SAN DIEGO –
Call it the battle of the teachers.
Two teachers – one current and one retired – are waging campaigns to unseat former teacher Shelia Jackson on the San Diego school board in the campaign to represent District E and the southeastern portion of the city.
The June primary comes in the midst of a statewide budget crisis for education spending. The San Diego school board voted to approve $80 million in cuts, including deep staff reductions. About 900 teachers would be laid off and about 1,200 nonteaching employees would lose their jobs or hours, if current projections hold true.
Jackson's challengers are Marjorie Thomas, a former biology researcher and math teacher who retired from the San Diego Unified School District in 2003; and Xeng Yang, a computer and accounting teacher in the Grossmont Union High School District. He previously worked as a math and social studies teacher and translator for San Diego Unified.
Because Jackson voted against the budget cuts and staff reductions, she has been spared criticism from angry teachers and concerned parents regarding the layoffs.
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Shelia Jackson
Age: 51
Neighborhood: Paradise Hills
Family: One daughter
Party: Democrat
Occupation: School board member, former teacher and Navy medic.
Education: Bachelor's in health science from George Washington University, teaching credential from Cal State San Marcos, master's in educational leadership from National University.
Marjorie Thomas
Age: 65
Neighborhood: Valencia Park
Family: Divorced
Party: Democrat
Occupation: Retired teacher
Education: Master's in biology from the University of Florida; Teaching credential, Alliant University; master's in educational administration from San Diego State University.
Xeng Yang
Age: 49
Neighborhood: Oak Park
Family: Wife, Diane; three children.
Party: Democrat
Occupation: Computer and accounting teacher.
Education: Bachelor's in business, teaching credential and master's in business administration in human resource management from National University.
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Jackson dismisses any notion that she was thinking of her re-election when she rejected the layoffs. She has been critical of the district for not disclosing funding sources for each department.
“I don't need to score points on the campaign trail,” she said. “Last election, I didn't have anyone's support and I still won.”
Since she was elected in 2004, Jackson earned a reputation as an independent, if not stubborn, trustee. She has been a vocal critic of charter schools, especially when they outnumber traditional, district-run schools in a neighborhood.
For example, in District E, Gompers Charter School, Memorial Academy and Cesar Chavez School are all independent charter schools. That leaves no traditional public middle schools for parents.
To alleviate the impact of teacher layoffs, which are based on seniority, Jackson would like the district to work with the teachers union to make sure each school has a balance of teachers with varying levels of experience. That would spare schools with motivated but relatively inexperienced teachers from seeing their staffs decimated.
“In the military, you would never have a command made up entirely of new people,” said Jackson, a former Navy medic.
District E covers a large swath of San Diego, including Encanto, Bay Terraces, Paradise Hills, Skyline, Oak Park and parts of City Heights.
It's a region of San Diego that Marjorie Thomas knows well.
Although Thomas grew up in rural Florida, in the small town of Micanopy near Gainesville, it was while teaching Sunday school at the Bayview Baptist Church in Encanto that she discovered her love of education.
At 43, Thomas gave up her career as biology researcher and earned a teaching credential. She felt at home in the classroom and went on to graduate school.
“I had a very devastating time when I found out I could have no children, and at the time I was unable to adopt,” she said. “I learned that even if I could not have my own children, I could still have a positive impact on the lives of children in school.”
Thomas says her experience as a teacher and a staff developer and administrator will give her an advantage on the school board. A new brand of collaboration is needed between the board and the superintendent, she said.
Thomas would like to see the district start working on a plan to rehire laid-off teachers. She said it is irresponsible to oppose the budget cuts without having an alternative plan in place, hinting that Jackson could have done more than just reject the district cuts.
Having grown up in a poor family, Thomas is also intent on dispelling any notion that income is the only determining factor to student success. She suggests the board should improve graduation rates and high school exit exam scores, particularly in District E.
“I'm concerned about what's going on with low graduation rates in our community,” she said. “It would be very easy to blame that on teachers. But are we supporting administrators and teachers adequately to move kids through this pipeline?”
Yang's platform also offers criticism of the budget crisis. He is worried the reduction in teachers will lead to large classes.
“If I am on the board, I try to allocate as much money to keep teachers,” said Yang, a native of Laos. “Teachers are the people on the front line. They need protection.”
Yang has been involved in boosting community involvement by organizing parent conferences. A past chair of the San Diego County Refugee Coalition, he said the district could do more to help families who feel isolated by language and cultural barriers.
“We need to help immigrant children and their parents,” he said. “I think the district could do a better job with cultural education.”
Yang would also like to see schools make better use of computers and technology. In addition, he would like to see more vocational education programs offered. Yang lives in Oak Park with his wife, a preschool teacher, and their daughter, a third-grader. Their two older children are graduates of Patrick Henry High School.
In the June primary, voters in a particular trustee district will send the top two finishers to the general election. In November, voters from all five districts will vote.
The five-member school board steers California's second-largest school district, with 133,000 students and about 9,000 teachers.
Maureen Magee: (619) 293-1369; maureen.magee@uniontrib.com
