Interview with School Board Candidate Susan Lovenburg

Each day this week, the Vanguard will have an interview with one of the candidates for school board. The election is November 6, 2007. Today's interview is with Susan Lovenburg. The other three interviews were done in person, verbally, recorded and transcribed. However, this interview was done via email for logistical reasons. Please bear that in my when you compare the responses from Ms. Lovenburg to other candidates.

1. Why are you running for the Davis School Board?

I believe that public education offers us the best opportunity to educate all children well, is a great societal equalizer, and that educators, parents, students, and the rest of our community share a responsibility for helping our children achieve their fullest potential. During my ten years of volunteer experience in Davis schools, I have gradually broadened my focus from my children’s classrooms, to their schools, to their several schools, and then to the district as a whole. This level of understanding - of our schools, teachers and students, and the issues they face - is critical knowledge for effective board members. I believe that I am ready to join the Board in providing responsible oversight of our District.

2. Tell us about your background and experience in education.

My father was in the Air Force as I was growing up, so we were often on the move. My family settled in upstate New York when I was in my teens. I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Education from Cornell University, and a Master of Library Science from Syracuse University. In my professional life, I have worked in public, academic, and special libraries, and developed and delivered adult education programs.

My husband, Peter Robinson, is Canadian and we have lived in both the US and Canada. We moved to Davis in 1997 when Peter was hired as a research scientist in the UC Davis Department of Animal Science. We have three daughters: two attend Willett Elementary and one attended Emerson Junior High and is now a senior at Davis High School.

3. You have an extensive record as a parent-volunteer in the district, can you elaborate on that.

I have been active as a school volunteer for the ten years that I have lived in Davis. I began as editor of the Willett Elementary school newsletter in 1998 and continued that responsibility until spring of this year. I have been a classroom garden parent for five years and most recently the Willett Garden Coordinator. I administered school listserves at Willett and Emerson, and served as 2nd Vice President responsible for parent education at Davis High School last year, organizing sessions on topics such as standardized assessment, teen driving, and Answering the Questions of Substance Use. I served for two years as the PTA representative on the DHS Site Council and I attended the Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Committee on behalf of Willett. I also attend Board of Education meetings on a frequent basis.

I chose these volunteer positions because they interested and challenged me, and provided opportunities to keep the parent community informed and connected to our schools.

4. What are your top educational priorities?

· Offering all students a high quality education
· Narrowing the achievement gap
· Maintaining our current educational programs despite decreased funding due to declining enrollment

5. What educational programs would like to add, modify, or enhance?

I am concerned that the District is currently deficit spending, using one time monies to pay ongoing expenses. For the health of our educational system, that cannot continue. All new spending must be carefully evaluated. That said, I am pleased that Measure Q, the instructional parcel tax that voters will be asked to renew this fall, includes funding for elementary math specialists, and an improved nutritional program using local farm fresh fruits and vegetables in the lunches served to our students in addition to the many other programs this parcel tax has always funded on an ongoing basis. I encourage all those who support Davis schools to vote yes on Measure Q.

I would also like to see us develop a stable funding source for school libraries. State funding has dropped precipitously over the last several years, leaving school libraries virtually unfunded and scrambling for site funds every year or dependent upon PTA and PTO support to meet basic educational program needs.

6. What are your feelings about GATE?

My view of GATE is similar to that of our other special magnet programs like Montessori, Spanish Immersion, Davis School for Independent Study, Martin Luther King High School, and Da Vinci High School. These programs offer various learning modalities to our many students, helping us to better serve their individual needs. They make our District unique and attract new families to our town. It is important that we not only preserve these programs, but ensure that they serve students in the best way possible.

7. As you know Davis schools are usually among the top schools in the state, however, last spring the Superintendent presented statistics that showed when compared to similar schools, Davis is in the middle pack as opposed at the top, so how do you respond to that and how do we improve the Davis schools?

Similar School Scores, like the Academic Performance Index, are based on student performance on STAR tests for a given school or district. There are varied opinions about the validity of this measure of achievement, but it does provide one means of evaluating how well our students are learning the content standards set forth by the state.

To improve the performance of Davis students on STAR tests, the focus needs to be on making sure that all students successfully learn the foundational skills outlined in the content standards. There are formative assessment tools available that can make this process more effective. Targeting intervention where it is particularly needed, as in the case of grade 4-6 math specialists, will also help address this need.

8. One the biggest concerns in the district has been lack of minority hires, how do we go about recruiting and hiring more minorities?

Historically the Davis school district has had difficulty attracting and keeping minority teachers and staff. Across the state and nation, the pool of minority teachers and administrators is small. Davis needs to recruit and retain a staff that reflects the cultural and racial diversity of our student body. I believe that with the recent hiring of Superintendent James Hammond, who is a person of color, we have made our District a more welcoming place to work. We must continue recruitment efforts to attract quality staff of all backgrounds and ethnic groups to our district, and also to provide encouragements for those already here to improve their qualifications and move up the ranks.

9. How do we close the achievement gap between on the one hand Whites and Asians and on the other hand blacks and Hispanics?

Low income, Hispanic, African American, and English Language Learners significantly under-perform white and Asian students in our District. This is not a problem unique to Davis, and is not one easily solved, but I do believe we have the means and the ability to change this dynamic in our schools. A thoughtful, concerted, planned approach is necessary. The Achievement Gap Task Force began this work and it should be continued by our administrators, teachers, and paraeducators who work on a daily basis with these children. Again, making sure that all students learn foundational skills seems to be key to closing the gap, and passage of Measure Q will provide funding to assist in this effort.

10. What types of programs do you advocate for at-risk children?

Research shows that early intervention offers the best chance of improving the educational success of at-risk children. The Achievement Gap Task Force recommended that the District support submitting a grant proposal to Yolo County First Five Commission that would offer at-risk children entering kindergarten an opportunity for intensive preparation before the start of school.

Another recommendation of the Task Force is to explore the possibility of implementing a pilot extended day kindergarten for these students. Development of reading skills at this age is fundamental to later academic success. If the pilot shows student improvement, to the extent funding is available I would like to see a permanent extended day kindergarten in our District for at-risk students.

For older students, safety net programs such as the one offered by the Davis Bridge Educational Foundation have proven successful.

11. What is your view on Valley Oak?

I closely followed the work of the Best Uses of Schools Task Force and publicly supported their recommendation to close Valley Oak as a K-6 campus. Though I initially sought to maintain nine campuses, I came to believe that the decision to close best serves the students of Valley Oak and the District as a whole, not just financially but educationally. It was a heart-wrenching and difficult decision for me as an individual, for the Task Force, and for the Board - and I understand that it is one the families of Valley Oak find difficult to accept - but it has been made and it is time to look forward. My concern now is that the school closure be carefully planned and carried out so that Valley Oak students are given every opportunity to succeed and thrive in their new schools. This process would receive my special attention should I be elected to the Board.

With regard to the proposed charter school, legislation requires that a well-written charter with a good educational plan, sound finances, and commitment from sufficient teachers and families with students to participate, must be approved by the Board. It is my hope that the planners of the charter school are looking carefully at new approaches and new strategies for addressing the needs of low socioeconomic income and English Language Learners, rather than simply trying to preserve the existing Valley Oak program.

12. Given projections of falling enrollment, how can the district find new sources for revenue and also better utilize existing revenue?

I do believe that we are adjusting to the new reality of declining enrollment. That circumstance alone puts our fiscal health at risk since loss of ADA due to declining enrollment requires cuts that reach beyond the classroom. When budget trimming is required, we should look first at operational efficiencies and making sure that we do not fund more facilities and staff than necessary.

Additional ongoing funding sources are not easily found, but we should continually investigate outside and special program funding sources for specific projects, such as the full-day kindergarten pilot program. The sale of the Grande property will bring in additional funds for facilities projects. We need to review our other District assets as well.

13. I am interested in your opinion on the previous Superintendent David Murphy. What were the strengths of David Murphy and what do you think his weaknesses were?

Personnel issues are sensitive, and I know that the Board spent a great deal of time in closed session evaluating Superintendent Murphy’s job performance prior to accepting his resignation. I am not privy to those discussions and can only speak to what I personally observed. While I believe David Murphy served the District admirably for many years, particularly in the area of curriculum development, it was apparent that he delegated a great deal of responsibility for District finances to others on staff. The superintendent is ultimately responsible, however, for supervising and managing those underneath him and knowledge of finances is essential to creating and maintaining good educational programs. Toward the end of David Murphy’s tenure, it was clear that communication and confidence between the Board and the Superintendent were broken, and the Board could no longer effectively conduct its role of responsible oversight on behalf of the community.

14. You were at the Superintendent announcement the other night, what is your reaction to the hiring of the new Superintendent?

I look forward to working with Superintendent James Hammond in whatever capacity my future holds. He appears to have the qualifications, experience, and enthusiasm to lead our District to new levels of success.

15. How do you foresee working with the new superintendent if elected? What role would you like to see the new superintendent play in the district and what role do you see the board performing?

The Board of Education establishes educational goals for the District and provides fiscal oversight. The Superintendent manages the day-to-day operation of our schools. The Board is ultimately responsible to the community for the success of this effort, and if elected, I would take that responsibility seriously, never forgetting that our educational system is here to serve students and their families. But respectful communication between the Board, the Superintendent, and all District staff is critical to moving the district forward in a positive direction.

16. What book are you reading right now?

As a librarian, I’ve waited years for someone to ask me about MY reading preferences! I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while on vacation. I’m reading The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White to my younger girls. I’m in the middle of Why Lincoln Matters by Mario Cuomo, Generation Me by Jean M. Twenge, and The Journals of Lewis and Clark, though I’m embarrassed to tell you how long that one has been in progress. Favorite authors are Jane Austen and E.B. White (especially One Man’s Meat), and I love Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney and Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss.

17. What political figure either of the past or contemporary do you most admire?

I have a special fondness for both FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt for the good they were able to accomplish for our society at a time when we were particularly vulnerable to negative influences.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Big Time Changes Coming to the Vanguard

As the People's Vanguard of Davis moves firmly into its second year in existence, we will be launching many major changes beginning just after Labor Day including a major new marketing campaign as well as bringing forward many other additional features to what we currently offer.

Just some of the changes that we are looking at are the addition of another writer, more guest commentaries, partnerships with local elected officials and grassroots organizations to bring more information directly into the homes of Davis and Yolo County residents, among other changes that will be announced during the course of September.

We will also be implementing a major new marketing plan that will both increase our revenue and increase our readership by nearly 50% per month.

One big push that we will be various means of informing the public about the Vanguard and the services that we perform. In order to implement this plan, we would like to solicit the support of just 10 volunteers who will agree to walk their own precinct to drop literature that we are in the process of creating and tell their neighbors about the Vanguard. If this is something that you are interested and able to do, please contact me via email and in the next few weeks we will implement this plan.

This is just the first step of a major September push by the Vanguard. Stay tuned for further changes and developments.

---Doug Paul Davis

Measure Q: The School Parcel Tax Funds Vital Programs for All Davis Students

One of the most important items on the November Ballot will be the renewal of the school's parcel tax--Measure Q. The parcel tax funds roughly $16 million dollars over the course of the four years of existence, that accounts for roughly 5 to 10 percent of the district's budget according to Interim Superintendent Richard Whitmore.

According to Gina Daleiden,

“Overall the parcel tax is designed so that it touches every child at every grade level. That’s why we keep referring to the K-12 program measure, because its every child, every school, every grade level.”

I sat down a couple of weeks ago with the Interim Superintendent Richard Whitmore and School Board Member Gina Daleiden to discuss the parcel tax and what it means for the Davis school district. It is important to note that Richard Whitmore was only there to provide factual information, he was not directly advocating for the passage of Measure Q.

As you might imagine, with the parcel tax accounting for a sizable percentage of the budget, the ramifications for the district, were the parcel tax not be renewed would be devastating.

According to Board member Gina Daleiden:

"If we were going to have to cut 16 million dollars over four years out of our budget that would obviously be a huge and very painful change. I think it would lead to the elimination of a lot of the programs that make Davis Schools, Davis Schools."

Davis was among the first districts in fact to pass the parcel tax in the state of California. This was the result of Proposition 13 in 1978, which did two things, first it capped property tax revenues and second it required a two-thirds vote to increase taxes.

"A lot of the districts eliminated things that Davis kept because we have the parcel tax... And so things like the music program and its foreign language offerings, the extensive art offerings, those are made possible by the seventh period in the junior highs and the high school. If you go to [other] schools around the area they don't have seven period's offered, they have six, and so if your student wants to take orchestra and a foreign language or art and a foreign language, those opportunities are more available here. Class size reduction, that takes a lot of funding beyond what's offered around the state, and many districts they've eliminated that."

According to Interim Superintendent Richard Whitmore, without the parcel tax you would see a number of layoffs as the district would have to cut both regular and specialist teachers. We would have larger class sizes across the board and fewer elective offerings in the junior and senior high schools.

The parcel tax will go up during the four year period 34 dollars per year over the parcel tax in the previous four year period.

Superintendent Whitmore explained that because there is not any kind of "auto-inflator" on it, "you have to set the number to be what you think the costs will be over the four year period."

According to Board Member Daleiden the increases are there primarily to cover inflation, however there are two new programs funded as well.

"It mostly is to cover the cost of inflation—programs cost more, people cost more. It mostly covers that. There are two new components that are relatively small percentage-wise out of the parcel tax. One is to increase the offering of fresh fruits and vegetables in the school lunches and the other is for math support for students who need it. And that would be elementary school, 4th through 6th grades for the math support to help kids be ready to take algebra."

For the first time the district is offering waivers to senior citizens who have fixed incomes and would therefore be unduly burden by such a tax increase. Anyone who is 65 or over is eligible and can apply with the district for the exemption.

The cost of the parcel tax on apartments is increasing from $83 per unit to $100 per unit. According to Superintendent Whitmore,

"The tax is paid by the owner of the dwelling. The landlord essentially is writing the check for the taxes. That landlord can choose to pass through the additional costs or not to pass it through."

He explained that it would be the landlord's choice as to whether to pass the money through to renter, however, again it is important to note that we are only talking about a $17 dollar per year per unit increase, any direct effect on rent would be negligible.

There have been a number of concerns about the fiscal responsibility of the school district in recent years. The most glaring example of that perhaps was the $4.5 million lost to the district because an employee missed a filing deadline. The big news last week was that the district won an appeal was able to recoup that $4.5 million based on steps that have been taken to correct some of the problems in the past. This interview happened before that announcement, however we did discuss at length the perception that the district has had poor fiscal practices in the past and how the voters would be ensured that the money spent was going where they said it will go.

Board Member Daleiden explains,

"I think that first you have to separate different types of funding. So I would agree with you that past practices were not the best. And so that’s why we have a new team in the district office. That would include Interim Superintendent Whitmore and our new CBO Bruce Colby. But, this money, the money that goes to the parcel tax always has and will be, has to be spent specifically on what it says in the ballot statement that it will be spent on. So it will be spent on these particular programs."

The district has always been require to layout and account specifically for how the parcel tax is to be used, but in this parcel tax, the district has gone even further to insure that meony is spent properly.

"New this year is the independent citizens’ oversight committee, and so we will be appointing a committee of you know, community members. Could be business people, parents, whomever, who will meet once a year with the Chief Business Official Bruce Colby and go over all of the expenditures and ensure that every penny is going where we say it is going."

According to Superintendent Whitmore,

"I would just emphasize what Gina said, I think some of the issues that have been the most public have been on the facilities side of the budget not the operating side of the budget. And those capital funds are in separate accounts."

The Superintendent then explained the difference between the general fund money which is basically operating expenses and capital fund money which goes for facilities.

"Primarily in the education code, you keep your operating money in general fund in categorical accounts. So you kind of have little buckets of money from which to run the schools on an annual basis. That’s how you fund your teacher salaries, that’s how you fund classroom supplies, that’s how you fund everything that kind of goes on on a daily basis to educate the kids. The capital accounts have to stay separate. And once money is in a capital account, most sources of capital money require you to keep that money separate. So any state funding for buildings goes into a separate fund account and it’s reported separately to the board."

So the money that was lost and now recouped from Montgomery had no impact on the operating budget.

"Some of the issues that have arisen have been about the Montgomery funding from the state, that doesn’t affect operating funds of the district at all."

Moreover, parcel tax money is tracked on a separate line item from the budget, this allows anyone attempting to audit or follow the money easy access.

According to Superintendent Whitmore,

"There are separate line items in the budget for any parcel tax expenditure so we can keep those funds separate from the rest of the funds, track them. It will allow the oversight committee to do its work because we can go in and say here are the parcel tax line items and here’s where we spent the money the prior year. And then the oversight committee can say, yeah that’s what we intended and that’s what the ballot language requires. If for some reason it was spent somewhere else, the oversight committee can then go report to the board and say hey they’re spending parcel tax money on… sports or some other purpose it wasn’t intended, they can direct the district staff to fix it."

The key according to Board Member Daleiden is transparency. "We wanted it to be as transparent as possible. Hence the oversight committee."

Many of the community have criticized the district for having two Superintendents on the payroll. I have always suggested that was a necessary one-time expense given the past problems of the previous administration. That seems to be the thinking on the school board as well.

" I will state generally when you have a large organization like Davis joint unified, approximately, a 70 million dollar organization, the person who heads that organization is important to how effectively and efficiently it operates, so leadership is something that is hard to put a price tag on, and with the right leadership in place, you can save much more than the salary of the person leading the organization. That’s just a general statement, in terms of exit agreements and so forth, that would be one-time money, and not the type of ongoing money that keeps schools running and programs running… "

While Board Member Daleiden cannot officially comment on the "retirement" of previous Superintendent David Murphy, she did make a general statement.

"This is what I’m allowed to say according to the attorney: There was an exit agreement with the former superintendent, the exit agreement reflects the contract that was signed previously, we’re excited to have Interim Superintendent Richard Whitmore, one of the reasons that we decided to hire him, aside from his winning personality, is his background in finance."

One of the reasons both for the exiting of the previous Superintendent and the hiring of Richard Whitmore on an interim basis until November 8, 2007 was his fiscal experience.

"We needed to have confidence that the person heading up the organization had that kind of expertise and would be able to have good oversight over the fiscal side of the district… Bruce Colby, who is doing a great job also has been rebuilding our budget and putting in new accounting practices so that we don’t have mistakes and things that we don’t know about."

The crux of the concern for passing the parcel tax remains the educational needs of each student in the school district. While the parcel tax is designed to meet the needs of each student, it does so differently at each level.

At the K through 3 level, the primary focus is on reading. The state no longer is able to fund the reading program and according to Ms. Daleiden early reading is absolutely essential for a child's school career.

"Everybody knows that the key to success in a child’s school career really starts with being able to read. And their fluency and their vocabulary… In order to make sure every child has the opportunity for success, every child has to be able to read."

She described at length and in detail the "Reading Naturally" program at Birch Lane elementary school. It is a highly individualized program that could not be done in a standard setting of 20 students with class rize reducation let alone 32 students if the district did not have the funding. The students are pulled out of class in small groups of three and four and can move at their own pace. The program covers vocabulary, comprehension, decoding, phonics.

"They also have a story that they’re reading, it’s also on tape, so they listen to the tape and they read through and track with their finger to work on reading fluency, and how you would hear the inflexion, where you stop, etc. Generally for the younger kids, first grade, second grade, they’re listening to the tapes three times usually through and then they are reading with the teacher individually. That kind of focus and repetition depending on what the child needs is entirely different than what they would get just in a fuller setting, you couldn’t do that just in a regular classroom.”

The more schools can individualize the learning, the better off students will be. Class size reduction and specialists help child with individualized needs be able to focus more on the areas of their need.

According to Superintendent Whitmore,

“Every kid has different needs and I think that is what we are trying to address with these extra monies”

At the grades 4 through 6 one of the big focuses is on a new math program that will include math specialist to make sure kids are ready for higher math, algebra by 8th grade according to state regulation.

“To make sure every kid has that opportunity [algebra by 8th grade] you need to catch them early, those 4, 5, 6 when the math gets a bit tougher and a bit more conceptual they need help outside the classroom and they need more small group instruction. That’s what the math specialists that are new editions to the parcel tax will do.”

According to Superintendent Whitmore, at the Junior High School level, the parcel tax aims to support both kids who are on the fast track and those who are in danger of falling behind grade level standards. Money here goes for electives, the seventh period, more hours of library and counseling, at-risk intervention. We see many of the same programs for the high school as well.

“More money at the high school for music, for foreign language, for electives that we would otherwise not be able to fund, but also some opportunities to kids with different learning styles, or different needs.”

Superintendent Whitmore said, “this district probably has one of the best counselor to student ratios in the state.”

While some may complain that Counseling is unnecessary and undoubtedly school counselors have gotten a bad rap over the years, Gina Daleiden made a very powerful case for why a good counseling program is a necessity.

"As we’re talking about closing the achievement gap, to me at least, one of the most important gaps is as kids moves through school and beyond school, we see in this country people who have the opportunity to go to college and those who do not. And without academic counseling particularly for students who don’t come from a background with parents who have gone to college and can help them through that process, or even help them to know not just which classes they need to take, you know A through G requirements to access the university, but the entire process of applying or believing that you can apply and go to this school or that school, they need some support for that and that’s why its important that they have enough counselors that actually meet with all of the students."

The at-risk counselor is funded entirely by this parcel tax. As she points out, at-risk counseling is not only for poor students.

“We have a lot of students who look like they are great, they are straight A students and getting into really good colleges who still are very at risk from a social and emotional standpoint... This is the one resource district wide that we have for all of those students.”

The parcel tax also funds extended library hours at the Junior High and High School level. Extended hours means that the Library is open for students after school and some before school. Gina Daleiden somewhat jokingly suggested, “I kind of think if we wanted to get the high school students, we’d keep it open at night like 9 to 11.” After school hours usually are until about 5 pm. Moreover, libraries provide technology available for students who would not have access at home.

The parcel tax also will fund a new teacher and five new career technical courses.

Superintendent Richard Whitmore tells us this is a major emphasis to ensure a good education for all students regardless of their track.

"Big state focus on career technical programs because I think we need to be sure to give kids multiple pathways to come out of high school. If the kid’s not interested or ready to go to college we want them to be able to enter the workplace with skills that can help them work productively. That’s what career technical education does."

Gina Daleiden adds,

"We have a flourishing agricultural program at the high school thanks to a couple of really enthusiastic teachers. And basically these funds are funding extra FTE... It allows a high school to run these extra courses, it’s not specific to a single course, it just says to that department, here are the FTEs that you have to hire that teacher to offer the courses that kids want to take."

Finally, the parcel tax contains a $20 per student stipend for classroom supplies. "I hope they are spending it on glitter," Board Member Daleiden partially joked.

"It’s not new. This has been in the parcel tax since the beginning to be able to give teachers something very directly. All of this impacts the kids very directly in the classroom, and so supplies is one way. It’s not a lot… So teachers can choose to spend it on art supplies, on manipulatives for their classroom if that’s what they want to get. It could be DVDs, or CDs, or whatever kind of equipment they want to get and that will depend on the teacher."

Board Member Daleiden then summed up why the voters should pass the parcel tax.

“I think everybody in Davis whether or not you have a child ought to be wholly in support of this parcel tax because this is what makes Davis a great place to live in. And this is what sets our community apart.” “In 1983 Davis chose a different path than a lot of school district, and said we the community are willing to give generously so that our students have the best opportunities, and so we can continue to fund very important programs…”

“I think our schools are what make our community and our children, I know it sounds very cliché, but they are our future, and so if you care about that, then you care about this parcel tax.Davis is Davis in part because of the strong schools whether or not you have children that attend or have attended there. vote for this is a vote for the future. In a really corny way, that’s what I mean. I think we have something really special to protect here.”

Regardless of whether or not the parcel tax passes, the state requires the district to fund certain programs. So any cuts would come from those things some might consider extra. Davis schools have remained great in part because of the commitment in the community to continue to fund AP courses, music, art, and other electives or as Ms. Daleiden put it, "those things that keep kids interested and connected to school, those are the things most at risk if this wasn’t to pass."

School Board Member Daleiden encouraged people to examine the parcel tax for themselves. The best source for information is the district office who will provide information only. The district is not campaigning it provides factual information.

For further information please log onto: www.yesforourstudents.org.

“At the end of the day, when everything else is pushed aside from what people are thinking about, this is about the children of this town and their educational opportunities and not about anything else.”

The Vanguard will continue to cover the November election in detail that will not be found elsewhere. The Vanguard will have more information in the coming weeks as we move closer to the November 6, 2007 election which will include also the School Parcel Tax and the School Board elections. The Vanguard is your source for election information.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Measure P Will Keep Our Libraries Open and Flourishing

It will probably surprise very few reading this article, that I have spent a good portion of my life in libraries--whether it was during my childhood when I went to the public library to hear stories and read on my own. Whether it was during graduate school when I would spend hours going through obscure microfilm looking for information. Or even now, I often have to go through the archives to find out information about what happened in this community in the past.

Unfortunately, in many communities libraries are going the way of the dinosaur. This is ashame because libraries are among the most adaptive deposits of information--as information and its storage has changed, so too has the library, with computers, dvds, cds, and other electronic information storage devices helping to replace card catalogues, microfilm, and simple paper. Today the library looks vastly different from the libraries I frequented as a young child or even as a high school student.

Unfortunately, libraries seem to be among the lowest priorities for fundings from local governments starved for adequate resources. Across the nation, hours and collections have been cut back upon. And while university libraries remain vital out of necessity, public libraries are often in deep trouble.

However, Davis is different as we so much like to think. Davis is one of the few communities that is willing to spend taxpayer money to continue library services. And thus in 1989, the city of Davis was able to rescue the Davis Branch Library by passing a $3.50 monthly parcel tax that enabled the library to expand its hours when other were cutting theirs back, upgrade their book collection as others were cutting theirs back, and improve the service to the children and other area residents.

Now 18 years later, Davis residents have a chance to renew their commitment to lifelong learning in their community. A new parcel tax, Measure P, has been placed on the ballot. This parcel tax will increase to $88 per year which is around $7 a month.

To do that requires a two-thirds vote of the Davis voters. In many communities, that is a difficult threshold to meet, but not in Davis. Davis is one of those rare communities where both library and school taxes pass with regularity.

A vote for the library tax will enable the library to continue to stay open 60 hours a week, with hours every single day, nighttime hours, weekend hours, and Sunday hours. Ensure up-to-date book collections and reference materials. Make repairs to the current facility. Expand the children's book collection, story times, and homework assistance programs while at the same time increasing space available for community groups and other organizations. Expand the Children's and Young Adults' libraries, adding computers, books, early literacy services, and assigning extra staff to focus on after-school programs. Increase the number of computers available for public use. And begin to look at providing library services to South Davis.

In a town where political differences punctuate our daily lives and conflict is the norm, it is important to note that every single elected official from the city of Davis is supporting this measure from Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, to the two Davis County Supervisors Mariko Yamada and Helen Thomson, to Sheriff Ed Prieto, to the five city councilmembers and five school board members, and even the public defender. All of them are listed endorsements for this important measure.

The choice is simply, for a slight increase of around $3.50 per month, you can keep the Davis Branch of the library open and flourishing. To me that seems like a no-brainer.

For further information about the measure or to endorse or support Measure P, please log onto to their website.

The Vanguard will have more information including interviews and guest commentary in the coming weeks as we move closer to the November 6, 2007 election which will include also the School Parcel Tax and the School Board elections. The Vanguard is your source for election information.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Commentary: Interesting Split on the Cannery Park Property

Friday's Davis Enterprise captured an interesting debate within the progressive community as to what ought to be done with the roughly 100 acre Hunt-Wesson cannery site north of Covell Blvd that is currently zoned as light industrial.

The article quotes one of the General Plan Housing Element Update Steering committee members, Pam Gunnell, appointed by Mayor Sue Greenwald as favoring maintaining the property as currently zoned.

Said Ms. Gunnell, who ran for City Council in 2002:

“I have a real concern with preserving industrial land for the city... It's difficult for me to hear the word ‘workforce housing' because where are they going to work?”

On the other hand, Committee member Eileen Samitz appointed by Councilmember Lamar Heystek, strongly favored changing the designation to residential.

"The city has 160 acres of undeveloped industrial and light industrial land, not including the cannery property; the property is half paved already; and plenty of time has passed and the property has yet to attract proposals from industrial businesses."

This is a microcosm of an interesting debate within the progressive community. Mayor Greenwald has long been an advocate of bringing in high tech companies to Davis and believes this to be an ideal site for such industry.

Others in the community view the property and its development potential very differently. Many prefer that Davis has limited housing growth. They recognize that this 100 acre property is already partially paved, and therefore such a development would not require the development of agricultural land. Therefore if there must be new housing developed, it should be in this location.

There is a further problem however with the Hunt-Wesson site, although it is within the city limits already and would not require a Measure J vote, the adjacent property is the 800-acre elephant in the room--the Covell Village site.

One of the fears is that the two properties would be considered at the same time.

The Enterprise quotes Kevin Wolf, the committee chairman and a strong proponent of Covell Village during the Measure X campaign as saying,

“Do we really think we're going to take and leave that for the next 30 years and develop on other ag land?”

This is a tricky issue to be sure. One for which I can see both sides. In the end, I probably come down a bit closer to changing its use to housing while at the same time making it clear that Covell Village will be a huge fight if the Committee deems that it needs to revisit the issue. Keeping the property light industry would probably slightly reduce the chances for development on the Covell site, however, Davis does need more housing and if it is to develop housing, I would rather it not take ag land to do so.

Personally I think any decision to re-examine development on the Covell Village site is a huge show of disrespect for the will of the Davis voters, 60 percent of whom voted against the project. People have asked if I could foresee it never being developed as a realistic option. Never is a long time. However in the near future the concerns about infrastructure remain just as viable as they did in 2005. So in the foreseeable future, I remain opposed to development on the Covell Village site.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Candidates and Officeholders Come out in Force For Democratic Ice Cream Social

100 plus degree heat did not stop 100 Democrats plus from coming out yesterday to the Democratic Ice Cream Social at former Davis City Councilmember Jerry Kaneko's home.

The highlight of event was the celebration of Democratic luminary Betty Weir's 92nd birthday. Assemblywoman Lois Wolk gave her an Assembly Award for lifetime service and Supervisor Mariko Yamada gave her one on behalf of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.

There were celebrations about the hiring on the new Superintendent of Schools and recouping of $4.5 million for the construction of Montgomery Elementary.

One of the features of this annual event is the perilous soap box that every public figure (and then anyone else who wants) gets three minutes to stand on and speak.

The most bizarre moment came as Stephen Souza of the Davis City Council upon conclusion of his speech suddenly offered for a $100 donation to both Measures P and Q, someone could push him into the pool. An offer that Mayor Sue Greenwald smilingly obliged, although I think Councilmember Souza just wanted to get into the cold pool and out of the heat.

Enjoy the multitude of pictures.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Davis Joint Unified School District Finds a New Superintendent

Last night, School Board President Jim Provenza had two huge announcements for the community.

The first and the reason that the entire community it seemed made the meeting was the announcement of the hiring of the new Superintendent James Quezon Hammond as the new superintendent.

Trustee Provenza said:

"The Board is pleased that Dr. Hammond has accepted the offer to lead our oustanding schools to new levels of excellence and achievement... Throughout his career as a teacher, coach, principal and superintendent Dr. Hammond has demonstrated intelligent and inspiring leadership, and a deep passion for well being and academic achievement of all students, including those who are struggling to succeed. He is a rising star in public school administration. We are lucky to have him."

The other announcement that the Mr. Provenza told the community was that the school district had won their appeal and will now be able to recoup the $4.5 million lost when a deadline was missed on a grant during the construction of Montgomery Elementary School. Hard work on behalf of the school district to get their financial house in order and strong advocacy on the part of several elected officials led to this victory for the students of Davis Unified.

The meeting was largely ceremonial with each of the school board members speaking to the hiring of Superintendent Hammond.

Davis Board member Gina Daleiden expressed confidence that Dr. Hammond is the right leader for the Davis schools.

"Our extensive conversations with Tukwila school, parent, and community leaders revealed that Dr. Hammond is widely regarded as an extraordinary leader. Colleagues describe him as courageous in his decisions, and have enormous respect for his superb communications and managerial skills.”

Board Member Sheila Allen, who later was downright giddy added:

“The Tukwila staff emphasized that Dr Hammond fosters a culture of collaboration and teamwork that brings out the best in people. His enthusiasm and energy are contagious!”

Board Member Tim Taylor:

“Dr. Hammond has the extensive experience and proven leadership qualities our board desired in a new superintendent. He also has a genuine affection for students, and in return has their trust and admiration. It’s a pleasure to welcome him to the Davis Joint Unified School District.”

Board Member Keltie Jones:

“I am delighted with Dr. Hammond’s appointment. He brings a fresh level of energy and creativity to our district.”

A number of members of the public also spoke to congratulate Dr. Hammond who continues the recent tradition of hires from the Seattle area. He actually grew up however in Whittier, California and then went to Western New Mexico University and St. Martin's College before receiving his Educational Doctorate from Washington State University in 2003. He has been a teacher, a basketball coach, an assistant principal and principal in Tacoma.

Most recently Superintendent of Schools for the Tukwila School District in Seattle, Washington, where he has held the position for over 3 years. Tukwila has received local, state and national distinction as a school district in the following areas: for passing $60 million in bonds to construct all new school buildings; for implementing research-based school programs to improve student achievement; for developing collaborative partnerships to improve student learning with community, government agencies and foundations; and for responding to the needs of a culturally, ethnically and economically diverse student population. Most recently, the Tukwila Community School Collaboration was given the National Award for Excellence by the Community Schools Coalition and was recognized on Capitol Hill (Washington DC) in June of 2007.

Asked by the Vanguard about the duel announcements, Board President Provenza spoke to the Vanguard and made it clear that the Superintendent was number one with a bullet.

"The Superintendent is number one because a superintendent, a strong leader for the school is essential in everything we do. But the 4.5 million dollars sure doesn't hurt, we needed that money. Now we have money to continue our facilities fund to begin addressing the structural problems at Emerson and the other facilities issues in the schools."

Provenza emphasized Dr. Hammond's leadership, his ability to connect with people, and his compassion for all students.

"In his other districts he has been personally engaged whether they be the high achiever, the average student, or the student who is at risk or needs special help in school."

One the key focuses for the new superintendent will be on the achievement gap.

According to Mr. Provenza:

"He brought his prior districts achievement level significantly up past other districts and focused on problems of English learners and students that were having difficulty achieving in school, all the while bringing the overall achievement up for all students. And he did it not only by engaging teachers and students, he did it by engaging the community. He brought the city and the police chief and every other government official together and said what should we do to improve our schools. And they all worked together, in fact they were given a national award for community-school achievement in that district."

Board Member Provenza also emphasized that attention to closing the achievement gap and minority hire is a huge reason for his hire.

"That will be one of his strengths. He brings diversity in that he is a minority himself. He also comes from a background where he grew up with students who were struggling in schools and he knows personally the challenges that they face. At the same time, he has a PhD and he is an expert in education and he'll be able to address the problems of all of our students. He is truly a superintendent that will serve our entire community."

Dr. Hammond spoke to this issue as well emphasizing the importance of embracing diversity.

"I think the biggest thing is that diversity is important and has to be embraced. It has to be accepted. And diversity means acceptance and tolerance for all sorts of dynamics, not just race or culture but religion and gender, sexual orientation, the whole nine. I think to really understand what diversity means and embrace is a very important component."

Superintendent Hammond then went into detail with me on four gaps that make up what we call the achievement gap.

"As far as the achievement gap for me, I think it's been a very popular slogan for educators or even people in popular society to use. Really what we are talking about is a performance gap on standardized tests. So really getting our eyes to look at a performance gap on standardized tests and particularly looking at our demographics on African Americans, Hispanic and Native American Students and how there's disparity with Caucasian and Asian Students and really what causes this performance gap is really a multitude of other gaps."

First the preparation gap where some students begin well ahead of others in terms of things like vocabulary. Second, the opportunity gap which has do with expectations for success that we place on students. Third, the relationship gap where we create a school environment where the staff proportionately resembles the make up of the student population.

According to Dr. Hammond,

"Kids will perform better once they know people care about them."

Finally there is the parent-school gap where some households, often with people who are trying to make ends meet and they may have poverty and social issues that they bring to the fold in addition to education issues.

"All of those factors to me lead to the performance gap or what you call the achievement gap. I think it is a very complex sophisticated question that's going to require a lot of intentional work, a lot of research, a lot of data, a lot of student evidence to dictate our behaviors. So I'm hoping that we can begin that work because of the urgency behind the need."

Superintendent Hammond then added:

"I think that is going to be one of my biggest challenges. I think that and a lot of other things are going to be a huge part of my learning curve over the next few months, absolutely."

This was a much larger applicant pool than expected or even hoped for. According to Mr. Provenza,

"There were 33 applicants. That was larger than the search firm that we hired, Leadership Associates, that's one of the main search firms for superintendents in the state of California. They told us not to expect many people and that it would be very hard to hire a superintendent. Instead, we got the 33 applicants and they said that was more than they received for any other school district."

Board Member Provenza attributed that to the make up of the Davis Community and the quality of the district as a whole.

"I think Davis is a great place to live and a great place to work. And I think our school district has a reputation for excellence. And a community that is particularly committed to the schools. There's very few other communities where you will see bond measures and parcel taxes pass every time. Where you see the amount of volunteerism and the amount of parents. Where you the community that so supports the schools as in Davis. People want to come here."

The reception from the board members and the community was overwhelmingly glowing. As I mentioned above, Board Member Sheila Allen seemed to be on cloud 9.

I asked Board Member Jim Provenza when he knew this was the right fit for this district.

"When we interviewed him. He had very stiff competition and we had some very good applicants, but he really shined in the interview, he really connected with us and impressed us with his ability as a leader. He truly is a leader."

For his part, the new superintendent seems excited but a bit overwhelmed.

"Just a little sense of being overwhelmed but at the same time very excited. From my initial interactions, just an exciting dynamic community. People value the schools. People value the kids. The quality of education, so it's just an exciting time for me personally."

Dr. James Hammond will officially take over on a full time basis on November 8, 2007. Until then he will be transitioning with the able help of Interim Superintendent Richard Whitmore. Dr. Hammond will travel down a number of times over the next two and a half months as he prepares to succeed David Murphy as the new superintendent. This was indeed an exciting time in Davis and we shall follow this transition as the board and district continues to face key challenges.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Commentary: Lack of Solano Candidates in Assembly Race a bit Vexing

There was a good article first run in the Fairfield Daily Republic on Monday and then run in the Davis Enterprise last night (Tuesday) on the 8th Assembly campaign and the lack of Solano County Candidates.

When the 2008 election occurs, it will have been 12 years that the 8th Assembly District seat has been held from Yolo County and unless something dramatically changes, that pattern may yet continue in 2008 as Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada (Davis) takes on West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon.

Two-thirds of the voters in the district reside in Solano and not Yolo County. That advantage is somewhat reduced in a Democratic primarily where Yolo County is more heavily Democratic than Solano County and Yolo County voters come out in a higher percentage most of the time.

For example in 2002, the last time there was a contested primary in the 8th Assembly District and the last time the seat was open, just under 20,000 people voted in Solano County. Just over 16,000 people voted in Yolo County. There was still an advantage in Solano, but it was less than 4000 votes. Whereas Solano County had a 67% advantage in voter registration, it only had a 17.5% advantage in voter turnout.

Steve Hardy, the Solano County resident, did finish first in Solano County. But he only prevailed by 1700 votes over Lois Wolk and by 2900 over Christopher Cabaldon. In Yolo County however, he got wiped out receiving only 1925 votes whereas Lois Wolk received just under 8500 and Cabaldon just under 6000. Thus Hardy won small in Solano on his home turf so to speak but lost big in Yolo and finished third with 27.8% of the vote district wide to 41% by Wolk and 31% by Cabaldon.

The article interviews several Solano County officials and finds a general lack of interest by prominent officials in seeking a higher office.

First, Steve Hardy decided not to run this time after getting appointed head of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

“I was holding up the parade, waiting to see if I got this appointment, but that's been three months and nobody has sallied forth... I wish they would. I believe there are a number of very fine candidates from Solano County that could have entered the race and they all chose not to.”

Vacaville City Councilwoman Pauline Clancy also declined to run.

Longtime Vacaville City Councilwoman Pauline Clancy said she has been approached in the past about her interest in seeking a higher office. She has declined and believes other county officials have made similar decisions.

“I've been asked many, many times to run for higher office and I have said I can do the most good for the citizens at the level that I'm at,” she said. “I have no desire to go to Sacramento in that quagmire.”

Solano County Supervisor Jim Spering:

“Among elected (officials), we all talk about it quite a bit,” said Solano County Supervisor Jim Spering, who spent 20 years as mayor of Suisun City. “I don't know that I know the answer, but it's not that it doesn't go without discussion.”

He goes on to say:

Given Solano's size and prominent, high-growth location between Sacramento and the Bay Area, Spering said he expects the county to the assert itself politically, although he added it was probably too late for someone new to become competitive in the 2008 Assembly race.

“At some point ... I think you're going to see a groundswell in local representation in the state Legislature,” he said. “Right now, Solano County hasn't politically matured to that point.”

One potential clue into the reason for the dearth of candidates aside from just shear coincidence might however be that Solano County has been well represented in the Assembly regardless of the home county of their Assemblyperson.

Fairfield City Councilmember Jack Batson applauded currently Assemblywoman Lois Wolk for "doing her homework" on Solano County before her 2002 campaign.

“Lois has made herself visible for every possible occasion here... Before she ran, she was here asking lots of questions and I think she was pretty much up to speed.”

That visibility probably helped her narrow the gap enough in Solano County that she was able to off-set Hardy's advantage there with a very strong performance in Yolo County.

It is probably not too late for someone to join the race, however, they will face two candidates that have been campaigning and raising money since January. Already, Cabaldon's campaign has raised over $370,00 while Yamada has raised $140,000.

Nevertheless at some point you have to look at this as a market situation. If Solano County felt that they were being shorted in terms of representation, the politicians in Solano would put up a candidate and the voters would be clamoring for a Solano County candidate. That again does not seem to be happening.

So for now, Solano County is the sleeping giant, a fast growing county whose vote is split into two Assembly Districts but who has not asserted its power and strength even in a District where it holds an edge in terms of voter registration. Will it wake up this cycle or will it wait another six years to be heard? Only time will tell and a lot of that may have to do with how Cabaldon and Yamada are perceived. Outside of a few elected officials that have endorsed primarily Mayor Cabaldon, it is not clear just how much is known about either candidate.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Commentary: A One-Year Review of Police Oversight in Davis

One year ago from August 24, 2006 to August 30, 2006, the fledgling Vanguard in the wake of the then Davis City Council majority of Asumundson, Puntillo, Saylor and Souza voting to put the Human Relations Commission on hiatus ran a seven-part series examining the Davis Police Oversight System. Within a month or two, the city of Davis would hire Bob Aaronson as the police ombudsman for the City of Davis. Last week, the Vanguard interviewed Mr. Aaronson and discussed his first year on the job. Today the Vanguard will discuss a number of police oversight issues and make him regret putting his thoughts on the record (just kidding).

My initial response to the proposed oversight system now in place was strong opposition. There were three reasons for that primarily. First, there was no public component to it--there was no place where an individual could make a complaint in public and receive a public redress of their grievance. Second, the Ombudsman position itself was fairly weak--it was a part-time position, the Ombudsman acted basically as an auditor who reviewed completed investigations if the individual making a complaint was not satisfied. Finally and probably most pointedly, I failed to trust the council to produce a system that would work given their misgivings about and opposition to the need for oversight to begin with.

I will begin with the last point. The other points will be evaluated as I look back over the recommendations I made on August 30, 2006.

To be quite frank, one of the reasons I never trusted the council to create an oversight system that worked is that the very first meeting that I ever saw from them (January 17, 2006), Councilmembers Don Saylor and Ted Puntillo spent their time attempting to demonstrate how unnecessary police oversight in Davis was.

That statement was summarized by this quote by Ted Puntillo:

"What I want are police officers out there that are using their training and their instincts, I don’t want them thinking about oh somebody’s going to be reviewing what I’m doing. "

Don Saylor stated that they had "thoroughly reviewed the complaints against the city and found them totally without merit." This was a stunning statement given it did not seem likely they conducted their own investigation of these complaints. Puntillo then added that this would be "an eye-opener for many in the city."

Up until the point at which these statements were made I have lived in the city of Davis for nearly nine and a half years and had never been involved in city politics. By the time this little scene was done, my life would be unalterably changed. And let me tell you, Ted Puntillo was right, it was an eye-opener for me to hear elected public officials make these sorts of blatantly irresponsible statements.

A few weeks later, on February 21, 2006, then-Police Chief Jim Hyde and Councilmember Don Saylor went through a series of statistics to demonstrate to the public how low the number of sustained complaints were in the city of Davis. Basically what Jim Hyde told Councilmember Saylor was that there were 74 citizen complaints from 2003 to 2005 and of those only 5 were sustained.

Statistics are given a bad rap because most people do not understand how to properly analyze them. This leads to the assumption by many that statistics can be used to say whatever you want them to say. This is patently untrue however. One needs to be able to interpret statistics properly. To his credit, Councilmember Saylor on that date did ask the correct question--asking Chief Hyde how these numbers compare to other communities. However, Chief Hyde dodged this question by stating that communities vary and therefore are difficult to compare. And Saylor never pressed him on the issue when he clearly should have. Had he pressed him, he would have found out that the number of sustained complaints was right around the national average whereby less than 10 percent of all complaints are sustained by the Internal Review Process and in fact, Davis had a higher number than a lot of other jurisdictions.

Ombudsman Bob Aaronson when asked as to whether Davis was in need of an independent oversight system said:

"I’m someone who believes that every law enforcement organization ought to have some form of oversight. I’ve worked with a lot of organizations around the state and to me it’s not a critique of law enforcement it has to do with the fact that in absence of oversight not everyone is going to be squared away."

I still believe that a good police oversight system benefits rather than harms the interests of police officers. It fosters trust that they are doing their jobs the proper way and also provides an outlet for those who are dissatisfied with the handling of their encounter with a police officer. Often that dissatisfaction stems from misunderstanding about the law and an individual's right under the law. By having someone who is independent of the police be in the position and have the authority to explain to an individual that the incident was handled properly, it allows for those who would otherwise distrust the police to be educated about proper procedure.

Getting back however to my original trepidations--the point of this demonstration is to show why I was skeptical of this city council, who had pointedly and deliberately argued that we do not need police oversight, would then be able to turn around and create a police oversight model that would work. They never laid out the case for oversight as Mr. Aaronson did. They took oversight to be a criticism of all police because it arose from specific complaints against the police rather than a means by which to foster community trust in the police.

The jury is still out on that bottom line however. As a whole, I think Bob Aaronson was a good hire. In the comments to the interview last week, some complained he was probably too cautious with his assessment. I would tend to agree with that viewpoint. He has made it a point to protect his political capital until the big case comes forward. While I can understand that desire, I think there are enough data to really look into past practices so that we can come to terms with them and correct them for the future.

At the same time, we have not seen the big case yet either. My biggest problem has been the lack of willingness of those in the community with what appear to be valid complaints that are worthy of investigation (it may turn out that the investigation would clear the officer of wrongdoing, but investigation is still needed) are not willing to come forward. These people are often unwilling to come forward. Part of the reason for that is that they are afraid to. In part, they saw what happened to Buzayans and decided it just was not worth it. That has been a source of much frustration personally.

One of the big questions is that of racial profiling and whether it occurs in the department.

When asked in a California Aggie article if there is "racism within the Davis Police Department," Chief Landy Black who had been in the department for two months at the time responded:

"It's absolutely untrue. I think there was a great deal of political influence in what was going on. There was a need from some people for [their own] publicity, and with the current climate of policing, it gets you notoriety to claim racist policing."

While that was perhaps not the best way to ask the question, I am still uncertain as to how the Chief could know this that soon. Nevertheless, I am not altogether convinced that racial profiling equals racism rather than poor policing technique or even laziness.

During the course of this year I asked the same question of both Former UC Davis Police Chief Calvin Handy who also serves on both the PAC (Police Advisory Commission) and the CAB (Community Advisory Board) and the Ombudsman Bob Aaronson.

When I asked Calvin Handy here was his response:

"My first act as [UC Davis] police chief here was to meet with large groups, students, staff, and faculty, and they had this consistent belief that racial profiling was happening in the city of Davis... After 12 years it is kind of amazing given how much we engaged in the process that people are saying the same thing. This problem has just gone on for too long and too pervasive."

Last week Bob Aaronson said something remarkably similar:

"I have not seen first hand evidence of it. Where I have seen documents or I have seen incidents first hand that would allow me to establish that that occurred. On the other hand, there have been enough complaints by people of color that I’m not prepared to say it’s not an issue. As well there is some statistical information that I don’t know enough about to know whether it’s credible and if it is credible what it’s really saying. But clearly there is something there that requires more attention."

Part of the problem that I have had is how would you even go about proving racial profiling? It is a difficult problem to address.

In response to my evaluation last year of the Police Oversight system. As I examine it now, there are probably several recommendations that I would no longer make, but there are several that I think are still pretty valid.

First, I believed that it would be difficult to have an Ombudsman without it being a full-time position. From my discussions with Bob Aaronson, I believe that more than ever.

Aaronson's response here makes a lot of sense--that it is a matter of balancing priorities:

"Clearly I would like to have more time to spend in Davis doing more active outreach to the community and also doing more ridealongs. But the challenge for a place like Davis—because the implication and the question is ‘what instead’ or ‘in addition to’—the challenge for a community like Davis, and it’s the reason why I came here, most oversight models are geared toward far larger jurisdictions and larger departments. I have a hard time arguing that a jurisdiction the size of Davis ought to be spending a quarter of a million dollars on oversight. I have a hard time arguing that. I could see spending a couple of million dollars on oversight or more for the city of San Jose. But smaller oversight, no one is really trying to figure out a way to do that and so my work here and my work in Santa Cruz also are efforts to explore is there a cost effective way to use some of the oversight tools in a smaller jurisdiction."

It is worth noting that Councilmember Stephen Souza keeps trying to expand the role of the ombudsman to cover the entire city, a notion he first brought up in February of 2006, a notion he mentioned again in March of 2007 and a notion he most recently mentioned in conjunction with a proposal to remove the investigation authority from the Human Relations Commission. I do not see how this is a possibility without hiring a full-time ombudsman with a professional staff.

Second, I recommended that the Ombudsman be given a stronger role in the initial oversight. As this system has developed, it has changed structurally even though it has not changed on paper. What seems to have happened is that the PAC reviews the Internal Reviews from the Department and that the Ombudsman acts as almost a public liaison who assists and talks to individuals about complaints and helps them if they wish to file a formal complaint.

Third, I suggested using the PAC to replace the Internal Affairs Department.

Bob Aaronson last week suggested basic support for Police Internal Affairs departments:

"In my experience, most internal affairs organizations do a good job 90 to 95 percent of the time on cases. And of the remaining five to ten percent, are not handled the way I’d have them handle them. Not out of malice but out of a lack of training."

I differ from Mr. Aaronson here though I lack his over 20 years of direct experience as an ombudsman. My experience had demonstrated in fact a problem with the internal affairs departments in general. Too many cases are returned as not sustained even when the individuals have valid complaints. One of these cases locally was the Bernita Toney case who complained that a police officer falisified a police report. The internal review process concluded this complaint was not sustained. Yet in a court of law, a jury found that the police report had in fact been falisified when they decided to acquit Ms. Toney of all charges against her. This is but one example. The worse example was the use of the Internal Affairs department to threaten and intimidate Halema Buzayan instead of investigating the complaint against Officer Pheng Ly.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Aaronson commented about Davis Police Sgt. Gina Anderson's, who is now in Citrus Heights, handling of the Buzayan Investigation.

"[B]ased on my explicit training to the Department, they now know that you cannot try to advance a criminal investigation through the investigation of a citizen complaint."

The suggestion here is that this was inadvertent and due to a lack of training. Perhaps. But the effect was to intimidate and threaten a minor who was attempting to file a complaint against the actions of a police officer.

My fourth suggestion was to strengthen the CAB. The CAB is composed of many individuals purportedly from diverse segments of the population, but for the most part only a few of these individuals were critical or skeptical of the police department. It was not until March, that the city finally admitted that this was not part of the oversight process. Nevertheless, it would behoove the new police chief to reconstitute the CAB and place on it more individuals who are critical of the police for the very reason that he would get better feedback from the community if he did so.

Fifth, I suggested improving community outreach. The new police chief seems amenable to that, and some of that is going on. But without specific impetus, I think there are segments of the population that would not be reached. Along the same lines, I suggested improving representation on the boards, make the CAB meetings public. This has not occurred yet.

Finally, I suggested they reinstate the Human Relations Commission. They did this but really stripped this commission of its power and influence. They did at least keep the civil rights ordinance intact, but the HRC is not the body that it was prior to June of 2006. I have spent enough time on this subject, but I think the community really misunderstood what the HRC was aiming to do with police oversight and the valuable function it performed prior to 2006.

In many ways, I do not think either the Ombudsman's job or the Chief's job have started yet. We are still waiting for the "big one." That will occur at some point, it is inevitable no matter how well-intentioned we are, something is going to occur. The question will then become, are we properly equipped to handle things. Overall, I would say that some of my fears about this system have been alleviated. I think we were fortunate to land an individual with the experience of Mr. Aaronson. But as he discovered in Santa Cruz, when you rule against the police there is a heavy price to pay. We have not seen whether anyone can withstand that kind of pressure just yet and that will be the crucial test for this system.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

District Attorney's Office Continues to Press Charges for Sodexho Food Service Protesters

Last week, a group of 24 protesters from the original May 1, 2007 protest had their day in court. This group of individuals who we covered at the May Day rally, sat down and blocked the Anderson and Russell intersection in Davis. Now they are seeking to have the charges thrown out.

At a press conference following the hearing, John Viola, with the National Lawyers Guild in San Francisco argued that the complaints were defective since the protesters were exercising their free speech rights and not involved therefore in illegal conduct.

According to Katie Davalos, one of the students involved, herself a third year UC Davis student:

"Basically, we asked for a demur, claiming the charges were faulty, but it was denied. From here on out, we are each individually being represented by public defenders, and are going to continue to fight the charges. We have not made a plea yet, but our next court appearance is August 29th at 10:00am."

The charges stemming from the May 1 rally, violation of Code 409 failure to disperse will now go forward against the students who engaged in civil disobedience at the rally.

Said Ms. Davalos:

"We feel that the DA is trying to set precedent against protesters, as there has been no such procedure in the area yet. We are all willing to see this through to the end, whatever that may be, so that we can set precedent in our favor."

The District Attorney's office, represented by Deputy District Attorney Rob Gorman claims that the protesters maintain the right to free speech and freedom of assembly, but that where such exercise occurs it is restricted. Protesting in the middle of the street and blocking an intersection, in his opinion, is against the law. If they were to have done it on campus or in any other public place, it would have been fine, he said.

Steven Ordiano, a UCD alumnus and former Sodexho worker on campus, was one of the protesters arrested May 1.

He told me:

"I am not a lawyer and nor do I fully understand the way the legal system works in these situations. All I know is that we are being met with much opposition from the courts."

Furthermore he wanted the emphasis to remain on the issue at hand--"UC employment for all workers working at UC Davis."

"As of today, we have not heard from either Lois Wolk or anyone from the UC administration to discuss UC employment. We will continue to hold them accountable for their blatant disregard for the workers of our community."

Along the same lines, Katie Davalos said:

"It's important to remember that we're doing all of this for the workers, and we are hoping to make change for the betterment of our community. We are willing to do what it takes to see that change occur, and the court's reluctance to understand our motives is further proof that such change is necessary. We are all hopeful that the charges will either be dropped soon, or that we will be found not guilty so that we can return to the workers with good news."

Commentary:

The Davis Enterprise in their coverage of this last week emphasized university claims that it would cost an additional $3.2 million for the university to add the Sodexho Food workers as full university employees. That would cost students--the university claims around $600 additional dollars per year.

On the other hand, the organizers would point to the low wages and costly and poor health benefits that Food Service Workers earn under their Sodexho Contract. Becoming full time university employees would mean wages up to $12 per hour and better health care benefits. Currently workers who make only about $1200 per month at most are having to pay up to $400 per month for their health insurance.

The question at this point for me is quite simple--this is an act of civil disobedience. This is a simple failure to disperse. Why is the District Attorney's office wasting taxpayer money, court time, and resources on such a small scale incident?

Some will suggest that a few weeks ago I suggested that the law is the law and it must be adhered to. I do not disagree at all. The law is also flexible in terms of what remedies should be taken in order to rectify a situation. In situations where there is no threat to public safety, I would argue that the District Attorney's office has higher priorities than to pursue failure to disperse charges. I would also suggest that if it deems further punishment beyond arrest and dispersement as a necessity, it considers community service as an option.

That said, I really do not see the compelling public need. The students who were arrested engaged in a peaceful sit down. Yes it disrupted traffic. Yes it disrupted the bus service. But at the end of the day, it was well organized and steps were taken to avoid confrontation between the police and the protesters. I do not see what interest is served by expending further resources in an effort to gain some sort of conviction here.

As we shall see later this week, the District Attorney's office seems to have rather strange priorities. They come down hard some things and then they allow more dangerous individuals to walk.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Partisan Republican Attempt to Alter California’s Electoral College Distribution

Guest Commentary by Bill Ritter

Following the 2000 presidential election in which Al Gore received more than 500,000 votes nationwide than George W. Bush there were calls to abandon the Electoral College system of electing a president. Nothing has been done on a national level to change that system, although I believe most citizens would agree with the “One man, one vote” concept of Democracy, in which every person’s vote is counted equally.

Currently there is an attempt in California by Republican lawyers and political operatives to change the way only California’s presidential electors are to be selected. They have begun to circulate petitions for an initiative entitled the "Presidential Election Reform Act" (PERA). PERA's sponsors -- the misleadingly-named "Californians for Equal Representation" -- hope to qualify it for the June 2008 primary ballot.

Current California election law and that of 48 other states dictates that the highest vote getter for the presidency wins all of those state’s electors. Here in California, this “winner takes all” rule would be changed to allow each congressional district to elect one presidential elector creating the situation in which nearly 20 out of 53 California congressional districts could be won by the Republican presidential candidate due to those district’s high Republican registration numbers and voting history and thereby awarded a Republican presidential elector. This would create separate “winner take all” elections in every California congressional district. But across America, for example in historically Republican majority states such as Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and most of the western states and all of the southern states including Florida would remain “winner take all” states, thereby disenfranchising their Democratic presidential voters and favoring Republican presidential candidates.

If we are to have authentic presidential election reform we need a national change affecting all states whereby every vote is counted in the same manner equally throughout America. That is the only way to ensure fairness to all.

An excellent and informative article on the subject is written by Mr. Vikram David Amar entitled “The So-Called Presidential Election Reform Act: A Clear Abuse of California’s Initiative Process.”

He writes:

Transparent Partisan Ploys Interfere With Legitimate Reform Efforts: This Isn't an Issue of National Electoral Reform, But of Turning a Blue State Partially Red

……if moving away from winner-take-all rules made policy sense for the country, surely blue states should not do so if red states are not doing so as well. It is neither fair nor sensible to think that California Democrats, who hold a majority in the state, should unilaterally give up their clout in electing a President if Republican majorities in other states are not doing the same thing in states they control. It is more than ironic that an organization that calls itself "Californians for Equal Representation" could support a scheme that would produce such partisan inequality.

One cardinal rule about Presidential electoral reform today ought to be that it must not predictably and intentionally disadvantage one party over the other. Sensible change in this area is hard enough to accomplish without wasting our time on obviously partisan ploys.

Real Reform Would Involve A Direct National Popular Election

Which brings me to the real way to make every vote count and encourage Presidential candidates to campaign in California - adopt the national popular election plan (and which is also being considered by legislators in California right now.) If the national popular vote winner were automatically made President, every voter's vote nationwide would count - and count for the same thing. (There's something Californians truly dedicated to "Equal Representation" should rally around.)

Mr. Amar’s entire article published in FindLaw—Legal News & Commentary, can be found at: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/amar/20070817.html#continue

A related story by the Sacramento Bee can be found at: http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/309132.html