Where I Stand
Protect Our Schools. Protect Our Taxpayers. Educate Our Children.
Area 7 is enormous and spread thin — seven school districts, hundreds of square miles, and not nearly enough attention from a county board meeting once a month in Bakersfield. My priorities are built around one test: does this help a child in Tehachapi, Ridgecrest, Mojave, Boron, California City, Edwards, Caliente, South Kern, or Frazier Park learn better tomorrow than they did today? If the answer is yes, I'm for it. If it's just noise, I'm not interested.
Students First, Not Politics
Parents in Area 7 are tired of school board seats turning into ideological battlegrounds. I will keep this board's focus on the fundamentals — academics, safety, and opportunity — and be straight with parents about what's happening in their children's schools. Transparency isn't a slogan; it's a baseline expectation.
Fair Funding for Every District, Not Just the Big Ones
Area 7 is a coalition of small, geographically isolated districts, and small districts get squeezed first when resources are tight. I will fight for funding formulas and county support that treat Caliente, South Kern, Mojave, and Muroc with the same seriousness as the district with the loudest voice in the room.
Recruiting and Keeping Good Teachers in Our Remote Communities
Ridgecrest, Boron, and our other high-desert and mountain communities struggle to attract and retain teachers precisely because they're remote. I will push the county to support real incentives — housing assistance, mentorship pipelines, and retention support — so our kids aren't cycling through a new teacher every year.
Real Access to Special Education Services
Small districts often can't build the in-house special education capacity that larger districts take for granted. This one is personal to me. I will advocate for the shared county resources and cross-district coordination that make sure a child's zip code doesn't determine whether they get the services they're entitled to.
Closing the Connectivity Gap
You cannot ask a student in Boron, Caliente, or Frazier Park to complete the same digital coursework as a student in town with reliable broadband, and then judge them by the same yardstick, if the infrastructure isn't there. I will make broadband and connectivity access for instruction a standing priority, not an afterthought.
Safe Schools and Reliable Transportation
Kids in Area 7 often ride long bus routes across open desert and mountain roads just to get to class. I will make sure route adequacy and school safety planning get the board's real attention — not just a line item once a year.
Protecting Taxpayers
Every dollar this board spends is a dollar Area 7 families worked hard to earn. I will scrutinize spending the same way I did for 25 years in county service and private industry: carefully, honestly, and without political favoritism.
These aren't talking points I picked off a shelf — they're the issues I hear about when I'm actually in these communities, at school board meetings, chamber events, and church halls across all seven districts. If something is missing here that matters to your community, I want to hear about it.