"Re-elect trio to school board"
Enterprise editorial | October 17, 2010

The issue: Allen, Daleiden and Taylor have survived a trial by fire and are ready to keep fighting for our kids

Five years ago, when the current Davis Board of Education incumbents were running for their first term in office, they were brimming with enthusiasm and energy, big plans and big dreams.

Well, life got in the way.

WE'RE CERTAIN that Sheila Allen, Gina Daleiden and Tim Taylor didn't envision themselves dealing with such thorny issues as closing an elementary school due to declining enrollment, raising class sizes, scaling back programs and laying off treasured employees.

Thanks to several straight years of huge budget cuts from the state, coupled with Davis' declining enrollment, these generally have not been fun times for school board members.

But this trio has persevered and accomplished a remarkable number of good things while handling the bad as sensitively and compassionately as possible.

Some highlights:

• Hiring Superintendent James Hammond and Davis High School Principal Winfred Roberson, who was promoted to superintendent over the summer upon Hammond's departure;
• Developing trust with Davis voters, who have approved two school parcel tax measures (Q and W);
• Giving the long-awaited go-ahead to the DHS stadium modernization project, and seeing that project through to its joyous conclusion;
• Converting Da Vinci High School into a charter academy and relocating it to the Valley Oak campus, plus expanding the innovative, project-based learning approach into eighth and ninth grades, thereby increasing enrollment at the Emerson Junior High campus; and
• Creating an Academic Center at DHS with tutoring and other supportive resources designed to help close the achievement gap.

THEN THERE'S the budget situation, a multimillion-dollar challenge that will continue to rear its ugly head as long as the state suffers through this economic downturn. Trustees began by nipping and tucking, trimming and slicing but the problem mushroomed way beyond simple belt-tightening.

Faced with the layoff of dozens of teachers,librarians, counselors, secretaries and custodians, the Davis community responded with generous donations to the Davis Schools Foundation's fundraising campaigns in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

That kind of giving doesn't come to a school district that parents, community members and businesspeople believe is poorly managed. The quality of leadership shown by Allen, Daleiden and Taylor — along with their colleagues Richard Harris and Susan Lovenburg — has been affirmed time and again by Davis schools supporters.

We can say without a doubt that this trio has the best interests of our students and our school employees at heart. The school board has had to make some terribly painful decisions over the past few years, but it's a testament to the trustees' dedication that they're ready to keep fighting the fight.

AND WE'RE BEHIND them. Please join us in voting for Sheila Allen, Gina Daleiden and Tim Taylor on Nov. 2.

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