Editor, Manteca Bulletin:

It was wonderful to listen to 21 members of the community discuss Manteca Unified School District are a unified district was evident in the participation of community members and candidates for other areas as well. 

Andrea Collins-Cambra, running in Area 5, wanted to attend but needed to be away for her family’s farming business. There seems to be enough interest to schedule another forum in Area 5. I trust that all the areas of our unified district will be able to attend for another productive discussion.

I found the areas of common perspective among the candidates to be as interesting as the ones of different perspectives. All three candidates agreed that more funds need to go to direct support for students, less time needs to be spent on pullout teacher training, and that the superintendent should forego a raise if the rest of the staff have not gotten one. To me current district practice does not reflect these perspectives. 

All also agreed that oversight of the district budget is primarily an administrative function, that there is not really a solution for how much personal funds teachers have to contribute for quality instruction and that retaining new teachers is a challenge with limited solutions. From the perspective of students first I hope these ideas are revised as the discussion continues.  

Finally all agreed that one of the most important parts of the trustee job is listening to the community. I could not agree more and am most grateful for all the folks who listened on Wednesday. I think that listening to each other is the most important practice for all of us in the MUSD.

Terry Bennett-Cauchon

Manteca