School board early voting wraps Tuesday

By Ashley Landis
Staff Reporter

San Marcos May 03, 2008 04:44 pm

— Early voting for SMCISD Board of Trustees will end on Tuesday, with election day scheduled for Saturday, May 10.
District 1, 2 and 3 representatives will be on the ballot.
Vying for District 1 will be incumbent Joe Castillo and challengers Lee “Barry” Davis and David T. Castillo.
District 2 candidates will be incumbent Margie Villapando and challenger Laura Duhon.
Newcomer Jesse Ponce Jr. will be unopposed for District 3.

Joe Castillo
District 1 incumbent Joe Castillo, 46, has served on the school board since August 2001. He works as a program analyst at Texas State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. He is single and has lived in San Marcos for more than 20 years.
“The initiatives that I’ve started, I’d like to see finished. Like the building project,” said Castillo. “I kind of want to complete the job that the voters elected me to do the first time.”
He said SMCISD is close to becoming an academically recognized school district and he’d like to see it become exemplary.
“I’m not a single-issue person. I don’t have an agenda except for what’s best for all students,” said Castillo.

David T. Castillo
David T. Castillo, 43, is also running for District 1 and is a Spanish teacher and a football and basketball coach Del Valle ISD.
He earned a BS in education and has graduate hours in English as a Second Language (ESL). He is single and has lived in San Marcos for most of his life.
“We definitely need to make some drastic changes before it gets too late,” said Castillo. “We’re losing teachers to other districts.”
He said dropout rates are too high and conditions for students and teachers need to be improved. Also, he said the district needs to work more closely with the community.
“I want to bring my experience of 20 years in education. I believe people are ready for change,” he said.

Lee “Barry” Davis
District 1 candidate Lee “Barry” Davis did not return repeated calls for comment for this story.

Margie Villapando
District 2 Incumbent Margie Villapando, 64, has served on the board of trustees since June 2004 and is a Doctoral Administrative Secretary at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She is a native of San Marcos and she and her three children graduated from San Marcos High School. Villapando earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree. She is single.
“I’ve been on the school board for four years. There are learning initiatives that we have set in place like Pathfinder and PRIDE. The students are achieving academic and athletic success and it’s starting to get noticed,” said Villapando. “We’ve worked together to make sure that every student has an equal opportunity for education. We want to make sure our children are ready when they graduate with the skills they need to continue their future.”

Laura Duhon
Also running for District 2 is Laura Duhon, 38. She is a Senior Lecturer for education courses at Texas State University and came to San Marcos in 1989. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in interdisciplinary students with a focus on early education, a Masters degree in elementary education and holds 21 additional graduate hours in educational administration. She is married to husband Mark.
“I plan to continue to focus on student achievement with quality teaching. And continue to use the budget effectively to enhance working conditions for teachers and students,” she said.
Duhon also said she plans to create a strong partnership with the university.

Jesse Ponce Jr.
Running for District 3 is un-opposed candidate Jesse Ponce Jr., 44. He is currently an assistant supervisor and carpenter for Hays CISD and graduated from San Marcos High School in 1982. He is married to wife Elizabeth and has three sons in the SMCISD school system.
“I’ve worked at Hays CISD for seven years and I kind of see what goes on over here and I’d like to bring some of that over to San Marcos,” said Ponce.
He said he’d like to use ideas from the HCISD budget like saving money through energy management.
“The (SMCISD) drop out rate is kind of high, so I’d like to see why that’s happening and see what we can do about it. Also pay for the employees and stuff, I’d like to raise that to the national average, not just for teachers, but for bus drivers and everyone else too,” said Ponce.
He also referred to the turnover rate for teachers. “It effects the students. You can’t open up to somebody if you know they’re not going to be there,” he said.
District 1 spans south from Staples Road, mostly east of IH-35 and includes San Marcos High School, Goodnight Junior High, Hernandez Intermediate, Miller Junior High, Bowie Elementary and DeZavala Elementary. District 2 runs east of IH-35, north of District 1 and does not include any campuses. District 3 runs along IH-35, north of McCarty and includes the Bonham Pre-Kindergarten campus and SMCISD central offices.
Early voting locations are at the SMCISD administrative offices at 501 S LBJ Dr. and at the Elections Office at 401-C Broadway St. Early voting ends on Tuesday, May 6.
May 10 voting locations are for District 1, the Hays County Elections Office, and for District 2, San Marcos Housing, 820 Sturgeon St.