MPUSD Candidate Gets Backing of Union, Challengers.

One of seven Monterey Peninsula Unified School District board trustee seats is on the November ballot, and one man thinks he’s the right fit for the job. So do his two challengers.

Timothy Chaney, a county newcomer, is running for MPUSD’s recently vacated Area 3 slot, representing most of Monterey. Carole Dawson and Richard Gold, who will appear on the ballot with Chaney, aren’t campaigning against him.

“I am taking the very unusual step of endorsing one of my opponents,” Dawson writes via email. “I think Tim Chaney is better qualified and better equipped to meet the current challenge head on.”

Gold, a stock trader, says he gets the impression Chaney will be good at dealing with the politics of the school board. He says he’d drop out of the race if he could, but candidates cannot remove their names from the ballot after the August filing deadline.

Chaney moved to Monterey in April, several months after he was elected president of Visalia Unified School District’s board. He’d been on that board for four years, but he left Visalia to run the vocational training department at Soledad’s Correctional Training Facility.

During his time in office, Chaney says, he went through the process of hiring a new superintendent for his district, which led to several years of no layoffs and improved test scores. That district was about twice the size of Monterey Peninsula’s, and 63 percent of its students qualified for free or reduced lunches.

“I don’t need training. I’m ready to come in and go to work and help improve Monterey Peninsula,” Chaney says.

One of the district’s biggest issues: A search for a new superintendent that has been going on since January. In April the district came close to filling the position – until it was revealed the front-runner, Alain Guevara of Riverside, was battling a sexual harassment lawsuit. In September, Interim Superintendent Leslie Codianne announced her plan to retire next March.

Another priority for Chaney: lowering the need for students who go on to community colleges to take remedial courses. It’s a challenge he faced in Visalia. Part of his strategy there was to bring in administrators with curriculum development experience.

Chaney has the backing of several groups, including the Monterey Bay Teachers Association. “It seems he’ll be understanding of employee groups,” Monterey Bay Teachers Association President Allyson Schweifler says, “while understanding the district and trying to find a balance of those two.”