School safety, bond measure among issues in Modesto school board campaigns
It’s been five years since any members of the Modesto City Schools Board of Education have been up for reelection. Instead of taking place in odd years, when turnout is lower, this election is coming up in November, and candidates will appear on the same ballot as other high-profile races including the Modesto City Council.
The big question: Will the school board see any new faces?
Cindy Marks (Area 1), who has held a board seat since 1997, is facing off with Maria Elena Magana, a current Salida Union School District board member.
Charlene West (Area 5), a board member since 2017, is up against Jolene Daly, a marriage and family therapist.
Chad Brown (Area 3) and Adolfo Lopez (Area 7) run unopposed.
Brown runs a property management company and previously served as a trustee for Sylvan Union School District. Lopez is the youngest face on the board and works in community outreach and organizing around the region.
Area 1: Marks vs. Magana
During her 25 years on the board, Marks has served as a volunteer for various organizations on issues of refugee/immigrant rights, healthcare and faith. Education is a continuing theme throughout her work.
Marks also served as the president of the statewide California School Board Association, only the second time a person from the Central Valley has been in that role. She has lived in Modesto for 41 years and has two children who graduated from city schools.
Representing northwest Modesto, Marks is proud of the accomplishments of the current school board and specifically touts the work she’s done to develop “student character” and to increase career-building skills through the Linked Learning Alliance.
As for the district’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marks said in an editorial board interview with The Bee that the school board “handled it the best we could at the time.”
She supports charter schools and the upcoming $198 million school bond Measure L, which would add funding to address ailing high school facilities.
In her editorial board interview with The Bee, Magana touted her 29 years of experience working in education systems, the majority of which she spent with Modesto City Schools. More recently, she has served on the Board of Education for Salida Union.
Like Marks, Magana supports the school bond, but she was critical of the current board’s efforts to increase school safety, such as the push to implement a single-entry system.
“These campuses are not secure,” she said, “If someone wants to get on campus, they’ll get on campus.”
Magana did not respond to other requests for comment from The Bee.
Area 5: West vs. Daly
In Area 5, representing east Modesto, both West and Daly have extensive experience in mental health and counseling.
West has worked in education for roughly 25 years, including 17 as a counselor with Sylvan Union. She also has worked with deaf and hearing-impaired students and graduate students in the Cal State system. That passion for education is a family affair, too. Her son-in-law is a PE teacher with MCS, while her daughter teaches at another school in Stanislaus County.
West supports Marks and the work of the current board, including the hard decisions they made during the pandemic and current efforts such as creating a single point of entry at schools to improve safety. On issues of equity, she is particularly proud of the “high praises” the district received from the diversity, equity and inclusion consultant it hired recently.
Daly’s work on mental health has focused on the private sector, where she serves as a marriage and family counseling therapist. But she also spent three years working with students in the school system, helping them deal with issues of trauma, anxiety and psychosis. She doesn’t have children of her own.
Above all, Daly said, she wants to be an office holder who is visible and active in the community, prioritizing community voices. While she has filed for candidacy in four elections since 2021, including Congress and the state Senate, she has yet to win.
Politically, Daly draws a number of differences with West. Daly is critical of the upcoming high school bond, which West supports.
“I don’t think the ideas need to come from an additional tax,” Daly said. “Why have we not budgeted this the entire time?”
On the topic of charter schools, West commends them for the individualized attention they provide to certain students. Daly speaks more generally about her issues with the entire education system and thinks many charter schools should look to public schools for guidance.
Brown, who represents north Modesto, has never faced an opposing candidate since he was appointed in 2016. Lopez won the district representing south Modesto in 2017 in a three-way election but has no opponent this round.
This story was originally published October 10, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
