Wes Woods II reported in the Daily Bulletin last week that Claremont Unified School District Board President Jeanne Hamilton will not run for a third term in November.
According to Wood's article, Hamilton said, "Eight years is enough." Woods also described Hamilton's background and the board's accomplishments during Hamilton's two terms:
Besides her vice president role at Citrus, Hamilton has also served in administrative and faculty positions at Chaffey and Fullerton colleges.
She received a bachelor's degree from Baylor University, a master of science in social work from the University of Louisville and a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University.
Hamilton has served as chairwoman of the Facilities Advisory Committee and also co-chaired the 2000 Measure Y School Bond campaign for the Claremont Unified School District which was passed.
"Many of those projects got completed," Hamilton said of the bond. "The district is in much better shape physically than eight years ago."
But a regret for Hamilton is she wished all of the projects associated with the bond would have been completed but an increase in costs stopped some of the work.
Hamilton added she was proud of a renewed focus on nutrition and exercise for district children and "the thing I'm most proud of is the academic achievements."
California test scores for all district students have improved, she said, and other achievements have included enriched curriculums, the Advancement Via Individual Determination support program and an International Baccalaureate program that is getting approval, Hamilton said.
"But no one person accomplishes it. The board accomplishes it as a whole," Hamilton said.
Hamilton became a board member in November 2001. She was president from in 2003-04 and 2007-08.
The Measure Y money is a sore point among many in the community. The bond, which was passed primarily with campaign donations from school district contractors, was bound to get misspent, and it was. There were just too many favors to be called in by those generous donors. Constructions costs went up, yes, but you have to wonder if there weren't some price increases built into contracts to recoup campaign outlays.
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No word yet on whether or not CUSD Board member and clerk Steven Llanusa will run for a second term. You might recall that last year Llanusa ran afoul of CUSD Superintendent David Cash and the rest of CUSD Board. The dispute resulted in Cash and the Board instituting a new censure policy aimed directly at Llanusa.The matter continued on to the end of the year, and at a December 18th meeting, the CUSD Board voted to extend a protocol governing email contact between Llanusa and Cash. Llanusa responded with a letter to the Claremont Courier on January 10th that said, in part:
Last February the meeting script prepared by Dr. Cash stated one of the reasons for the protocol was "to retain the Superintendent." During other difficulties Dave [Cash] has said repeatedly that he doesn’t have to work in Claremont. Such statements invite neither collaboration nor negotiation.
I have met with the Superintendent many times in the past. It was Dave who unilaterally stopped mediation after only three meetings. Among other problems with previous one-on-one meetings were disagreements about what was or wasn’t said. Communication by emails provided objective data about the questions and responses.
To avoid confusion I asked Dave if I could bring a note taker or tape recorder to our meetings. He refused to meet with either condition. I am content to ask my questions during Board meetings and by getting information this way transparent governance is achieved. The School Board has a governance policy regarding the Superintendent’s duty to provide the same information to all Board Members, not that we get that information the same way.
We get the sense that Llanusa's support among the Claremont 400 may be dwindling, and those insiders (small "i") are running away from Llanusa as fast as they can. Such is the price of dissent in Clareville. This doesn't bode well for Llanusa's re-election prospects, but November's a long way off, and he may yet have time to mend some fences.
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