Page 3 - Sanger Herald 6-14-18 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Random thoughts The city and the school district have different succession processes ...
By Dick Sheppard
I am a great admirer of the way our school district grows its leaders.
The succession process
created a smooth, seamless,
transition when Matt Navo
replaced Marc Johnson as
superintendent of schools.
It's likely going to produce the same result with the transition taking place now as Navo rides off into the sunset and Adela Jones takes over superintendent duties.
"Likely" is the key word.
A lot depends on what happens in November when three school board posi- tions will be on the ballot. Pete Filippi, president of the board, Ken Marcantonio and Jesse Vasquez will be up for re-election and Marcantonio has already announced that he's going to retire from the board.
Once upon a time the school district was as dysfunctional as three grand jury reports, with a fourth on the way, have indicated the City of Sanger tends to be.
What changed? The board.
The board stopped trying to microman- age the district and let the superintendent take the reins. Marc Johnson proved to be up to the task, becoming a national superinten- dent of the year and setting the stage for the district to exit from a No Child Left Behind situation that was only a couple of steps away from the state taking over the poorly per- forming district.
With a new district emphasis on children learning instead of adults teaching, Navo became a rock star, leading the district to heights that could not have even been imag- ined when he first rode into the district. That's when there were signs posted at the edge of town proclaiming Sanger to be the home of 300 unhappy school teachers - or something like that.
Jones naturally has a few concerns about taking over one of the top school districts
in the state. Maybe not as many as Navo
had about replacing a very popular national superintendent of the year. But Jones like Navo, thanks to a supportive board and the district's policy of growing its own leaders, will be surrounded by experienced, knowl- edgeable, competent people ready to help her tiptoe through the mine fields.
At the same time Jones officially becomes superintendent on July 1, Tim Lopez will take over her former role as an associate superin- tendent and Jamie Nino will step into Lopez's former position as area administrator.
•••
Navo said goodbye to his fellow district employees Wednesday morning over coffee,
fruit and breakfast burritos.
"I've enjoyed every bit of it," he said. Then
he paused slightly before adding, "Well, not every bit of it. But most of it."
Navo leaves after five years in the top spot of one of Fresno County's top-performing school districts, a tenure many would envy. He said his first big decision involved mov-
ing Sanger High graduation from Tom Flores Stadium to the Save Mart Center. He said his last memory may be handing a plaque to a kid named Damien at the first competition at a wrestling tournament named in his honor.
Navo said he wouldn't leave if he knew the district wouldn't be able to smoothly transi- tion without him. In fact, he said the district and its leadership is fully prepared to move on. In that context, he said people are already starting to embrace the new team behind his successor Adela Jones.
From his new phone, he said he called area administrator Karl Kesterke, a guy he's worked with for 18 years. Kesterke, Navo said, didn't know who it was but agreed to go for a motorcycle ride anyway. Kesterke spent the rest of the day trying to figure out who had called him, Navo said as Kesterke just shook his head at the retelling.
"He panicked all day," Navo said.
Navo didn't give a speech. Not really. He just talked with a group he's been around for a long time. "This is right," Navo said. "This is the way it's supposed to be. I'll miss you guys."
•••
Does the city have a similar succession
plan to guarantee a smooth, seamless transi- tion with such goodwill between administra- tions.
Sort of ...
The city standard seems to be for each new administration to spend an inordinate amount of time criticizing the previous administration before getting down to the business of making its own mistakes which will be criticized by the next administration.
•••
The school district got input, in English
and Spanish, on its Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) on Tuesday eve- ning from members of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
"LCAP is the process used by school dis- tricts to set goals, plan actions and leverage resources to meet those goals to improve stu- dent outcomes," according to one of the many websites created to help the average person sort through and try to make sense out of all the acronyms associated with the education industry in the United States.
A summary of the points covered by speakers was handed out at the meeting.
It mentioned three areas of concern: com- munication and parent engagement; student achievement; and school climate.
We'll have a more detailed story about the suggestions in next week's Herald.
•••
I think it's great that the city displays
small U.S. flags on light poles and awnings along downtown streets. However, it's not so great that the city fails to keep watch on the flags so they can be properly retired when they become as faded, torn and tattered
as the one on the awning on O Street had become. It was removed this week after I posted a picture of it on my Facebook page. I hope it will be properly retired.
Sanger AMVETS Post 98 will have a flag
Dick Sheppard
Mike Nemeth/Sanger Herald
A very relaxed Matt Navo, right, says goodbye to Sanger Unified co-workers at a Wednesday morning breakfast buffet in the district board room. A maybe not quite so relaxed Adela Jones, the new superintendent, is seated across the table from Navo.
retirement ceremony at Sanger's 4th of July celebration. If you have a flag that should be retired you can drop it off at the Sanger Herald and I'll make sure it gets to the AMVETS.
Maybe someone from the American Legion will bring me the flag that's in really bad shape on the light pole diagonally across
the street from the American Legion state headquarter at 7th and P streets.
••• Stay cool!
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
In my OPINION
'I'm mad as hell and
I'm not going to take it any more.'
By Fred Hall
Although last Tuesday's
“jungle” primary election
did produce some sur-
prises, it primarily, no pun
intended, held up for public
display just how chaotic
and dysfunctional politics in
California has become
which was graphically detailedbythelengthoftheballot. I'msure every candidate who ran for public office is a wonderful person but it's difficult to vote for them when one knows little or nothing about who they really are or what they stand for! InCaliforniait'softendifficulttofigureout what the real agenda of incumbents might be because they say one thing and do another when elected.
We were told—repeatedly and often—by a local newspaper just how awful and evil Devin Nunes is and that the race between himandAndrewJanzwasareferendumon Donald Trump and had nothing, basically, to dowitheitherofthem. Detractorsloudly proclaimed it was about Trump and Nunes' defenseofourpresident. Tous,itappeared Nuneswasonlypursuingthetruthand defending the rule of law.
That bit of wisdom of the election really being about Trump, mentioned above, was penned by a sportswriter with a subsequent attempt by his organization to walk it back a bit. Theyappeartoclaimtheyweretalking about the general election while explicitly stating otherwise in the headline for their piece.
JimCosta,longtimeDemocrat and left-leaning sycophant of the party apparat- chik as well as do-nothing Central Valley Congressman from the 16th Congressional District, had the fight of his life against a vir- tual unknown in the political world, Elizabeth Heng. Whenoneconsiderstheextremely thin margin separating these two candidates, one should also realize that this District leans Democrat by more than 9 percentage points , making it the 125th most Democratic District in the entire nation.
Since about 1960 the voter registration in California has become so left-leaning and lib- eral thatit'ssometimesdifficulttoimagine any scenario under which Republicans might winanelection. The“bluewave”seems non-existent and hope does remain in several races. Onceonegetsoutsidethehugemetro-
Fred Hall
VICTIMS
politan area of this state, there even seems to be a few Democrats who could be considered moderate. Sadly,thosebigcities,ofwhichI speak, tend to give us a litany of lunacy.
Considering the tremendous edge of reg- istered Democrats over their Republican counterparts statewide, there appears to be little hope in the near future of a conserva- tive restructuring of the political scene as is beingwitnessedinotherstates. Wedo,how- ever, take solace in the fact that there is an ever-growingnumberofCaliforniacitieswho are joining the United States government in itslawsuittoridthisstateofitsridiculous notionofbeinga“SanctuaryState.” How lake the old west we have become when there are entire areas which are to be considered safe zones for outlaws.
What kind of message do you suppose that sends to the worst among us?
Evenpriortostatehood,thiswasan extraordinary area, beautiful, expansive, rich in minerals, pastureland and rich soil for farming.
Whyshouldthestrongpeoplewhobuilt this great state stand by and watch as politi- cians destroy and denigrate everything we've worked for so they can build their personal coffers and bankrupt the rest of us?
We believe, while it is indeed in short sup- plytoday,thatcommonsenseisasingular guiding force for millions of Californians. Perhaps it is time to rise up and declare, “I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.”
But, as always, that's only one man's opin- ion.
In addition to the Sanger Herald, Publisher Fred Hall oversees two other Mid Valley Publishing newspapers - Reedley Exponent, and Dinuba Sentinel. He can be contacted by phone at (559) 638-2244 or by email at fred@ midvalleypublishing.com.
Established 1889 • Published every Thursday 740 N Sanger, CA 93657 • (559) 875-2511
Fred Hall, publisher Dick Sheppard, editor
Lifestyles editor: Mike Nemeth
Sports editor: Mike Nemeth
Front office: Sharon Mendoza, classified ads
Display Advertising: Paulette Garcia
Composition: Susie House
Press Room: Tom Flores, Phillip Marquez, Ricardo Fernan- dez and Geno Bravo
Mail Room: Anthony Dimmick, Sally Ramirez, Matt Gar- cia and Lorena Neri
An award winning 2018 member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association
The Sanger Herald is owned and published by Mid Valley Publishing, Inc, 740 N, Sanger, CA 93657 It is an Adjudicated Legal Newspaper
General Circulation in Fresno County, Order No 85500, Dec 1951 Sanger Herald subscriptions are taken by mail in advance
SANGER HERALD(USPS 418- 340) is published weekly every Thursday for $25 per year for Fresno County residents and $29.50 per year for residents outside the county and $3150 per year for residents outside the state, non cancelable Periodicals postage paid at Sanger, CA and at additional mailing of ces
Postmaster: Send address changes to the Sanger Herald, 740 N, Sanger, CA 93657
Letters to the editor policy
The Sanger Herald appreciates letters
to the editor and encourages readers to participate in this public forum E-mail to sanger- herald@gmailcom Provide your name and tele- phone number The telephone number will not be published
No handwritten letters, please
Letters under300wordsandlettersfromwrit- ers who have not been recently published will be given preference
Letters may be edited for length, grammar and clarity
Letters that are libelous will not be printed