Slate of new board members ready for tough issues Slate of new board members ready for tough issues (November 19, 2004)

Filicetti, Fisher leave legacy of leaders they endorsed

By Jon Wiener

Voters in the Mountain View-Whisman school district did not want to change horses mid-stream, selecting an incumbent and the endorsees of two outgoing board members.

With the district having just lost its superintendent, battling a legal challenge to a new parcel tax and facing the prospect of closing one of its seven elementary schools, voters shied away from two candidates considered to share minority opinions.

Instead, voters turned, in decisive margins, to a slate of candidates endorsed by outgoing school board members Rose Filicetti and Carol Fisher.

Incumbent Gloria Higgins and challengers Fiona Walter and RoseMary Sias Roquero garnered more than 9,500, or approximately 70 percent, of an estimated 13,700 votes,.

"I think it indicates a certain level of support" for the current board, said Higgins, who does not want to make too much of the results. "I'm delighted and honored to be the top vote-getter. But I'm not running up and down the street saying, 'I have a mandate. I have a mandate.'"

All three candidates said they back the current board's decision to conduct a broad search for a superintendent to replace Jim Negri.

Juan Aranda and Michael Kelly, the two unsuccessful challengers who are both former Whisman board members, objected to spending scarce funds for the search, saying that current Superintendent Eleanor Yick was already doing a sufficient job.

Other tasks the new board will address include balancing enrollment throughout the district so that each school represents a cross section of the community and closing the achievement gap between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

"We all talked about [the achievement gap], and all the candidates were in favor in closing it," said Higgins, adding, "though I'm not sure we all agreed about how to go about doing it."

Filicetti said she was pleased to see the three candidates she endorsed all win seats, although she didn't know how much influence she had.

"I'm delighted that the public chose the three women," she said. "It's much easier for Carol and I to leave knowing that thoughtful people have taken our place."
@email:E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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