Incumbents Leanding in Sasualito Marin City School Board Race - 11/07/2006 - By Don Speich

Incumbents leading in Sausalito Marin City school board race
Don Speich
Article Launched:11/07/2006 09:00:48 PM PST

Three incumbents and a challenger are leading in early results for four seats on the Sausalito Marin City School District Board in a contest fueled by promises to turn around the district's 40-year history of failure.

With 957, or 19.7 percent of the votes tallied, incumbents Shirley Thornton received 651 or 25.9 percent of the vote; Whitney Hoyt, 638 or 24.69 percent; George Stratigos, 594 or 22.99 percent and challenger Elizabeth Todd-Gallardo 536 or 56.01 percent.

Todd-Gallardo is running to complete the final two years Robert Fisher's term. Fisher, who is trailing with 418 or 43.68 percent of the vote, was appointed to the board in 2005. He is currently on trial for failure to pay child support.

Also losing are challengers Mark Trotter, a former board member who was defeated by Hoyt in 2004, and Peter Romanosky, a Sausalito salvager and a frequent candidate for a variety of boards in Marin.

The incumbents said they wanted to continue the job of trying to improve the schools, whereas Todd-Gallardo and Trotter said new leadership was essential.

Hoyt, 45, political director of the National Abortion Rights League and the former principal of Mill Valley Middle School, said she felt the district, whose three schools
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recently have registered improved test scores, was "in the middle of lots of things" and noted what she felt would be the lasting significance of bringing in new top administrators and teachers.

"We finally have the leadership in place that is focusing 100 percent on teaching and learning. I feel responsible for bringing them in, and I want to keep working with them."

Likewise, Stratigos and Thornton, key players in a 1998 recall of several board members, pointed to improved test scores and said that the district was well on its way to achieving Vision 900, the board's slogan denoting a 900 API test score - which would be a jump of more than 200 points from the current ranking.

Stratigos, 45, a fundraising consultant, and Thornton, 67, a veteran educator and adjunct professor of education at California State University, Sacramento, stressed their desire to finish the job of establishing excellence as the norm.

Said Thornton: "We haven't finished the job. We promised with the recall that we would have schools that are on a par with the other (districts) in Marin County, and that will be done in my last term."

Trotter, a former board member who was defeated by Hoyt in 2004, argued that Willow Creek Academy, the district's charter school, is being short-changed financially by the district and is suffering from over-crowding.

He also said the board operated in a vacuum, reaching out little if at all to the community who, he said, felt alienated.

Todd-Gallardo said she had decided to run because she saw the need for new leadership to assure academic achievement.

"They are bright kids and deserve the best," she said.

She also expressed concerns with the district's budget.

"I want to find out where all the money is going," she said, referring to the district's per pupil expenditure of $22,232 - compared to the county average of $10,895.

Fisher, who is retired and, like Thornton and Hoyt, is a resident of Marin City, said he was committed to the notion that every child "be given an opportunity to get a quality education.

"Since I have been there, I like to think that my insistence in keeping the focus on education has made sure that has happened."

Read more Election stories at the IJ's Election page.

Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com