Dear SYV Voters,
On October 18, 2024, a group of local school board trustees began circulating a letter intended to influence Santa Ynez Valley voters in the November 5th election for the SYVUHSD, Trustee Area 5.
The letter distorts the truth and falsely asserts that the incumbent in this race fixed problems in our district that serves SYV and Refugio High Schools.
Let’s get some things straight…
Why I’m running for the SYVUHSD Board
I’m running to serve all students and staff, and to resolve the dysfunction and negligence with which the incumbent, my opponent, has led the board and district. In the past two years, we’ve all seen repeated stories of great concern come out of the district. The media has responded, parents, students and school officials have seen it, and I know that every student, faculty and team member deserve better.
In only two years…
The incumbent took office in November 2022. With no education board experience, he was immediately installed as board president in a coordinated action by a 4 to 1 vote. Since then, our community and the media have shared stories of cultural division and attacks on our schools’ most vulnerable individuals.
In January, 2023, a 16-year-old Latino student was followed, cornered and tranquilized on our campus. The school’s long-standing and award winning PTSA, dedicated to supporting all students, having the most diverse board in its history and setting record membership, was dissolved via administration efforts between March and September, 2023. Administration decisions led to the first-ever student walkout in April 2023 when it reneged on a promise made to the students. Less than a month later, a well-respected and motivated principal resigned his position citing outside pressures, the third principal to resign in just three years. Doubling down on attacks on vulnerable student populations in the Fall of 2023, the board quietly contracted with FAIR; a training program with known political motivations, social agendas, and policies that could harm children. Protests from the public and students forced them to cancel the contract and the mid-semester resignation of the district superintendent followed soon after.
Since the incumbent seized board leadership two years ago, our district has seen more than a dozen valued faculty and staff members resign. The district has incurred legal fees in excess of $200,000 from public requests for information (CPRA) alone and has rejected engaging with State resources that would bring promising new opportunities to our schools. Services and classes have vanished and the infrastructure is crumbling, but we just spent $5 million on a locker room renovation.
None of the aforementioned happens without board oversight, approval or action. The incumbent has repeatedly and clearly demonstrated resistance to building campus and school cultures wherein all students and staff members feel safe, welcome, and a sense of belonging. Instead, the incumbent and his supporters continue to propagate cultural and political divisions within our schools and community.
Our students, faculty and staff cannot afford 4 more years of this!
SYV voters deserve to know what’s going on with our schools and we deserve better representation on our district board. That’s why I promise to serve with integrity, transparency, and kindness. I have the backbone to stand up to powerful voices, the experience to manage difficult conversations, and the patience and determination to leave it better than I found it.
I encourage you to talk to your friends and neighbors about these issues. Together, we can build a greater future for our schools. Let’s start today!
Their letter does get two things right…
My daughter does go to a private school and this is an incredibly important election for our district.
We, as parents, feel immensely fortunate and grateful to have our child continue in her mother’s footsteps by attending a school where her grandmother worked for 25 years. Attacking a candidate for their parenting decisions, making them the subject of public scrutiny, and using this fact to raise questions about qualifications to serve is incredibly disingenuous and disappointing behavior for elected officials to indulge in. We deserve better.
I’m not running to create opportunities for my one student.
I want all students – your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, foster kids, neighbors – EVERY STUDENT! – to have an educational experience that teaches them to grow, thrive, and learn to fulfill their own dreams.
That’s why I deserve your vote this year.
Yours in service,
Joshua A. Jones
Candidate for SYVUHSD Governing Board, Trustee Area 5
Proud member of the SYV community
Comments are closed