Eight people are fighting for just one school board seat in the Chula Vista Elementary School District. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis explains why there’s so much interest.
At first there were 39 candidates. However the Chula Vista Elementary School Board will consider only eight. The new list includes a former San Diego police chief, the wife of a Chula Vista city councilman and the president of the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce. Most candidates say they want to help manage California’s largest elementary school district. Doctor Perry Mathes is also running. He says the board neglects older schools on the city’s west side.
Mathes: There are three schools that do not have adequate security. That I could drive up in a teachers parking lot, park my van and literally within 30 seconds go to the playground, grab a kid, go back in the van and nobody would know anything different.
Trustees plan to appoint someone by next week.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
