD’s response was ‘well next time we will follow the Public Utilities Codes’ that pertain to selection of school sites,” according to the report.

The district started the process to acquire land for the new junior high school in May 2013, when officials notified the California Department of Education of their intent to build. After the district purchased the land, Caltrans’ Division of Aeronautics outlined safety and noise concerns with the site and recommended the district find an alternative place to build. Instead, district officials continued with their plans after their attorneys said they could proceed because the site had not been officially denied.

District officials next met with the ALUC about the land, and the ALUC said it could not approve the building of the school, per code, as it was in an airport zone. By law, the school district had one other course of action: holding a special hearing and voting on the matter. Instead, the board passed a resolution in December 2013 that stated the district had the authority to bypass the ALUC. The district then went forward with construction in the spring of 2015.

The nonbinding report could only recommend steps for the district to follow in light of the violations of protocol. The grand jury suggested the district tell students and families that Creekside Junior High School was located in Airport Zone C in its student registration documents. It also recommended that the district's leadership follow state guidelines in future construction projects and be more proactive about informing the public.

Board of Education President Anthony Parreira did not comment on the report, but he said the district's attorneys were reviewing it.

District sued by sex abuse victim

The Los Banos Unified School District was sued in June 2016 by a former student who said the district "did nothing to protect her from sexual abuse at the hands of two different teachers," according to ABC 30. The two teachers had already been arrested and charged when the civil lawsuit was filed against the district, but the victim's attorneys sought changes in the district's training and monitoring of teachers as well as monetary compensation for damages.

The victim said she was molested in class by one of the teachers while he played a movie. "This case is a perfect illustration of what happens when administrators are not trained properly when warning signs are not seated when red flags are not identified," said Robert Allard, one of the victim's attorneys.

Board member arrested for drug possession

Dominic Falasco

Los Banos Unified Board of Education member Dominic Falasco was arrested in April 2016 for drug possession. On June 3, 2016, the Mariposa County district attorney charged Falasco with two misdemeanor charges: possession of methamphetamine and possession of paraphernalia, including a pipe. Falasco's case was not reviewed by the Merced County district attorney due to a possible conflict of interest as Falasco had served as a criminal defense attorney on multiple cases in the county.

Falasco was arrested after a 1 a.m. traffic stop for a suspected lighting violation that led officers to find an undisclosed amount of suspected methamphetamine in his vehicle, according to the Merced police. Falasco said he was helping a friend and possible client at the time. He said he took the narcotics from 27-year-old Raylynn Wineland after she asked him for help in getting out of a potentially dangerous situation. Falasco said he planned to destroy the drugs.

Falasco told the Mercer Sun-Star that Wineland was driving his car to a safe place at the time of the arrest because he was too tired to drive. Falasco said he told the police officers he would “take responsibility” for the drugs because they were in his car. He said he did not, however, admit the drugs were his. Falasco said he would fight any criminal charges against him. He lost his bid for re-election on November 8, 2016.

Superintendent resigns

Superintendent Steve Tietjen announced on April 14, 2016, that he would be resigning from the district to take a position with the Merced County Office of Education starting July 1, 2016. “Our teachers, counselors, administrators and support staff are clearly focused on the goal of making sure that all students have access to a quality curriculum and are expected to perform to their best ability,” Tietjen said in a statement.

The school board appointed Assistant Superintendent Dean Bubar to the position of interim superintendent in Tietjen's place. The board waived the regular requirements for teaching and administrative credentials in order to make Bubar interim superintendent. They also voted to raise his pay to how much Tietjen was paid until the appointment of a permanent superintendent.

Election trends

See also: School board elections, 2014

The 2016 school board election in the Los Banos Unified School District added three new members to the board, which was not unprecedented in the district. In 2012, voters ousted the two incumbents who ran for re-election and added three new members to the board. The new members elected that year ran to retain their seats in the 2016 election, and all three were defeated as incumbents.

The district's 2014 election also added new blood to the board. Two new members were elected that year with one member defeating an incumbent to win the seat.

School board election trends
Year	Candidates per seat	Unopposed seats	Incumbent success rate	Seats won by newcomers
Los Banos Unified School District
2016	2.00	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
2014	1.75	25.00%	66.67%	50.00%
2012	2.00	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
California
2014	1.91	25.18%	79.00%	38.14%
United States
2014	1.89	32.57%	81.31%	38.24%

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About the district

See also: Los Banos Unified School District, California

The Los Banos Unified School District is located in Merced County, California.

The Los Banos Unified School District is located in Merced County in central California. The county seat is Merced. Merced County was home to an estimated 268,455 residents between 2010 and 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the 162nd-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 10,065 students.

Demographics

Merced County underperformed compared to California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 13 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31 percent of state residents. The median household income for Merced County was $43,066, compared to $61,489 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in the county was 24.8 percent, compared to 16.4 percent statewide.

Racial Demographics, 2010 - 2015
Race	Merced County (%)	California (%)
White	81.9	72.9
Black or African American	4.1	6.5
American Indian and Alaska Native	2.5	1.7
Asian	8.1	14.7
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0.4	0.5
Two or more races	3.1	3.8
Hispanic or Latino	58.2	38.8

Presidential Voting Pattern, Merced County
Year	Democratic Vote	Republican Vote
2012	33,005	27,581
2008	34,031	28,704

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Los Banos Unified School District' 'California'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Los Banos Unified School District elections (2016) - Google News

See also

Los Banos Unified School District	California	School Boards
Los Banos Unified School District elections (2014) List of school districts in California	California school board elections, 2016 Public education in California Local ballot measures, California	School board elections, 2016 School board elections, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2015

External links

• Los Banos Unified School District
• Merced County Registrar of Voters