San Dieguito Union High School District trustee Michael Allman, who is running this year for his second term on the board, has been the relentless target of opponents since taking office four years ago, stemming from his independent views that run contrary to many teachers union positions.
My personal political views have been described as to the left of Sen. Bernie Sanders, not far from the truth.
However, it troubles me when union influence is used to discredit an opponent for reasons far afield from what should matter to school boards: academic success, student support and financial stability.
Despicable tactics have been leveled against Allman that have little or nothing to do with policies and positions and more to do with name-calling and personal attack.
Here are three recent examples, although the union has been targeting Allman for years.
Union-backed SDUHSD board member Katrina Young wrote an anti-Allman opinion piece recently that was undignified, lacking in civility and professionalism.
In all my 25 years of covering North County education, I can’t recall ever seeing a sitting board member attack a fellow board member in this way.
Clever tactic though, because anything Allman might write or say in his defense, to expose lies or clarify out-of-context accusations, comes off as sounding defensive.
Secondly, it’s well-known that unions can play hardball and attempt to influence elections by throwing significant amounts of money behind the causes and candidates unions believe to be most sympathetic to their mission.
Data information in this case shows that the San Dieguito Faculty Association teachers union has to date given $34,475 to Kevin Sabellico, Allman’s opponent, in four installments: $10,825 three times and another $2,000.
Obviously, no union money was given to Allman.
Both candidates have received donations to their campaigns from numerous individuals, but the largest amount for either candidate came from the SDFA to Sabellico’s campaign.
Allman calls it “a clear conflict of interest that unions accept dues from their members and then funnel that money into influencing school board elections to elect trustees who then vote on their pay contracts.”
But that is the way the system works.
Special Board Meeting
Perhaps the most devious attempt to disgrace Allman happened at a special board meeting on Oct. 7, the purported purpose was, as listed on the agenda, to discuss in closed session two cases of “significant exposure to litigation.”
This item was placed on an agenda at the last minute, just four weeks before an election. It amounts to scraping the bottom of the dirty-politics barrel.
Here’s where this went sideways. My understanding is that the meeting was really about exposing a two-year-old complaint regarding former SDUHSD Supt. Cheryl James-Ward.
Although Allman was vindicated of any wrong-doing, releasing the report just before an election would have allowed his opponent’s supporters to cherry-pick words and phrases to damage his re-election chances.
It’s concerning that now a board majority backed by a union desperate to remove Allman from his position was suddenly willing to consider sharing the 500-page report, when several requests were made for the document through the Public Records Act after the report was finalized two years ago. But all were denied for confidentiality concerns.
Was there really a significant threat of litigation to warrant a closed-session meeting? Suspicions were raised that this was simply a ruse to discuss releasing a two-year-old report solely to provide political ammunition for the union-backed candidate.
The closed session meeting lasted nearly five hours, after which there was no summary out of closed session and the 500-page report presumably remains confidential. For now.
Upcoming Debate
A recent mailer touting Sabellico states that the San Dieguito school district should be in the news for academic excellence and not for corruption, dysfunction, scandals or excessive legal fees.
However, during the past few years when the board has been controlled by three trustees supported by the union, who is at fault if all that is true?
The recent exposure by two students at San Dieguito’s Canyon Crest Academy that provided convincing evidence of suspicious financial practices by the school’s foundation has become a major scandal for the district, as well it should be.
So has the way the district continued for two years to oppose a family’s reasonable requests for support for their special education child. This case ended this year when the district agreed to the family’s original requests but not after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money in court costs and attorneys’ fees to fight the family.
If there have been scandals, perhaps the union-endorsed board majority might bear at least some of the blame. It’s hard to make a difference when you are in the minority on a five-member board.
Yes, Allman can sometimes be “brash” as a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter recently labeled him. He can ask pointed questions that can make staff uncomfortable. He will take a stand on issues that may not align with union ideology. And his style of questioning can sometimes appear confrontational.
But these are distractions. Rather, voters should focus on each candidate’s policies and positions on critical issues of importance to students, teachers and families, and resist the union-fueled attempts to divert attention away from what matters.
Voters have an opportunity to hear from Allman and Sabellico directly, at a candidate forum on Tuesday, Oct. 15. from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Del Mar Powerhouse Community Center at 1658 Coast Boulevard in Del Mar.
The event is sponsored by Canyon Crest Academy’s Envision Conservatory for the Humanities and will be conducted by the North County League of Women Voters.
What voters want and deserve is a fair fight where candidates stick to the issues and drop the personal attacks.
Marsha Sutton is an education writer and opinion columnist and can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.
