Megan Goin-Soares
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Megan Goin-Soares represents the Trustee Area 2 seat on the Los Banos Unified School District school board in California. Goin-Soares won the seat in the by-district general election on November 8, 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—Goin-Soares and Margaret Benton—won election to the board. CAC-supported Munoz won election to the Trustee Area 4 seat.[1]
Jones was not the only board member to get arrested in 2016. Falasco was arrested for drug possession in April 2016 and charged with two misdemeanors. He said he would fight the charges against him.
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
Goin-Soares works as a customer service representative for All American Plumbing and Heating in Los Banos. She previously worked as a crime analyst for the police department. She also has experience working as a recreation coordinator, pool manager, and lifeguard. Goin-Soares is a graduate of the Los Banos Unified School District, and her two daughters also attend school in the district.[2]
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.[3][1]
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 | ||
Funding
Goin-Soares reported no contributions or expenditures to the Merced County Elections Office in the election.[4]
Endorsements
Goin-Soares was endorsed by the Los Banos Teachers Association and Los Banos Unified Board of Education member Dennis A. Areias.[5][6]
Campaign themes
2016
Goin-Soares interviewed with the Merced Sun-Star about her campaign for a school board seat. The questions from the Merced Sun-Star are bolded, and Goin-Soares' answers follow below.
| “ | Q: Why did you decide to run?
A: “I’ve always been very involved with the city,” Goin-Soares said, adding that she taught anti-bullying and anti-sexting courses to children through the Police Department. But since Goin-Soares started working for a private business, she said she hasn’t had the same involvement. She missed the feeling of being directly involved with the community, and she hopes to continue her public service by serving on the school board. Q: What makes you the best candidate? A: Goin-Soares said her experience being a mother of two children in the school system, having a “love affair with teaching and learning” and understanding how governments work give her a unique experience. Q: Name three issues important to you. A: Goin-Soares said that as a trustee she will focus on building new facilities to keep up with the growing student population, hiring a permanent superintendent and encouraging programs that increase parental involvement. Q: What is the first thing you want to do? A: “We need to find a new superintendent,” Goin-Soares said, noting that current acting Superintendent Dean Bubar has been managing the district well since being thrust into the position after former Superintendent Steve Tietjen left. But for the long term, she said, the district needs somebody to be “captain of the ship.” Q: How will you address future anticipated growth? A: “We’re constantly trying to keep up with the growing number of students,” Goin-Soares said. “When I went to school, I was sitting on a couch in English class. Building new schools is our constant need.” Q: How will you approach low student test scores? A: Goin-Soares said the main focus has to be on progress when it comes to analyzing student test scores. “Teaching is hard, and we can’t say they aren’t doing their job,” she said. “We really need to get together and figure out what’s working and what’s not.” Q: What can you say about your opponent? A: Goin-Soares said she has known Jones for a long time, from when he was a teacher to when he was a City Council member and mayor. “I’ll stick with the fact that he still gets to have his day in court,” Goin-Soares said about Jones’ corruption charges. “But I can see where people are calling for him to resign. I can understand that it does take a lot of time to deal with court issues. I think it’s extremely unfair to the kids.”[7] |
” |
| —Megan Goin-Soares (October 25, 2016)[2] | ||
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Merced County, "November 8, 2016 General Election Unofficial Results," accessed December 12, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Merced Sun-Star, "Candidate profile: Los Banos school district board Area 2," October 25, 2016
- ↑ Merced County Registrar of Voters, "2016 Presidential General- November 8: Qualified School District Candidates," accessed August 15, 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 |
