Two vie for Sonoma County Board of Education seat

Two candidates are vying for a seat on the county’s education board to represent Sonoma Valley and the eastern portion of Santa Rosa.

Gina Cuclis, the incumbent for Trustee Area 1, is challenged by Dianna MacDonald. Each has a long list of involvement in education at the local, regional and state level though in different capacities. (A full list of their involvement and accomplishments can be found on their respective websites: GinaCuclis.com and DiannaForEducation.com.)

MacDonald was president of the California State PTA from 2017 to 2019 and was a trustee for the Cloverdale Unified School District for two terms, ending in 2016. Cuclis has been a county board trustee the past two terms.

The Sonoma County Office of Education’s (SCOE) role is to support the county’s 40 school districts by providing services, support and oversight. Sonoma Valley Unified School District is among those districts served by the county board.

The coronavirus pandemic, and how schools maneuver through and past the effects it has on schools and students, is among the candidates’ top priorities. Cuclis has been in office throughout the pandemic as well as fires in each year since 2017, floods, and power outages forced by PG&E.

“My direct experience dealing with the ever-changing situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as my experience throughout my last term working collaboratively with our county superintendent and team at SCOE to assist school districts with responding to disaster after disaster in our county, makes this a critical time for my continued leadership,” Cuclis said.

MacDonald agrees that support from SCOE at this time is vital, and thinks the board could do more.

“Support not just for teachers, administrators and staff are critical but we also need to do more work to support our local board members. This has not been done to the level that is needed, and the county has the ability to bring trustees together to build relationships and have them share with each other best practices, and sometimes just for camaraderie and or to commiserate,” MacDonald said.

“We need to listen to our teachers and staff, all staff, to ensure that the professional development that is being offered at SCOE is what they need to support teaching and learning and a healthy school climate and environment.”

Both Cuclis and MacDonald are in favor of ramping up Career Technical Education classes to provide a path for those who want to go into a trade profession or for whom college is not of interest or option.

Where they differ is in their approach to Early Childhood Education (ECE). Cuclis said she is in favor of universal pre-school, but that it is not part of the county board’s purview.

“We (SCOE) provide services to school districts,” Cuclis said. “We’re like a vendor to districts.” Sonoma County’s school districts don’t have preschools, she said.

That shouldn’t matter, MacDonald argues.

“I know the jurisdiction of the county board, but I also know how to successfully implement ECE programs as a trustee and believe as a community we need to be looking at increasing our ECE opportunities,” she said. “To say something is out of your jurisdiction is a lack of vision and understanding of the entire education system and how it all fits together. This is something that I feel I can bring to the SCOE board, we need to partner with business, community and our education system to move towards universal preschool, this is one of the greatest initiative we can do to help achieve educational equity.”

In areas outside of mainstream education, Cuclis has a special interest in helping to graduate students who were expelled or incarcerated, and inspired the board this summer to take a stand on Black Lives Matter.

“I also am passionate about helping school districts address the impacts of climate change. Students are asking us school leaders to take action. Earlier this year, the president of the California School Boards Association appointed me to serve on the association’s Climate Change Task Force. I’m one of only 14 school board members, the only county school board member, and the only school board member north of San Francisco on this task force,” Cuclis said.

MacDonald has first-hand experience with a disability. She is dyslexic and struggled in school growing up in Santa Rosa.

“I am a dyslexic person and school was challenging to say the least, but I had my grandma, one of the first special education teachers in Sonoma County. My children also have had 504s and IEPs so I am all too familiar with how challenging it is to navigate that process as a parent, and as a student. So I became and I am an advocate, what started out being for my own children has developed into being there for all children and families,” MacDonald said.

Email Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.

Contact Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.