With All Ballots Accounted for Julian Cuevas Is The New “Kid On The Block” for a School Board With Proven Record Of Leadership Development from the Grassroots
With All Ballots Accounted for Julian Cuevas Is The New Kid On The Block for a School Board With Proven Record Of Leadership Development from the Grassroots
Special Report By Ben Edokpayi, Staff Writer
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Dixon is definitely one of the first locales where all the November 8 election ballots were fully accounted for within days of the vote.
And for local residents no result was more important than that of the School District where Julian Cuevas and Jewel Fink and John Gabby were winners to serve on the board of the Dixon Unified School District.
Cuevas finished ahead of Gabby and Fink with 3709 votes, Gabby who will return to serve the School District, after a two-year break because of a family emergency, scored 3244 votes. Jewel Fink brought up the rear with 3015 votes.
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Other local winners in the elections are Jim Ernst who will return to serve District 1 As Council Member. He edged Michael Ceremello with a total of 994 votes versus 495 votes for the former council member and Op-Ed writer for the Independent Voice newspaper.
The winner in District 2 is Thom Bodue with 534 Ballots ahead of 515 Ballots for Scott Pederson. Kristin Janisch was unanimously voted in as City Clerk with 4602 Votes.
Interestingly Cuevas as the new “Kid on the block” for Dixon’s respected local government was primed to be a leader as early as his senior year at Dixon High School.
In 2005 he was in a delegation of local high schoolers that attended the inauguration ceremony of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of America in an event usually preserved for Heads of State, Kings and Queens and the Political Movers and Shakers in Washington D.C.
“This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience for me,” told this reporter at that time.
He was one of 620 students from across nation who were selected to participate in the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference (PYIC) held in Washington DC. Each student was picked for their exemplary performance in the classroom and an interest in leadership.
In an interview with this reporter in 2005 Mike Lasday, executive director of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, told the Tribune that “What makes the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference such a special engagement is that it only happens every four years, providing future leaders like Julian Cuevas with a front-row seat to take part in the celebration of the man who will lead our country for the next four years.”
For six days Cuevas was cerebrally enmeshed in a busy schedule of special meetings and briefings, and participated in highly specialized reality-based simulations to explore the electoral process and various campaign strategies.
17 years later he will have the opportunity to use his DC experience as a good foundation to service a vibrant healthy local community that places high value in its school system.
One of the key goals for the newly elected School Board members will be to curtail actual and coded bullying on campus and beyond as well as elevate the Ranking of DHS. The school is currently ranked 696 in California and 4753 nationally. The current DUSD President Caitlin O’Halloran did not file for another term. https://www.dixonusd.org/governing-board/
“Let us not play sublime with Covid. No one was equipped for something like this. The virus turned education upside down,” said Lloyd McCabe who finished behind Jewel Fink with 2628 ballots . In addition to his tenure on the DUSD, Dr. McCabe serves on the Dixon Library Committee, Dixon High School Agriculture Advisory Committee, Dixon HS Farm Committee, Dixon May Fair Board of Directors, and Solano County Farm Bureau AgEd Foundation member and Scholarship Chairperson.
Bullying and dire consequences from the fall-out was the hot button topic in the Q&A session last month.
Each respondent agreed that the hydra-headed matter has been a problem in schools since the start of civilization, now worsened by online bullying.
“I believe most parents know if their kids are bullied but the situation is worsened by denial from Parents who know their kids are bullies” and refuse to take action they all agreed was a root cause of an intractable problem in schools.
“We can not be reactive, we need to be proactive and invest in mental health solutions and train our teachers to see the dangers,” and spotlight them, cautioned a candidate, who said Zero Tolerance is the solution in Dixon and beyond.
Other questions posed to the contestants at their debate last month bordered on:
- Their vision for sustenance of existing programs that lead to viable employment for DUSD graduates.
- How to address gaps in Distance Learning exacerbated by the CoronaVirus.
- How do they plan to address the District’s Long term Infrastructure needs and
- Strategies they plan to deploy to address inequities related to various socio-economic groups.
DUSD President Caitlin O’Halloran did not file for another term. She is flanked in this picture by Superintendent Brian Dolan and State Senator Lois Wolk. The retired Democrat, represented the 3rd Senate District, which encompasses the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta region and portions of the North Bay.https://www.dixonusd.org/governing-board/
This Is A front page lead in the November 25th edition of Dixon Tribune, the newspaper of record for the city of Dixon, population 21,000. The Norcal town was formerly known as Dickson.
