Rialto Unified School District elections (2014)
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Two seats on the Rialto Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 4, 2014.[1] Only one incumbent, Edgar Montes, ran for re-election. He faced challengers Dina Walker, Eoma "Teddy" Harris, Russel Silva, Don Olinger and Lillie M. Houston.[2] He won in that election, along with Walker.
About the district
Rialto Unified School District is located in San Bernardino County, California. The county seat of San Bernardino County is San Bernardino. San Bernardino County is home to 2,088,371 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau.[3] In the 2011-2012 school year, Rialto Unified School District was the 43rd-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 26,764 students.[4]
Demographics
San Bernardino County underperformed compared to the rest of California in terms of higher education achievement in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 18.6 percent of San Bernardino County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 30.5 percent for California as a whole. The median household income for San Bernardino County was $54,750 compared to $61,400 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level for San Bernardino County was 17.6 percent while it was 15.3 percent statewide.[3]
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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.
Voter and candidate information
The Rialto Unified School District Board of Education consists of five members elected at-large to four-year terms. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 4, 2014. Two seats were up for election in 2014, and three seats were up for election in 2016.[1][7]
School board candidates had to file with their county elections department during the candidate filing period. The filing period began July 14, 2014, and ended August 8, 2014. To vote in the 2014 general election, voters had to register by October 20, 2014. Voters could request vote-by-mail ballots from October 6, 2014, through October 28, 2014.[8]
Elections
2014
Candidates
At-large
- Edgar Montes
- Incumbent
- Dina Walker
- Eoma "Teddy" Harris
- Business owner
- Russel Silva
- Capital project coordinator
- Don Olinger
- Lillie M. Houston
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Edgar Montes Incumbent |
24.3% | 4,279 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dina Walker |
20.7% | 3,643 | |
| Nonpartisan | Don Olinger | 19.3% | 3,397 | |
| Nonpartisan | Lillie M. Houston | 16.5% | 2,914 | |
| Nonpartisan | Eoma "Teddy" Harris | 10.1% | 1,787 | |
| Nonpartisan | Russel Silva | 9.1% | 1,596 | |
| Total Votes | 17,616 | |||
| Source: San Bernardino County Elections Office of the Registrar of Voters, "Final Official Election Results," December 23, 2014 | ||||
Endorsements
The San Bernardino County Democratic Party endorsed Lillie M. Houston and Dina Walker.[9]
The district's teachers union, the Rialto Education Association, endorsed Edgar Montes and Dina Walker.[10]
Campaign finance
Candidates had to file contribution reports within 24 hours of receiving an aggregate total of $1,000 or more from a single source. The first scheduled pre-election report filing deadline was October 6, 2014. If candidates raised or spent less than $1,000 during the 2013 and 2014 calendar years, they had to file Form 470 at that time. If candidates raised or spent more during that time, they had to file Form 460 by the pre-election report filing deadline.[11]
Candidates required to file Form 460 also had to file a second pre-election report on October 23, 2014, and they had to file termination reports by December 31, 2014. If a termination report was not filed, candidates had to file a semi-annual report by February 2, 2015.[11]
Reports
According to the first pre-election reports submitted to the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, candidates received a total of $14,600.04 in contributions and $14,176.47 in expenditures as of September 30, 2014.[12][13][14][15]
| Candidate | Existing balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edgar Montes | $1,271.00 | $729.49 | $1,697.50 | $342.99 |
| Lillie M. Houston | $0.00 | $8,534.90 | $8,142.09 | $392.81 |
| Russel Silva | $105.00 | $2,146.95 | $1,712.64 | $77.36 |
| Dina Walker | $0.00 | $3,188.70 | $2,624.24 | $564.46 |
| Eoma "Teddy" Harris | N/A | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Don Olinger | N/A | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Past elections
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2012
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What was at stake?
Issues in the district
Recall attempt fails
Organizers of an attempt to recall Rialto Unified Board of Education members Joe Ayala and Joseph Martinez admitted failure on September 15, 2014. The two board members were served recall papers on March 26, 2014, but recall supporters were unable to collect the 9,450 signatures needed to guarantee a recall election within their allotted time. Former board president Joanne Gilbert was initially included in the recall effort, but as her term was up for election in November 2014, the recall group decided not to target her. Gilbert did not run for re-election, so her term ended in December 2014.[16]
The recall effort started in the spring of 2014 as a reaction to two audit reports that showed a lack of board oversight in purchasing and contract decisions and the spending of over $1 million in unnecessary expenditures. The effort also cited the two board members' alleged support of former superintendent Harold Brunn, who was put on administrative leave during the 2013-2014 school year due to close ties to a former district accountant who was investigated on embezzlement charges. Both Ayala and Martinez disputed the claims of the recall group.[16]
District brought under scrutiny over Holocaust assignment
At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, Rialto Unified School District's 2,000 eighth graders were asked to perform a thought experiment in class on whether or not the Holocaust had occurred. Three sources were given to the students to complete the assignment, including one Holocaust denial website. In their essays, many students questioned whether the Holocaust had ever happened and others fully denied it had. The ramifications of that assignment continued to affect the district for months afterward.[17][18][19]
On May 5, 2014, the Los Angeles News Group asked the district for documents on the assignment detailing its introduction into the curriculum, as well as any written communication about the assignment between staff members and any written complaints the district received. Under the California Public Records Act, government agencies have 10 days to assess whether or not they will be able to respond to a records request. The district did not release any documents until August 13, 2014, and then released only a portion of those requested. Additionally, any identifying employee information had been redacted from the released documents, due to prior threats of death and violence to those involved in the assignment's creation and implementation.[17][20]
Once the documents had been released, it was revealed that the students were prompted to write an essay on whether or not the Holocaust had occurred, and they were given three sources to support their arguments. The sources were printouts from Holocaust pages on about.com, history.com and BibleBelievers.org.au, a Holocaust denial site. The assignment was written in class, so students did not have a chance to research other sources. In their essays, a number of students said they believed the Holocaust had been a hoax.[19]
As the 2014-2015 school year began, the district began sharing their plans to undo the damage the original assignment had created. Both students and teachers were to receive training on how to determine if a source is credible, and all writing prompts were to be looked at by 10 members of the district before being given to students, according to Jen Harper, the executive director of secondary instruction for the district. In addition, the students who completed the assignment were to read the book Night by Elie Wiesel, an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, write an essay and present those essays to the Rialto Unified Board of Education.[21]
Searching for a new superintendent
After spending the 2013-2014 school year in uncertainty after an investigation into suspected embezzlement by a former district accountant left its superintendent on paid administrative leave before he chose to retire, the Rialto Unified School District began to move forward in their search for a permanent replacement in the summer of 2014. The board of education announced on August 13, 2014, that they were going to hire an education advisor to help them find a new superintendent as well as help interim superintendent Mohammad Z. Islam with other district tasks. This temporary position partially took the place of the deputy superintendent's role. James Wallace, the former deputy superintendent who was placed on administrative leave along with the district's former superintendent, retired at the end of September.[22][23]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Rialto Unified School District election in 2014:[11][24]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| July 14, 2014 | First day for candidates to file nomination documents |
| August 8, 2014 | Last day for candidates to file nomination documents |
| October 6, 2014 | First day to request vote-by-mail ballot |
| October 6, 2014 | First pre-election report due |
| October 20, 2014 | Last day to register to vote |
| October 23, 2014 | Second pre-election report due |
| October 28, 2014 | Last day to request vote-by-mail ballot |
| November 4, 2014 | Election Day |
| December 31, 2014 | Termination report due |
| February 2, 2015 | Semi-annual report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2014
This election shared the ballot with general elections for five U.S. House seats, several state executive offices, two state Senate seats and eight state Assembly seats, as well as judicial, municipal and other school board elections.[25]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Rialto + Unified + School + District + California"
See also
- California
- Rialto Unified School District, California
- California school board elections, 2014
- List of school board elections in 2014
- School board elections, 2014
- San Bernardino County, California ballot measures
- California ballot measures
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Elected Officials," accessed August 1, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "2014 Statewide General Election Candidate List," accessed August 18, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "San Bernardino County, California," accessed July 14, 2014
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 22, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Past Election Archives," accessed July 14, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Past Elections: 2007-1996," accessed July 14, 2014
- ↑ Rialto Unified School District, "Board of Education," accessed August 1, 2014
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Summary of November 4, 2014, General Election Calendar," accessed July 14, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino Democrats, "2014 endorsements," accessed October 20, 2014
- ↑ Insurance News Net, "Meet the Rialto Unified school board candidates," October 5, 2014
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 4, 2014," accessed August 19, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Russel Silva for Rialto School Baord of Education 2014 Campaign Committee FPPC 460," October 6, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Dina Walker for Rialto School Board FPPC 460," October 6, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Montes for Rialto School Board 2014 FPPC 460," October 21, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Friends of Lillie Houston 4, Rialto USD 2014 FPPC 460," October 6, 2014
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The San Bernardino County Sun, "Rialto Unified School Board recall attempt comes up short," September 16, 2014
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 San Bernardino County Sun, "Rialto Unified skirts state public records law," August 6, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Sun, "Rialto Unified’s law firm promises fast release of Holocaust documents," August 11, 2014
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 San Bernardino County Sun, "EXCLUSIVE: Holocaust denied by students in Rialto school assignment," July 11, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Sun, "Rialto Unified refuses to identify Holocaust assignment teachers, administrators," August 13, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Sun, "Rialto Unified details plan to re-teach Holocaust: ‘We’re really trying,’" September 18, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Sun, "Embattled Rialto Unified superintendent to retire," March 7, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Sun, "Rialto Unified: Board begins search for permanent superintendent," August 14, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "2014 Statewide General Election," accessed July 14, 2014
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "2014 Statewide General Election: November 4, 2014," accessed July 14, 2014 (dead link)
| 2014 Rialto Unified School District Elections | |
| San Bernardino County, California | |
| Election date: | November 4, 2014 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Edgar Montes • Dina Walker • Eoma "Teddy" Harris • Russel Silva • Don Olinger • Lillie M. Houston |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
