Paso Robles school district needs a new board member. Here’s how to apply
The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District’s board of education has an open seat and is now accepting applications.
The North County school district’s current board voted during its Tuesday evening meeting to appoint a new trustee — saving the district the estimated $200,000 it could have cost a special election for the seat.
The new trustee will replace Jim Reed, who resigned from the school board in late October to be closer to his family in Texas, according to district Superintendent Curt Dubost. Reed had served on the board for about 10 months.
The application process for the school board seat is open through Nov. 24. After the deadline passes, school board members will interview candidates and select a new trustee by the end of this year.
During Tuesday evening’s meeting, Paso Robles teachers indicated they already have a candidate they’d like to endorse for the seat: Jim Cogan.
Cogan ran for the school board during the 2020 general election but lost by 149 votes, according to the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. He was endorsed by Paso Robles Public Educators, former school board members Joel Peterson and Stephanie Ulibarri, Paso Robles City Council members Maria Garcia and John Hamon, Gina Fitzpatrick of the Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce, the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party and others, according to his campaign website.
A new trustee will join a school board that has tackled several controversial matters over the past few years.
After recovering from financial turmoil during the previous school district administration, several school board members did not run for reelection in 2020 or lost in their campaigns to keep their seats.
The current Paso Robles school board had to then respond to a subsequent San Luis Obispo Superior Court grand jury report and examine how it would improve its practices to better hold district administrators to account.
With declining enrollment negatively impacting the budget, a district advisory committee suggested the school district close the Georgia Brown Elementary School campus — a decision the school board will have to tackle soon.
At the end of the 2019-20 school year and through this current school year, the Paso Robles school board has been tasked with steering the district in its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current school board at one point voted to tentatively “go to war” with state public health officials and the district’s teachers union by reopening schools to in-person instruction ahead of when COVID-19 restrictions would have allowed.
Although COVID-19 conditions in San Luis Obispo County improved before then, the move by the school board could have potentially given the state Public Health Department the authority to close the school district, according to Brad Pawlowski, Paso Robles Unified’s assistant superintendent of business services.
On other COVID-19-regulation matters, the school board voted reluctantly — “under the thumb of tyranny,” as one board member put it — to enforce the state’s indoor masking mandate for classrooms. Their decision came after much heated debate.
The school board has also been faced with curriculum decisions.
After hours of public comment and heavy debate, the board approved a new ethnic studies course in March to be taught starting the 2020-21 school year. Board members were critical of the new course and worried students would be taught to be ashamed of their race or ethnicity.
In August, the school board banned aspects of critical race theory from being taught in Paso Robles classrooms. The board passed a resolution that allowed the subject to be taught in classrooms, but only if “such instruction focuses (sic) on the flaws in critical race theory.”
The resolution the Paso Robles school board passed directly contradicts district policy, which allows controversial issues to be taught so long as “all sides of the issue are given a proper hearing.”
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District is the second school district in San Luis Obispo County looking to fill a vacant position.
Lucia Mar Unified School District is also seeking a new trustee after board member Vern Dahl died in late October.
Individuals interested in applying to the Paso Robles school board can find additional information on the district’s website at www.pasoschools.org.
