NEWS Staff Report
The San Benito News, in conjunction with local non-profit organizations, is planning to host “Meet the Candidates” community forums in the cities of Rio Hondo and San Benito.
Tentatively scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 14 at the Rio Hondo City Hall board room, the first of two forums will focus primarily on the Rio Hondo ISD School Board elections. Serving as moderator will be San Benito News Managing Editor Michael Rodriguez. The event is being co-sponsored by the Rio Hondo Pony League.
Running in the Rio Hondo ISD elections is Place 1 incumbent Noe Alaniz, Jr. vs. Michael “Mike” St. John, Pl. 5 incumbent Tomas Gomez vs. Santiago “Jim” Saldaña, Pl. 6 incumbent Manuel Flores, Jr. vs. Thelma Flores, and Pl. 7 incumbent Tom Wiesman vs. Josephat “Hoss” Lozano.
Thursday, April 21 is the confirmed date of the “Meet the Candidates” forum in San Benito, to be held at 6:30 p.m. inside the board room of the San Benito CISD John F. Barron Administration Building, where Rodriguez will also be serving as moderator. The San Benito forum will be specific to the San Benito CISD School Board elections. Also, the San Benito Friends of the Library will co-sponsor this event.
Candidates running in the San Benito CISD elections include Pl. 4 incumbent Joe G. Gonzalez vs. June Aguilera, Pl. 6 incumbent Oscar Medrano vs. Fatima Huerta, and Pl. 7 incumbent Manuel “Meme” Gonzales vs. Julian Huerta. Pl. 5 incumbent Hector G. Leal is running unopposed.
Questions will focus on general and specific issues pertaining to education, such as spending, student and teacher performance as well as matters pertaining to budgeting.
In the meantime, the News encourages readers to comment here with questions for the candidates by logging onto www.sbnewspaper.com. Questions should be short, concise, and focused on issues relevant to school districts; inflammatory, combative, and/or derogatory comments will not be tolerated.
For more information, contact the News by calling (956) 399-2436.
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Rio Hondo Candidates: With RH lacking money to run the entire next school year, What would you look at? Newly hired teachers and staff both at the campus level and Administration office, would that be something that you would go definitely go with first?
What will you do if the school district has to let go of staff, How would you try to handle the situation? How do any of you feel about NEPOTISM, (ex. hiring nieces, cousins) to what extent would you all get involved in the hiring process.
This is directly directed toward the Rio HONDO SCHOOL BOARD.
I’ve got a couple of questions!
1. Why did Superintendent Limon get a higher raise than teachers?
2. If the entire country is in a recession why does the school district continue to make lousy moves with money that aren’t EDUCATION related? Such as purchasing Bobby Morrow turf
3. Why are all the SBCISD board members at all the football games, home or away but we never see them at baseball, softball, volleyball, track…etc. ?
4. Why is the school district paying Spencer Gantt as much as they paid Coach Pena but he does not act as a Athletic Director should? Supporting all sports and riding to games with his team instead of taking his own car which he then probably racks up mileage charges.
5. If the district does plan on letting go of retire- rehires are Celeste Sanchez and Limon being let go too?
I would like to see these candidates discuss: Bullying in Schools. RHISD should not be paying for Cheerleading uniforms. Cut down extra expenses. Leave that up to the parents.
You need to reverse your picture. You are not displaying the U.S. Flag properly. The stars are always to the left.
Specifically for Rio Hondo Board Candidates:
Why do you think that you are the best qualified for the position as School Board Trustee Place ____ and ________?
Rio Hondo and San Benito School Board candidates…tax payers in Rio Hondo currently pay the highest taxes in the state….What plan do you have to bring tax relief to the citizens at a time when the state is also cutting back on funding?
(Correction) Tax payers in Rio Hondo and San Benito
As a frequent San Benito sport spectator, I always wonder why so many coaches are needed for one particular sport. My question is, wouldn’t it be reasonable to cut costs in the school district by keeping coaching staff to a minimum? If 10 coaches are eliminated from the entire district, (at an est. $50,000/year each) you are looking at about a savings of $500,000.
To the incumbents…How much money have you and the superintendents currently spent on board travel and training in the last 2 year, and how has the expenditures of those funds contributed to your position on the school board.
This is a question for the San Benito school board incumbents. Whether it be through voter-approved bonds, the shifting of money from the debt services fund to the operating fund, or by selling sponsorships, over the years I’ve seen the school district cleverly find ways to fund the construction of a new stadium and a state of the art scoreboard, not to mention the installation of turf and employee raises. But where is that same innovation and urgency in generating millions upon millions of dollars for items considered secondary to education now that the district faces a potential shortfall in state monies that could realistically cost teachers their jobs. In short, why all the effort in building nice things only to just throw your hands up in the air and say you’re at the mercy of the state when push comes to shove?
I got a LONG one! There’s always some drama at Rio Hondo high school about cheerleader tryouts and that one girl should’ve made it while another shouldn’t have or whatever. My understanding is that the cheerleaders have their own constitution regarding this, wouldn’t there be more accountability to determine tryouts and selection of cheerleaders to a squad by just leaving it up to employed personnel specifically assigned to do so?
For San Benito CISD candidates, if you were forced to make significant cuts to your budget due to a multi-billion dollar state shortfall, who and/or what would you consider expendable and why?
As a candidate what would you do to address the current finance school crisis facing Rio Hondo ISD?