School board candidates mostly agree in virtual forum

DOWNEY — Downey Unified School District board of education hopefuls shared their thoughts, opinions, and goals on a varying range of topics during a candidates’ forum held on Tuesday evening.

The event was hosted on Zoom through a partnership between The Downey Patriot and the Downey Chamber of Commerce. It was moderated by Patriot editor Eric Pierce.

Eight candidates across four trustee areas fielded questions on various topics, including but not limited to COVID-19 response, police presence on campus, abolishment, social issues, and graduation rates.

Four trustee areas -- 2, 3, 4 and 6 - are up for grabs in November.

Trustee Area 2 is currently sought by Cathy Ballon-Godinez, Angie Rademaker and Jose Rodriguez.

In District 3, incumbent Giggy Perez-Saab looks to defend her seat against opponents Carlos Avalos and Ethan Matthew Rodriguez.

Trustee Areas 4 and 6 are already decided, due to candidate Linda Salomon and incumbent D. Mark Morris running unopposed. While it was made clear early on in the presentation that the contested races would be more of the focus, both Salomon and Morris were allowed to participate.

When asked what grade candidates would give the district in regard to its COVID-19 response, most candidates responded with some form of an “A.”

One of those individuals involved directly in the district’s COVID-19 response was incumbent Saab.

“There’s always a little bit of room for improvement, but again, this is a pandemic; nobody has ever encountered this kind of situation before,” said Saab. “I’m extremely proud of our district, proud of our teachers, proud of our students, proud of our administrators, but above all proud of our students…”

“I’ve been working with our return to school committee since April, trying to make sure that when we do return to school, that we are prepared…with the proper equipment, and the proper personal protection for all of our staff and students.”

The only candidate not to give an A was one of Saab’s opponents, Avalos, who gave a grade of B+.

“Being a parent of a child here in the district, I think it is an unprecedented time,” said Avalos. “Yes the district did react just like many other districts…but I believe they were a little bit slow in response with the instructional package, especially the younger ones – the one still learning penmanship, learning how to write.”

“I do believe we need to provide more support to our instructional staff, our classified staff, and all of our students, especially special needs students.”

On police, all candidates voiced approval for the continued relationship between DUSD and the Downey Police Department.

Godinez said that officers make parents, students, and staff “feel safe.”

“With so much craziness out that there is right now, we are fortunate to have them right there,” said Godinez.

[Jose] Rodriguez said that it was important for students to know why officers were on campus while also fostering relationships.

“Building relationships with the police, I think it’s important to just maintain the consistency – if possible – with the officers that go onsite, if you’re able to develop a good relationship with the student,” said Rodriguez.

Candidates were also faced with the prospect of abolishment of the district, which some former students have called for after allegations of sexual misconduct and discrimination have arisen over the last few months.

While no candidate agreed with the calls to abolish, there was a strong mutual stand against the alleged activity.

[Ethan] Rodriguez called abolishment “a pretty extreme sentiment to express,” however said it was expressed in “reaction to some pretty serious circumstances.”

“What it is is an expression of frustration with a system that has continued to allow these kinds of teachers to penetrate our school system,” said Rodriguez. “I think first and foremost what needs to occur is we take a very strong look at what it is we are doing as far as employment goes and take extreme preventative action, because if no change is occurring, then next time – God forbid – that happens, then those sentiments are going to come back tenfold. Then, we’ll have to answer for what we have not done to help out the victims.”

Rademaker called for partnership between parents, students, counselors, psychiatrists, and teachers.

“We need to unite, and we need to listen to our students; not take it like, ‘Oh, there’s no problem,’” said Rademaker. “We want our students to feel safe, and we want our parents to feel safe about sending their students to school.”

Avalos potentially dropped the biggest bombshell answer of all candidates.

“I believe that as a district, we should do more to engage with our parents and those students, reach out to them…they felt that disconnect,” said Avalos. “As a product of Downey Schools…I personally did not receive any of those attacks or discriminations against me, but I do have friends that did feel discriminated against. So, it’s been a long, I would say, kind of tradition in the district. So, I do feel for those students, and as a board member  I would reach out to them and our superintendent and make sure we’re listening and opening up...to make sure that everyone does have a voice within the district.”

All candidates also supported implementation of curriculum that addressed social justice and equality issues.

Saab said that this was a topic that was “very important in today’s world with everything going on.” She specifically highlighted the recently formed Human Relations Council.

“The Human Relations Council has been meeting regularly over the last few months to address these concerns, and to develop best practices to respond to the needs of all of our students,” said Saab.

She added that curriculum should be “age appropriate and include learning outcomes.”

 [Ethan] Rodriguez expressed opinions that implementation of inclusive curriculum was the first step to solving social injustice issues.

“Racism, discrimination, intolerance, they all begin in an environment of ignorance,” said Rodriguez. “I believe that setting our kids up with a strong foundation of what it means to be an American and what it means to be proud is a vital step towards getting toward a situation where we don’t have to think about these kinds of things.”

“But we have to start addressing them; we have to acknowledge that they do exist, and we have to start teaching it to our kids, so that way we can get to a point in the future where it’s not as big of a problem.”

Several candidates voiced opinions that parents should be kept aware of the topics and materials being presented in the curriculum.

[Jose] Rodriguez said that the district should collect input from all major stakeholders.

 “I think it’s important to get some feedback so we can get some buy in moving forward,” said Rodriguez.

Rademaker said that she wished parents would be informed.

“Get them involved; let them know what’s happening,” said Rademaker. “I want to see the district, the parents, whoever else we need to involve so that parents aren’t shocked when they hear about the books that they’re reading to [students].” 

The event closed with questions from the virtual audience, and closing statements.

The forum can be viewed on the Downey Patriot’s Facebook page.