School Board Candidates at Harding School Monday Night

A candidates forum with the four people running for West Contra County school board will be held Monday night, Sept. 24, in the auditorium at Harding Elementary School in El Cerrito.

The 6:30-8 p.m. event is co-sponsored by the Kensington Hilltop Elementary School PTA and Harding and Mira Vista elementary schools.

• If you're not attending, check El Cerrito Patch's homepage for live video coverage of the forum. We are hoping to do live streaming of the event.

The four candidates for two open seats on the five-member school board of the West Contra Costa Unified School District are

• retired school principal Randall Enos
• parent volunteer Todd Groves
• incumbent Antonio Medrano
• parent volunteer Robert Studdiford

The large West Contra Costa district ranges from El Cerrito and Kensington in the south to Hercules in the north.

Key issues include funding for academic programs and for replacing aging schools. Strapped for funding, the school board voted in June to increase K-2 class sizes.

On July 24, the board voted to place two revenue measures on the November ballot – Measure E for a bond measure to rebuild or retrofit several of the district's old schools and Measure G to extend the current parcel tax for academic spending.

All four candidates have confirmed that they will attend the Monday night forum, at which they will answer questions from the public, according to a notice from the legislative committeee of the Hilltop Elementary PTA. Those with questions are asked to email them ahead of time to 4westcounty@gmail.com.

“Our parent communities are coming together over common issues like class size reduction and the low teacher salaries in our district," said the notice from the Kensington Hilltop PTA. "Parents have strength in numbers – we have affected some important change in the district over the last two years. We hope to see a great turn out at this forum.

“This election could truly turn the state of education around in California. We've been told that parents have the worst record for voting -- this program is a great opportunity to share resources and educate ourselves and our community on the state propositions and make educated votes when we do vote this fall.”

The election will be held Nov. 6.

Two other school board candidate forums are scheduled next month, the school district announced:

• Thursday, October 11, 2012, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
El Cerrito High School Cafeteria
540 Ashbury Avenue
El Cerrito, CA 94530-3299

• Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Murphy Elementary School Multi-purpose Room
4350 Valley View Road
Richmond, CA 94803-1499

-------------------------------

You can “Like" El Cerrito Patch on Facebook for another way to get local information and connect with other readers from El Cerrito and Kensington.