District outlines application process; Will interview and
appoint new trustee Dec. 12
Gilroy – A new trustee will soon slide into the vacant board seat after what’s bound to be a lengthy procedure.
Who will replace TJ Owens, whose term on the Gilroy Unified School District board was cut short when he suddenly died in October, is still a mystery.
Owens, who was serving as president at the time, had one year left on his term.
Locals interested in serving on the Gilroy Unified School District board must submit their applications to the district office by 5pm on Tuesday. But that’s not nearly the end of the procedure.
During Thursday’s board meeting Trustee Tom Bundros staged a PowerPoint presentation to outline the process the district must abide by to fill the board vacancy.
Trustees Bundros, Rhoda Bress and Jaime Rosso, who volunteered to serve on the subcommittee overseeing the board vacancy process, put together a timeline to ensure that the board abides by the 60-day deadline.
After submitting their application package – which should include a cover letter, resume and at least three references – candidates have until 5pm Dec. 2 to turn in their written responses to the board’s ten questions.
On Dec. 12 at 6pm, all of the candidates who submit an application will be interviewed by both the community and the board.
During the interview, candidates will have three minutes to deliver an opening statement at the beginning of the evening. After the speeches, each trustee will pose an individual question to the candidate. The board has also set aside 30 minutes for community questions.
Candidates must limit their responses to two-minutes per question, from both the community and the board.
Once the community questions have ended, each board member will write the names of their two top choices and hand them to Diaz. The two finalists will then spend 40 more minutes answering another round of questions from board members and the public.
After both candidates deliver their three-minute closing statement, the board will hold a vote.
Assuming there are five applicants, Bundros estimated that the entire process should take nearly four hours. Bundros said the subcommittee based their assumption on newspaper articles and what they’ve heard in the community.
“So that’s really kind of an approximation,” he said.
Also, that estimate doesn’t include the possibility of a tie. The subcommittee will meet on Wednesday after all the applications are in, to map out every possibility.
As of Friday, Superintendent Edwin Diaz had only received two applications, one from former board member Kai Lai and a second from David Stiffler.
Lai, who is currently vacationing in Bhutan, served on the board for 10 years from 1981 to 1991. Stiffler was unavailable for comment as of press time Friday.
Other former board members including Bob Heisey, Bob Kraemer and John Gurich, are also expected to apply but all of the men have refused to give a concrete answer.
“I have no comment until I’m ready to make a comment,” said Kraemer over the phone on Friday.
Gurich said two board members have sent him e-mails requesting that he toss his name in the applicant pool but the teacher and football coach would only name David McRae. He said the other board member probably doesn’t want the community to know.
Over the phone on Friday, McRae confirmed that he sent an e-mail to Gurich after Owens’ death because he thinks Gurich reflects many of the values that Owens represented.
“I’m open to all the candidates first of all, seriously, but I’m also looking at replacing TJ Owens, which means voters selected Owens because he was a teacher and strongly involved in sports,” he said.
McRae pointed out that Owens and Gurich both worked together to ensure that GUSD was abiding by the state’s physical education requirements. Still, McRae said he’s open to appointing someone with new perspectives.
Gurich still refused to confirm his interest on Friday, but did note that he’s leaning toward not applying after learning that Lai had submitted an application.
“They got their guy,” he said. “Kai Lai is their guy.”
But Bundros said that’s “absolutely” not true.
Bundros said he thinks he may have met Lai once but he wouldn’t even recognize him if he saw him on the street.
“We’re excited about the process,” he said. “We’re interested to see who will apply … There has been no decision made.”
Candidate Questions
1. Why are you seeking the School Board position?
2. What qualifications do you bring to the School Board position?
3. What is the role of a school board?
4. What do you believe are the major issues facing GUSD?
5. How well is GUSD serving the needs of students?
6. What are your ideas about improving academics in GUSD?
7. What is the role of parental involvement and how would you promote it?
8. What is your understanding of No Child Left Behind and its impact on GUSD?
9. What is your understanding of the GUSD Accountability Plan?
10. What is your understanding of the GUSD Facilities Master Plan?
Timeline
•Tuesday, 5pm: Deadline for candidate applications
• Dec. 2, 5pm: Deadline for written responses to the GUSD board’s questions
• Dec. 5: Applications and written responses to be delivered to board members
• Dec. 12, 6pm: Study session to interview candidates and to select person to fill the vacancy
