SMCISD board elections Saturday

From staff reports

San Marcos May 09, 2008 10:51 am

— Two of five candidates will be chosen to serve on the SMCISD Board of Trustees during the election on Saturday.
Vying for District 1 will be Incumbent Joe Castillo, Lee “Barry” Davis and David T. Castillo. District 2 candidates will be Incumbent Margie Villapando and Laura Duhon. Jesse Ponce Jr. is unopposed for District 3.
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,” Castillo said. “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, 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,” Castillo said. “We’re losing teachers to other districts.”
He said drop out 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.
District 1 candidate Lee “Barry” Davis, 60, has lived in San Marcos for 31 years and is a retired contractor for the highway department. He has two years of college and is a Navy veteran. He and his wife, Tao, have four children.
“I wanted to give voters a choice. Now that I’m retired, I thought I could help some,” said Davis. “I’m not a talker, I’m a doer.”
Davis said he thinks the board could be more responsible with their money.
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.”
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.
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,” Ponce said.
He said he’d like 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,” Ponce said.
He also referred to the turnover rate for teachers. “It effects the students. You can’t open up to somebody if yo 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.
May 10 voting locations are for District 1, the Hays County Elections Office, and for District 2, San Marcos Housing, 820 Sturgeon St.