Posted by MV Voter, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 6:58 am

Wow Darrah, way to show what a poor loser you are. No grace or class. I guess you think the voting public is a bunch of idiots. As for the CEO-type Pollart, he's paying for his allegiance to Ghysels and his view that teacher's suffer from "a victim mentality".

Posted by James, a resident of the Whisman Station neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 7:20 am

I expect that folks tended to vote for candidates with Teacher as their occupation. The PTAs should run teachers in the next election.

Posted by Eric, a resident of another community, on Nov 7, 2012 at 7:42 am

After getting busted for his fraudulent ad, Nelson should have withdrawn from the race. He cannot be trusted

Posted by Teacher, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 7:53 am

Go away Maurice.

Posted by reader, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 10:04 am

This will make life very interesting for superintendent Craig Goldman. Say what you will about Steven Nelson's personality, but you have to give him credit for NOT being a rubber stamp who will blindly and unquestioningly go along with everything and anything that Craig wants.

One thing that Steven will fight for is to re-open one of the leased-out elementary schools in the Whisman side of town, which currently has no neighborhood school.

And maybe it's not too late to prevent Craig from tearing down our beautiful, newly renovated elementary school classrooms and replacing them with 2-story mega-schools.

Posted by MV, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 10:41 am

Its unfortunate for Pollart. He should not have put down as a Property Developer under his name.

Posted by Irma, a resident of the The Crossings neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 10:44 am

Give'em hell Steve!

Posted by kidsfirst, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Hooray for Chris Chiang! His background in education will bring much needed knowledge and insight to our schools.

Posted by Steven Nelson, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 2:11 pm

I urge residents and parents who are interested in my ability to offer constructive, new ideas to the operations of our school District to attend the Nov. 15 Board meeting. I have an agenda item as a citizen, 10 minutes, for urging the current Board to proceed with considering Automatic Fire Sprinkler Systems for all the classroom wings using part of the Bond G money. This would be retrofit for most classrooms. Google "Trace Fire" "grand jury" for more detailed information.

SN is the candidate mentioned in thsi article

Posted by Peter Darrah, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 4:46 pm

Since I failed to insert my congratulations to Chris, Steve, and Bill into the public record last night - let me do that now. Congratulations to the three of you on winning a good campaign. From our many times together, I know you all work hard and are dedicated to improving education for all of our children.

I would like to commend Steve for his efforts to increase dialog around what the Measure G funds are to be spent on. I hope we all get more involved in deciding whether we re-open school sites and/or build two story schools - and what kind of sprinklers they have.

I would like to commend Chris for continuing his focus on education and looking at new ways we can improve instruction, assessment and training. Teaching is the core mission of the District and we shouldn't loose sight of that in the dialog about other issues.

I would like to commend Bill for his deep ties to the community, many hours of volunteering, and bringing representation of the Monta Loma area to the Board.

We're all on the same team. Let's keep pushing to improve our schools for our children.

Peter Darrah

Posted by Annoyed, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 7:09 am

I feel like Mr. Nelson misrepresented himself. What university did he get his teaching credential from?

Posted by Huh?, a resident of the Gemello neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 7:24 am

Er, who cares? And if he was a sub in the district, he didn't need one. Are you going to ask for his birth certificate next?

Posted by Old Steve, a resident of the Rex Manor neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 9:06 am

Mr. Nelson,

Please consider the downside of fire sprinklers in your discussion as well. Most systems are triggered whenever a fire alarm goes off. I don't have statistics handy, but I suspect in schools where most student work is still paper, false alarms triggering sprinkler starts cause more damage overall than fires like Trace. If you want to protect schools from vandalism (and arson), then they might not be appropriate as joint use facilities with public parks.

Just consider that every good idea has another side...

Posted by Annoyed, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 4:28 pm

I expect someone who says that they're a teacher to have an understanding of children, learning, brain development, and educational theories. Many teachers have 40-70 units ABOVE a BA and have to jump through a variety of hoops to be able to say that they are qualified to be a teacher in the public school system.

To be a substitute you need a BA or BS in anything and you have to pass a test that has 8th grade material on it. With the exception a very few people, subs are warm bodies in a room, not professional educators. Subs follow plans that the actual teacher writes. So, IF they can follow directions anyone can do the job. Subs don't plan or design lessons. I don't know one teacher that would give a sub new material to teach; therefore it's all review or busy work. So, yes it does matter. Subs don't work a 50-60 hour workweek, sit in meetings, and get bogged down by district bureaucracy and mandates. They're in at 8 and out by 3.

Posted by Thankful Parent, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 8:31 pm

Just wanted to say "THANK YOU!" to all of the candidates for supporting our kids, schools, and community. We know you are all already busy and we appreciate you taking on this additional challenge. Let us know how we can help!

Posted by Informed, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 9:11 am

Dear Annoyed:

Steven Nelson

Age: 61

Occupation: Teacher/Retired Engineer

Education: Secondary Teaching Credential: Science & Math, San Jose State; M.S. Scientific Instrumentation, UC Santa Barbara; B.A. Astronomy, UC Berkeley

Neighborhood: Cuesta Park

Oh wait, there's more! Web Link

Satisfied? Probably not.