Five vie for three seats on school board
Two young lions have roared into the race for the Petaluma City Schools Board of Education.
Gonzalo Romo, 28, and Steven Cozza, 29, are challenging incumbents Michael Baddeley, Sheri Chlebowski and Phoebe Ellis for the three seats on the five-member board. Although neither challenger has a child and neither has held an elected public office, they both say they would bring fresh ideas and a new perspective to the board.
The incumbents, although they differ in personality and on some issues, maintain the district is doing a good job and they want to continue serving through some major changes in education.
The Petaluma City Schools board, which governs both the elementary and high school districts, is in a state of flux facing capital improvements made possible by two bond measures, $19 million for the elementary school district and $69 million for the high school district, approved by the voters in June. The districts are also in the midst of implementing a new technology plan that has already included major infrastructure upgrades and is in the process of training both teachers and students in the use of the state-mandated Common Core curriculum standards.
The district is also facing some challenging issues, including a contentious labor dispute with the Petaluma Federation of Teachers, declining enrollment and a new statewide funding strategy.
Michael Baddeley
Baddeley is an attorney and long-time Petaluma resident. He and wife, Lisa, have seen three children go through the Petaluma City Schools system while his youngest child is a senior at Petaluma High School.
He was appointed to the school board in March 2010 to complete the term of Lou Steinberg and successfully ran for election in November of that year.
Baddeley has a long list of community and school involvements, including serving on the city’s Recreation, Music & Parks Commission; being a member of the Rotary Club of Petaluma; and coaching and volunteering with the Petaluma Girls Softball Association, CYO baskeball, Petaluma National Little League and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties. He has also been a longtime supporter of all high school athletics.
He says the current school board operates efficiently and has seen the district through some tough times, explaining, “it is an extremely high-functioning, experienced body that, during the great recession, maintained the financial viability of the district, worked hard with all of the district stakeholders to achieve the highest public high school graduation rate and the lowest drop out rate in Sonoma County and preserve almost all of our classes and programs at every level throughout the district, including music, art and our Career Technical Education programs.”
He says the board wants to take care of its teachers, but must also be aware of the fiscal realities. “We want to make our teachers happy. We want to have healthy relationships with all our bargaining units as we have historically, but we have to be fiscally prudent,” he explains. He says the district’s budget reserves are under the 10 percent that is considered the norm. “If we spend our reserves down to 3 percent at some point the state will step in. To go under 10 percent is fraught with peril. I would rather be on the conservative side and keep a healthy reserve,” he says.
Baddeley says it is important to have someone from private enterprise on government boards, explaining that, not only does he bring a business perspective to the board, but he has no special interest. “I don’t like hidden agendas,” he says. “I have a single agenda - to do what is best for children.”
He says he wants to remain on the board to help the district through the changes that are coming including the implementation of the capital improvements made possible by the bond passage, the new Common Core standards and the Local Control Funding Formula.
Sheri Chlebowski
Chlebowski has brought a varied background to the school board. She is a former police officer who earned a law degree shortly after having her first child and practiced municipal law at the city attorney’s office in Benicia. She gave up her legal career to become a full-time mother of three children, who are now in the first, fourth and fifth grades in Petaluma schools. She applied to replace Steinberg for the seat that was eventually filled by Baddeley, but won election in November, 2010, with the most votes in a five-candidate race for three board positions. She was program coordinator for the Petaluma Mothers Club, founded and served as president of Moms for Clean Air, was president of the Little Shepard Lutheran Preschool board and volunteers for Sonoma County Legal Aid.
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