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By Robin N. Kendall
October 27, 2022 (Alpine) -- Alpine Union School District voters can change or keep the status quo in this year’s election for school board trustees, with three seats on the ballot and five candidates. Two candidates are challengers and the other three are incumbents. Trustees in Alpine represent the entire district, so voters can choose three names when they mark their ballots.
East County Magazine sent a set of questions to all the candidates in this race and invited them to email us their answers and a photo. Two challengers and one incumbent responded. Read below for their answers.
The trustees who are up for re-election are Glenn Dickie, Al Guerra and Eric Wray. The challengers are Darlene Cossio and Erika Simmons. The other board members whose terms will expire in 2024 are Joseph Perricone, the current president, and Travis Lyon, the clerk. Alpine Union School District’s Board is comprised of five elected officials, called trustees, who serve four-year terms.
Alpine Union School District covers a large swath of land in East County. Stretching from east of El Cajon towards the Cuyamaca Mountains, the district serves approximately 1,760 students in grades TK-8. Trustees oversee the budget and policies of the school district. In Alpine, school board members receive a compensation of $240 per month. California’s Education Code, Section 35120, outlines how much Board members are paid based on the size of the population.
Alpine Union School District includes five schools: Boulder Oaks Elementary, Creekside Early Learning Center, Joan MacQueen Middle School, Mountain View Learning Academy and Shadow Hills Elementary.
The new non-profit Liberty Charter High School opened in late August, independent of the district and under the supervision of The San Diego County Board of Education. For over 20 years, Alpine residents asked for a high school, even engaging in unsuccessful litigation with the Grossmont Union High School District after the GUHSD reneged on promises to build one due to declining district enrollment. (Read ECM story at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/charter-high-school-coming-alpine-change-welcome-many-residents-loss-students-could-impact-guhsd%E2%80%99s
School Trustee Q and A
Darlene Cossio
Candidate for Alpine School Board
Cossio is the Director of Marketing/Communications for Goodwill San Diego County.
1. Please describe your qualifications in the form of a brief biography, and why you decided to run for school board in this district.
As a non-profit servant leader specializing in marketing, I am qualified to run for the Alpine School Board because I have skills which would benefit the community and the board. My marketing knowledge and experience could be used to create great community engagement, involvement, and awareness. Additionally, I am a strong collaborator who understands the importance of excellent communication and conflict resolution skills. I have contributed 21 years of weekly volunteer time at local schools to understand the curriculum and process, giving me the knowledge needed to give back to my community.
I am running for school board because I want to give back to our community and ensure our students receive a quality education that prepares them for a bright future. A strong, fundamental education without a political agenda.
2. How are the students in your district doing academically? Coming out of the pandemic, how can we best help students make up for any learning losses, and build improvements in achievement testing?
Our students are faring better than others academically, but there is always an opportunity for more growth and success. To help students catch up, I would apply for American Rescue Plan funds to secure resources for learning acceleration programs. These funds can be used for high-quality and effective tutoring, custom learning acceleration opportunities, and the use of out-of-school time to support students' academic needs.
3. Do you have any criticism of the way the district handled its responses to COVID (remote learning vs. in person, masking, vaccines, campus shutdowns, social distancing, etc.) – have policies been too strict, not strict enough, or about right?
I believe the Alpine School District did a good job of managing the response to COVID considering the restrictions placed on them by the State and County. They provided hybrid learning right from the start and gave our students access to vital in-person learning alongside their peers. We are quickly learning about the damaging effects on our students from exclusive online learning including limited student feedback, social isolation, weakened communication skill development, and online assessments that are difficult to evaluate because it is hard to prevent cheating.
4. What more might be done in the district to protect students and teachers from gun violence, given the rise in school shootings nationwide?
My ultimate goal is to have our students learn and our teachers teach in a safe school environment. To deter gun violence, I think a strong start would be to invest in fencing and safety protocols for guests entering Alpine schools. A fence was already erected at the middle school with a monitored guest protocol, it is an excellent deterrent. A conversation about hiring a law enforcement officer for each campus should be the next step. Thankfully, our school district has not experienced gun violence but as we have seen this can happen to any community, large or small. I would never want our community to experience what others have.
5. Which programs would be funding priorities for you?
I think the after-school activities could be amplified to foster greater learning for our students. My sons loved the after-school sports program at Joan MacQueen Middle School with Coach Fazekas. I think the summer workshops and the STEM program could also be amplified with greater opportunities for scholarships earned to cover the cost of a few classes. I think the language program could be amplified to compete with nearby school districts and create greater student retention.
A strong campaign educating our students on the benefits of NOT vaping or using drugs starting at the Elementary School level is important. Much like the red ribbon week program at other elementary schools. This program talks about the negative effects of vaping and the consequences of drug use. At the middle school level, inviting guest speakers to talk about recovering from addiction and the benefits of not using drugs and why. It would be helpful to have these speakers be peers or relatable people who our students are open to learning from. My youngest child experienced bullying and once she was given the tools to speak up for herself and overcome the fear associated with bullying, she was able to stop the bullying. I think both the bully and the person being bullied need to be taught how to change their behavior.
I would like to see our school district create a community garden where students can come together and nurture and develop food for our community. It would also be beneficial to create an organics program where students can learn about the importance of recycling and creating compost for the garden from food waste.
A "See Something, Say Something" program would also be beneficial because it encourages students to speak up in a safe and confidential way.
6. Regarding civility and divisiveness, how would you set an example for students and others in contentious discussions during school board meetings?
The best way to eliminate divisiveness and encourage civility is to set a strong example and establish clear boundaries. Every voice deserves to be heard but each voice must take it upon themselves to be respectful and collaborative. It is always helpful to provide solutions and be willing to get involved when possible.
7. What are your views on the teaching of critical race theory, teaching history/civics, banning books, or other hot button issues raised in some other districts?
As a mom, I believe parents should have a say in controversial content in the classroom. I believe transparency is key in this situation. Our teachers and school board members should have open discussions with parents and students when questionable books and/or media are considered for the classroom.
8. Are there any other issues you’re concerned about, such as teacher shortages, or other information you’d like our readers to know about the district or your candidacy?
The Alpine Union School District is special to me because it represents the community and community members I care about. I also think the size of our school district makes it special. We have an opportunity to demonstrate to larger districts what a successful district looks like by putting the needs and success of our students first. I grew up in Pine Valley and graduated from a small school district, Mountain Empire Unified. While earning my undergraduate degree at UC San Diego, I was positively and negatively impacted by the education I received and understand first-hand the importance of a sound foundation to be successful at the next level.
9. Do you have endorsements and/or a webpage you’d like to share?
Endorsed by Kevin Kiley, California. Darlene Cossio for Alpine School Board Facebook Group Page is https://www.facebook.com/groups/802688304424303
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Glenn Dickie
Incumbent Candidate for Alpine School Board
Glenn Dickie’s profession is Telecommunications Financial Executive.
Please describe your qualifications in the form of a brief biography, and why you decided to run for school board in this district.
1. I am running because I want to keep the momentum going! We have accomplished so much, but still have so much more we can do, so I want to keep this momentum going. Our district is now considered a leader in the county with how we handled COVID, being the first district to re-open, our engineering program is nationally recognized, our dual language program is now in its 10 year and has set the bar for ensuring students can master Spanish and English.
Major Accomplishments:
• Updated and new curriculums across all grades.
• Nationally recognized Coding and Engineering Program.
• New sports fields (Special thanks to Supervisor Diane Jacobs and Supervisor Joel Anderson).
• Outstanding relationship with our teachers.
• Best response to COVID.
• Largest raise given to teachers and classified in over 20 years.
• First District in San Diego to reopen for in-person learning.
• Led state in educational response.
• Led state in in-class instruction.
• Fiscal responsibility.
• No deficit spending under my leadership.
• No bond borrowing, last was in 2000 for a new school.
• Opposed to long-term borrowing for short-term repairs.
• One to One on computers in every classroom.
• Partnering with Grossmont in win-win situations.
• Transportation.
• Brought Liberty High School Charter to Alpine.
• 20-year maintenance master plan - $32M without issuing bonds.
• No deferred maintenance.
2. How are the students in your district doing academically? Coming out of the pandemic, how can we best help students make up for any learning losses, and build improvements in achievement testing?
COVID had a major impact on all of our students. The Board and I believed that opening schools for in-person learning was the right thing to do and that is why I championed our efforts to bring students back on campus for in-person learning. In fact, we were the first school district in San Diego to do so. I am proud to be part of the Board that puts our students and staff first. As a parent and Board member, I know how important teacher and student relationships are and that is why as President of the AUSD Board of Trustees, I supported our District’s focus this year to lower class sizes in all grade levels to ensure our teachers have more opportunities to interact with our students and support their learning. Additionally, to help our students accelerate their learning, our District implemented a new assessment system last year that will provide students and teachers with in-the-moment information about where students are succeeding and what areas need support. We will be implementing a new tutoring program this year to provide additional support to our students. Lastly, I am proud of our District’s efforts in offering a range of expanded learning opportunities for our students. These opportunities have been very successful and provided additional opportunities for our students to learn.
3. Do you have any criticism of the way the district handled its responses to COVID (remote learning vs. in person, masking, vaccines, campus shutdowns, social distancing, etc.) – have policies been too strict, not strict enough, or about right?
I am proud of our handling of COVID; we have been very responsive and transparent with the Parents, Students, and Community. In fact, we were one of the very few boards that maintained in person Board meetings when most did not. We were one of the few and very first districts to receive the initial waiver from the state to open schools and we stayed focused on providing options for wearing masks.
Our COVID response in Alpine was the benchmark for the State, no other local District, including San Diego Unified, came close to our response.
4. What more might be done in the district to protect students and teachers from gun violence, given the rise in school shootings nationwide?
We collaborate with local law enforcement consistently and have worked on all feasible safety options for our schools, including additional fencing, cameras, background checks for visitors and access control.
We continually update our safety plans based on expert recommendations. It is important to understand that for safety reasons, these plans are not always published. However, the recent lockdown at Shadow Hills Elementary showed that our work, policies, and practices do work and the Sheriff’s Department stated our actions were excellent.
5. Which programs would be funding priorities for you?
Continued Curriculum updates: Recent adoption of new Math and English curriculums. New elementary Social Studies curriculum are currently being vetted.
Safety: Collaborate with local law enforcement for all feasible safety options for our schools. Continual updates to our safety plans based on expert recommendations. It is important to understand that for safety reasons, these plans are not always published.
Recruitment and Retention of staff: We have consistently provided raises to staff and gave the highest raise in the last 20 years this school year. We have support staff to help new teachers succeed
6. Regarding civility and divisiveness, how would you set an example for students and others in contentious discussions during school board meetings?
I believe we set an example all throughout COVID. While many Boards saw dissension and chaos we listened to the community and consistently communicated to our parents and community what was happening and what our plans were. Treating everyone with respect, especially in contentious situations is both the right thing to do and to model for our students. While we may not always agree, it is important to model for our students and others that differences and disagreement are part of life, but the way in which we respond and handle situations is the key to ensuring that successful outcomes occur.
7. What are your views on the teaching of critical race theory, teaching history/civics, banning books, or other hot button issues raised in some other districts?
We are very conscious of representing our community and ensuring that our students also have the opportunity to grow and learn in a safe space. Consequently, parents and community groups are always invited to review every curriculum that we adopt along with the resources in the program. We have not banned books but our district staff also work hard to ensure that our parents are the first teachers and subject matter that may be controversial is left to parents at home.
8. Are there any other issues you’re concerned about, such as teacher shortages, or other information you’d like our readers to know about the district or your candidacy?
Alpine Union School District is special to me because we, as a community, built it. The collaboration between the current board and Superintendent is unparalleled and successful on all levels.
Our district provides exceptional diverse educational opportunities, including a Kindergarten only school, a very successful Spanish Immersion school with teachers contracted from Spain through a program initiated by our Superintendent, and a nationally recognized robotics program. Our kids are truly a priority in everything from class size, to free nutritional lunches cooked on-site, to updated curriculum and technology access. Our successes continue to draw students and teachers to our district for the best educational experience. Recruiting and retaining staff is always a priority. This year, we provided the largest raise in over 20 years to our staff to ensure we retain our staff.
My son attended AUSD from kindergarten through graduating Middle School and I look forward to the day my grandchildren attend the schools and educational programs we have built.
9. Do you have endorsements and/or a webpage you’d like to share?
Proud to be endorsed by: Supervisor Diana Jacobs, Supervisor Joel Anderson, San Diego County Republican Party.
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Erika Simmons, Ed.D.
Candidate for Alpine School Board
Simmons is currently the Director of Assessment Services at San Diego Unified School District.
1. Please describe your qualifications in the form of a brief biography, and why you decided to run for school board in this district.
I am a lifelong educator and have spent the last 20 years teaching students and working as a principal. I currently lead a team of over 400 teachers, principals, and superintendents in the San Diego Unified School District, the second largest school district in California. I have focused my career on studying and implementing programs that improve education for a wide range of students. I have developed individualized learning programs that enable teachers to focus on assessing students' individual needs and implement practices that improve student achievement. I have a bachelor's degree in liberal arts, a master's degree in education, and a doctorate in education and leadership.
The most significant reason for wanting to become an Alpine School Board member is that I know that experience truly does make a difference in education. Having a background in education is one factor that can make a difference in our schools. We need perspective, experience, and best practices that lead to results. I have dedicated my life to educating children. Committing time to the children in the town I love is the best thing I could do. I have worked to improve education for children by listening to parents and collaborating with teachers and staff that play a key role in children's education. This is what I do now in my job as a part of the leadership team in the San Diego Unified School District.
Teachers and staff will tell you that the issues they face are unique and understanding these issues makes the difference in educating our children. Truly hearing what parents and the community want for the education of children in Alpine is just part of creating better education for children. Our school board needs proactive leadership that is better connected to the schools and the community to improve education for our children in Alpine.
2. How are the students in your district doing academically? Coming out of the pandemic, how can we best help students make up for any learning losses, and build improvements in achievement testing?
Students in the Alpine School District have struggled consistently dating back before the pandemic. There has been some improvement in the elementary schools in Alpine. Unfortunately, the opposite has occurred in Alpine's only middle school. Math achievement for Joan MacQueen Middle School shows that only 22% of middle school students are proficient at their grade level in math. Nearly 80% of Alpine middle school students test below their grade level in math as of 2022. Equally concerning are the 2022 statistics that show that only 41% of students are at their grade level in English Language Arts.
These deficiencies are a priority that needs to be addressed. Solving these learning deficiencies focuses on addressing the problem at its core. Educational studies over the years have shown that student success and their ability to catch up are primarily based on a school's understanding of students' individual needs and addressing these needs to enable students to excel in education. As an educator for the past 20 years, I can tell you that it is not difficult to understand the needs of every student and support them in the process of catching up or even excelling beyond their grade level. The Alpine Union School District needs to prioritize creating policies and practices that support teachers and their ability to understand individual student needs to effectively meet the needs of every student. Policies that support teachers in this aspect of education are crucial.
One of the most effective programs that address learning deficiencies is the concept of collaborative teaching teams. This process divides the teaching of topics and segments students into groups based on abilities. The program includes frequent assessments of a student's progress and documents this to understand each student's needs on a regular basis. This program also directly involves the school principal to support teachers and be responsible for the program's overall success.
3. Do you have any criticism of the way the district handled its responses to COVID (remote learning vs. in-person, masking, vaccines, campus shutdowns, social distancing, etc.) – have policies been too strict, not strict enough, or about right?
The pandemic was challenging for everyone. It is easy to criticize any group of leaders regarding their decisions in extraordinary times. However, criticizing leaders for high-level choices in this situation doesn’t serve anyone. Parents had polarizing opinions on masks, vaccines, and whether or not children should be taught in class during the pandemic. There were no easy answers in a situation like this. The school board decisions were challenging at that time. However, I have an issue with how some decisions were implemented.
I speak to parents in Alpine every week and hear a significant amount of feedback about our school district. Some of the comments I have listened to relate to divisive policies or practices in our school district during the pandemic that excluded certain students. Students that were advised by their parents not to wear masks were told to sit outside and were excluded from their peers. These are the types of decisions or practices that exclude students and ignore students’ emotional well-being. Several parents have commented that their child came home crying because they were excluded. The superintendent and the school board need to be very deliberate on every policy and ensure that not a single child is ever excluded because of the beliefs or the directive the parent gives their child, as these decisions impact the emotional well-being of our children. We always need to keep our children safe. Yet, we also need to consider the emotional impact of excluding any group of children in school and social environments.
4. What more might be done in the district to protect students and teachers from gun violence, given the rise in school shootings nationwide?
I have spent my entire career as a teacher, principal, and now as a leader in San Diego Unified School District where I work directly with teachers, principals, and superintendents. The safety of students is the most critical aspect of schools and nothing is more important than children feeling safe and being safe. Uvalde has taught us that in the face of an armed intruder, even the most trained law enforcement can be ineffective against a single armed threat. I do not know a single teacher who wants to carry a gun or believes having a gun in their classroom is a good idea. Many teachers fear that arming teachers creates a potentially catastrophic scenario. The more likely scenario that teachers fear is that a disgruntled student that knows a teacher has a gun overpowers or takes that gun and turns it on a teacher, student, or anyone in the school. This is a far more likely scenario that many teachers have expressed to me, which is their nightmare. Teachers should never be put in a position where they need to take a life as part of their job.
5. Which programs would be funding priorities for you?
The Alpine School District needs to focus on intensive student assessment programs, integrate systems that monitor student progress to ensure gaps are being closed, and small group instruction at all grade levels. What we are currently spending our district budget on is not helping our students excel at grade level or above grade level. The challenges our district experiences are not due to a lack of funds.
The lack of significant progress for Joan MacQueen students indicates that the approach the district is taking is clearly not working. Our schools need to focus on programs that utilize small group instruction at all grade levels and programs that include regular, individualized assessments of students. The district has spent over $890,000 on software for our schools since 2019. While software does play a role in teaching environments, nothing is close to what a teacher can provide their students. Numerous studies demonstrate this. We cannot rely on computers to teach our students or play a significant role in student learning. Computers are tools; they are not teachers. The lack of progress and decline in student scores at Joan MacQueen between 2016 and 2022 demonstrates a lack of effective teaching resources, a lack of small group instruction, and potentially an over-reliance on technology. Schools have to understand student challenges and address them through teacher-student interaction.
Teachers understand how to support our students. They have the skills to meet the individual needs of each student in their classroom. The Alpine School District needs to focus on the specific needs of our students and provide teachers with the resources to increase individualized instruction.
6. Regarding civility and divisiveness, how would you set an example for students and others in contentious discussions during school board meetings?
Disagreements on boards and in organizations often happen when there is no common focus for a group or when strategies and goals are not agreed to ahead of time. Divisiveness is a more significant challenge that typically comes from personal and/or political motives.
School boards have an obligation to set an example with their professionalism. Decision-making processes are founded on agreement on goals and priorities. Successful organizations and school districts use a strategic plan that is more common in non-profit and for-profit companies. A strategic plan is developed by an organization’s leaders that outlines the Vision for the future, Goals, Key Objectives, and the Process for achieving the goals. The plan must be straightforward and can be understood by everyone.
The most effective plans are short, focused, and far more practical than traditional academic or school board plans. The most effective strategic plans are developed on a single page and can be understood clearly by the entire community. The plan outlines the principles for decision-making and the strategy for achieving its goals. Effective strategic plans are developed every year from scratch and don’t automatically incorporate any previous priorities and goals. This requires all board members to think through and rethink how to improve and achieve goals that are important for all students' success in the Alpine School District.
7. What are your views on the teaching of critical race theory, teaching history/civics, banning books, or other hot-button issues raised in some other districts?
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a very divisive concept. Critical Race Theory was developed in the 1980s and only recently reappeared to become a political topic in the media. Critical Race Theory began as a topic taught in law schools that eventually made it into the political realm. Just over 30 years later, it is now being used politically. None of this benefits our children’s education. Schools have been teaching U.S. history for generations and there is no need to change what our schools teach. We need to focus on teaching the fundamentals of history, including the atrocities. Except for significant historical events, there is no need to focus on any specific group. Our children benefit from being taught traditional history. We should engage students in discussions so they can learn U.S. and world history. We need to focus on the fundamentals of education for our children and not be political.
Banning books is also a significant part of our history that has re-emerged to become a political topic that provides ammunition for politicians. I have visited our schools in Alpine and reviewed the books in our schools. I did not find a single book that was not aligned with the curriculum our schools teach or that is not aligned with the values of virtually every parent that I have spoken with in Alpine. We don’t need to ban books or engage in this type of political divisiveness. As a district, we need to listen to the community and what our schools need to reflect the values of our community while teaching the fundamentals of education that make students successful.
8. Are there any other issues you’re concerned about, such as teacher shortages, or other information you’d like our readers to know about the district or your candidacy?
The biggest issue in Alpine is the lack of transparency that the Alpine School Board provides the community. The current school board does not communicate with the community, and many issues never become a part of the school board record. This is especially problematic. The current Alpine School Board consists of the same five people, with the current board dating back to 2016. It is important to note that the current Alpine School Board has aligned with each other to get re-elected. This is a problem because it shows that our school board has become political and not based on what is good for our students. During the last eight years, education in Alpine has not improved in any substantial way, which is demonstrated by assessment results.
The approach that the district and the current school board are taking does not appear to be changing, even in the face of declining test scores and declining enrollment at Joan MacQueen Middle School. Enrollment at Joan MacQueen has consistently declined from 512 students in 2017 to 385 students in 2022. In addition, the vast majority of students that do remain at Joan MacQueen Middle School are not prepared for high school.
9. Do you have endorsements and/or a webpage you’d like to share?
My website is www.erikasimmons.org. I have weekly office hours every Tuesday (4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.) and Saturday (9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.) at The Cromwell Building (2538 Alpine Blvd., Alpine, CA), next to Janet’s Cafe. If my office hours are not convenient, please reach out to me and we can schedule an appointment. I am also available via email at erikasimmons.alpine@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
I also spend significant time connecting with the community and Alpine businesses to share my vision and priorities. As a result, I have gained endorsements and support from numerous organizations and Alpine businesses, including: Alpine Fence, Alpine Landscape Materials, Alpine Postal Annex, Alpine Schools Classified Staff Union, Alpine Teachers/Past and Current, Alpine VFW Members, Bella’s Closet, Casino Inn Bar & Grill, Chic Boutique, Coyote’s Motorcycle Tires, Cromwell Home Group, Dinner Bell Alpine, East County Parent Alliance, Janet’s Café, Janos Pizza , Jay's Southern Cafe BBQ, The MTVD (Motivated), Mountain Materials, Inc., Natural Instincts Healthy Pet Center, Panda Machi, Right to Bear, Rustic Roots, Stoney Oaks Ranch.
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