Nine people are vying for the four open seats on the Atascadero school district’s board of trustees.
The seats up for reelection are currently held by George Shoemaker, Tami Gunther, Ray Buban, and Donn Clickard. Shoemaker and Gunther are running for reelection, and two other candidates also have something that sets them apart from the remaining seven: Vy Pierce and Tracy Ellis-Weit have the support of the SLO County Democrats.
“Both Tracy and Vy are running for the right reasons, they have utmost respect for education and educators. Both are extremely valuable members of the community already, but mostly because both are sane,” party Chair Rita Casaverde said. “We are seeing the attacks on school boards across the country and know that many candidates are running for political fringe reasons and are interested in bringing chaos to school board meetings. Our education system does not need that.”
The candidates were endorsed on Sept. 12 after three months of interviewing and reviewing 15 candidates from local school districts who applied for the county party’s endorsement earlier this year. But not everyone is on board with candidates receiving endorsements from political groups such as the SLO County Dems.
Incumbent Shoemaker says he’d prefer someone with an understanding of educational policy and district operational procedures.
“I have a concern that there are people running that want to take the school board and politicize it, that they are coming in with an agenda that is driven by national politics that does not belong at the local level here,” Shoemaker said.
Fellow incumbent Gunther, who has served on the school board for 16 years, echoed Shoemaker’s sentiment.
“Politics have no place in the board room, other than to share legislative updates or outcomes. Board members should be focused on what’s best for kids,” Gunther said. “The current board has an excellent working relationship with our administrative team, our teachers, and our classified employees, and my greatest hope would be that this trust not be damaged by political agendas, causes, or personal beliefs.”
Regardless of political endorsements, Pierce and Ellis-Weit have experience within the Atascadero Unified School District. Pierce has three children in the school district and has been an active classroom volunteer and member of several nonprofit organizations, PTAs, and school district committees such as the Local Control and Accountability Plan and the Superintendent’s Parent Advisory committees.
“I’ve always had a way to give back and pay it forward. Because of my upbringing. My parents were refugees from Vietnam when they came to the United States, they received assistance to rebuild their lives,” Pierce said. “So I feel like it’s my obligation to pay it forward and create opportunities for other kids who have challenges in their life.”
Pierce isn’t the only parent running for a position on the board. Rebekah Koznek, a parent of two, said she wants to be the parental representative on the school board.
“My biggest thing is to have every parent have a say in their child’s education which I feel has been lost,” Koznek said. “We know our children, so we know how our kids learn best. I really think that we can have a really strong working relationship with parents, teachers, and the school district.”
Ellis-Weit retired from teaching in 2019 after a career that spanned 32 years in the Atascadero elementary, middle, and high schools. She said she noticed then that there weren’t any teachers on the current school board.
“And I was just amazed that there was no teacher sitting also on the board. You know, no one to maybe ask questions that I’ve definitely had sitting in the audience,” Ellis-Weit said. “Somehow I put that out in the universe. And it came back and found me.”
While this is Ellis-Weit’s first time running for a seat on the board, this isn’t Pierce’s first rodeo. The mother of three previously ran in 2020 and lost to incumbents Mary Kay Mills, Terri E. Switzer, and Corinne C. Kuhnle. But Pierce said that this election year is a little different.
“The endorsements [this year] are different,” Pierce said, referring to endorsements from the Atascadero District Teachers Association, Central Coast Labor Council, and the local Dems. “After I lost in 2020, people came up to me and asked me to run again. That turned out to be encouragement to try again, since there’s two open seats, there’s a real opportunity for a new person to be on the school board.”
Ellis-Weit, who has also been endorsed by similar groups equates campaigning to the daunting feeling of running a mile.
“And then you get to the starting line and you realize I gotta run a mile. I’ve never run a mile before, who’s gonna help me?” Ellis-Weit said. “You’re just excited and thankful, because somebody who really doesn’t know you is putting their logo, their organization behind you, and you’re just going wow, I hope I don’t let you down.” Δ
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 9, 2022.
I am proud to support Vy Pierce and Tracy Ellis-Weit for school board because they both know how to work cooperatively with a wide range of people to create a safe and productive learning environment for students at all levels. They bring skills and experience that complement those of the two incumbents, Tami Gunther and George Shoemaker, who I also support. Voters will be electing four trustees for AUSD this November, and we can trust these four to provide thoughtful, non-ideological leadership that focuses on the kids. — Susan Funk, Atascadero City Council Member
Have any of the other candidates received endorsements? Or only Pierce and Ellis-Weit? Perhaps the reporter left out some crucial info, or other candidates aren’t getting endorsements from anyone?
I am honest about my endorsement from the SLO County Democratic Party this year. I did not have the party’s endorsement when I first ran in 2020 and lost. Do people know that the Republican Party of SLO has endorsed a slate of 4 candidates for school board in Atascadero, including Rebekah Koznek? If all 4 candidates win their bids, they would constitute a majority of the 7-member board. Let’s think about how that would impact the Atascadero Unified School District board.
Our family is proud to endorse Rebekah Koznek. Having a board member who understands the needs and frustration of the special needs kids and their parents would be a great asset to the AUSD. As a parent of a special needs in education kid who was lost in the system during the pandemic, I would appreciate having someone who will be that voice for the kids and their parents. Our concerns were not listened to during the shut down, my child regressed and we had to hold him out of kindergarten. AUSD would not honor our child’s doctors medical exemption this had lead to us now homeschooling our child as we were told if you don’t like the districts policies go homeschool. While we homeschool our child my property taxes still support our public schools and I would like to have a board who puts the children and their parents first. Yes we should and need to listen to the teachers but when it comes to advocating teachers have unions kids and parents have the school board we don’t have unions. We the parents vote school board members to be our advocate to be our voice to those who are higher up the chain of command for our public schools.
Public schools have become more about clubs and feelings then academics. Yes many of us parents dropped the ball we were not involved in our children’s education, now we are we have seen the error of our ways we want to be involved and now it seems no one wants us to. As a gay couple in this community we fear what our child would be exposed to in public school. We are raising our child with Christian values that we hold dear to ourselves as well as an independent thinker. Our family wants a school board that will get back to the basics of academics.
I agree with Trisha. i have seen Rebekah at the school board meetings over the past two and a half years respectfully advocating for the kids. This is a strange article. This is the second time I have heard Rita, the head of the democratic party, say that the democrat endorsed candidates are “sane”. Is that implying that other candidates are “insane”? What does that even mean? Elaborate please? To me that is bullying and name calling. We need less bullying on the school boards and in the schools. We need to know where the candidates stand on important issues please New Times. Gunther left out working with parents in the quote. Was that an error by the author of the article or intentional? We need a follow up article please. More in depth. Thank you.
We support Rebekah Koznik for School Board.
When our student was devastated over the loss of her education due to the shutdowns, Rebekah fought for her.
I recall clearly the morning, just a week before the schools were closed, dropping off my then-freshman at school. While we waited in the school lot for her friend, she lamented, “Mom, I’m frustrated with my friends. They advise each other to take this or that class because ‘it’s ‘soooo easy’, or ‘the teacher doesn’t care, just tell them you’re x,y,z [victim identity] and they’ll push you through!’. Why can’t they see what a gift free education is?? I’m going to take the hardest classes with the strictest teachers. I’m not wasting this opportunity!”.
Distance ‘learning’ destroyed her faith in the system. She couldn’t learn that way. She witnessed kids cheating and gifted A’s. She witnessed bullying and cancelling if anyone couldn’t wear a mask or get a vaccine. She was eventually ostracized by all but one friend for refusing to get a vaccine she didn’t need and didn’t trust. She lost two friends, permanently, to suicide. Her health declined. She last her grandmother who was isolated in hospital and traumatized because of cruel mandates. She became self destructive and we nearly lost her too. She quietly quit attending her virtual classes. Even after classrooms were reopened, she barely could drag herself in, so utterly damaged by the losses she had endured. Rebekah was one of the parents who fought for her. It made all the difference. Our now-Senior has stacked together Honors, AP, and College tandem classes to make up for the two years she was denied her rightful education. She is currently applying to universities, hopeful they will ‘forgive’ her ‘failing’ during the Sophomore and Junior years she was failed by the system. She has her eyes on a doctorate in education with a minor in theater; her two Career Pathways. If people like Rebekah hadn’t advocated for she and her fellow students, I’m certain we would have lost her.
Rebekah Koznek brings to this position years of homeschooling her own kids as well as years of advocating for special needs students. She has lived and breathed school policy since this Covid Event sidelined education in California, and is highly informed and dedicated to bringing our local public education back into respectable position on the national stage, with a student-advocacy via parental voice centered approach. Her history as a firefighter informs a solid understanding of policy, public service, safety, compassion, chain of comnand, and physical endurance. She runs her household and woodcraft business successfully while serving on two civic, student-centered, local boards. You will not find a more stable, informed, temperate, ethical, fair-minded candidate willing to run for this position. Rebekah puts her ‘money where her mouth is’. I know she intends to listen to the community, parents, and students when determining how to best represent our district in educating our students.
Vote Rebekah Kosnik for AUSD School Board. Thank you.
Staci Emmack
Parent of two AUSD students,
Atascasero business owner (30+ years),
Treasurer Moms for Liberty SLO County,
Former board member/President Grizzly Youth Academy LAG Board (10 years)