Candidate Q&A: Jennifer McNary for Pacific Grove Unified School District.

As part of the 2022 election season, the Weekly asked candidates for several offices to answer questions about some of the issues by email. Jennifer McNary is the only candidate running to represent Area 5 on the Pacific Grove Unified School District Board of Trustees, so will be appointed in lieu of an election.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing PGUSD in the next four years, and why are you the best candidate to address them?

The biggest challenges facing PGUSD, such as the current culture of the Board, the physical and physiological safety of our students and the inequities in our systems that need to be addressed, will be determined by who is representing PGUSD the next four years. The biggest issue right now is we have three seats open on the board and we need three new members to fill them.

This year, we need new people on the board with fresh perspectives who will work hard to represent the interests of all students in PGUSD and foster better communication with the community.

I started attending Board meetings over five years ago as a parent. With every meeting I attended, I learned more about how the school system operates, how and why decisions are made and who gets to make them. I learned that the board members are policy makers who set the vision for PGUSD.

I attended countless board meetings, attended candidate seminars, and I value the democratic process of running for office. I did my research before stepping into the race and I was prepared to campaign and win in November. This is a job, and it is work and I take the commitment seriously.

I am ready to have difficult conversations on the board about difficult topics, listen with an open mind, ask questions, and make informed decisions that put the students and community of PGUSD first.

What qualifications do you bring to this position?

I am a parent with children in the district for the last six years and counting and I have regularly attended P.G. board meetings for more than five years, learning to navigate the system and advocate for both of my children and their individual needs.

I bring passion, dedication to be an advocate for all students, including those who are often left out of conversations. I have attended countless public meetings and with my experience as an attorney have a strong understanding of Brown Act and public decorum.

Additional details on my qualifications can be found at my website: mcnaryforpgusd.com.

How often do you currently attend PGUSD board meetings, and how would you rate the current board’s performance?

I have been regularly attending Board meetings for almost 6 years as a parent and continue to consistently attend them. Over the years, I have watched and waited for the Board to shift toward a more welcoming space for the community and have been disappointed by Board comments that are dismissive of public engagement and involvement and distract from Board business. Except for Trustee Carolyn [Swanson], the Board often sounds out of touch with the community and unwilling to engage further.

I have concerns about how the current board is framing issues of “equity” work within the district. Last year, the P.G. High ASB President racism incident highlighted the need for anti-racism work in the district. Since that time, there has been little discussion about the topic.

In March 2022, Trustee Frank Rivera requested a Board discussion of reconfiguration of the elementary sites right after the board used the guise of “equity." Using “equity” as a one size fits all solution, like reconfiguration is a very dangerous path to go down as it ignores the root issue of the inequities that exist within our systems and our sites. Now reconfiguration appears on a September 2022 agenda with no extra notice to the community, no outreach and it is the LAST item on the agenda. This sends a message to the community about how the Board values public input. When the Board meeting ran late and there was only time for limited public comment, President [Christy] Dawson provided a disclaimer that people should separate their individual perspective or child from the equation and think about how we can help the greatest number of kids. Her comments miss the mark and speak to the disconnect between the community and the majority of the Board.

As a whole, I would rate the Board’s performance as a C-.

How would you rate Superintendent Ralph Porras’ performance, grade A-F?

C-

I see the way that Dr. Porras handles communication with families and the community as reactive versus proactive and a major area for improvement. Communications are not clear, direct, digestible, and provided timely. This was of upmost importance during the constant changes over the past two years of the pandemic and clear, direct, digestible and timely communication continues to be essential to keep the public informed.

Dr. Porras is an employee of the district who is evaluated by the Board every year. It is the Board’s responsibility to provide clear guidance to the superintendent and do a better job of articulating goals to the superintendent to guide the Board’s policy and decision making.

I also realize there may be information that I am not yet privy, such as closed session discussions, that could change my opinion.

What is your vision to help students make up for learning loss after pandemic closures?

For the district, the LCAP lays out the different areas that will address learning loss because of the pandemic and it will be a process. The way I look at this is kids do better when they feel better. The biggest challenges facing our students after two years of upheaval, trauma and constant change are social and emotional. Teachers and staff need the tools and resources to be able to meet

student needs daily. We have truly amazing teachers that have incredible patience, resilience and kindness to work through issues as they arise. Long term, it would benefit all students to expand social and emotional learning opportunities and mental health services at school sites.

Academically, teachers need to have the tools and resources to collect student data frequently so they can assess and evaluate student progress to determine how best to help students learn. I want to keep gaining data from students and incorporating stakeholders. This feels no different than any other area of need – we need data, tracking, clear priorities/steps, and evaluation.

Pacific Grove has been in the spotlight among students, parents and community members for a series of racist incidents. Do you believe the board’s response has been adequate? What would you have done differently? If elected, what will you do to make sure students feel safe in school settings?

Except for comments by Trustee Carolyn Swanson, no I do not think the Board’s

response has been adequate. I remember the Board meeting last year where a racist incident involving the former PGHS ASB president was discussed and how that was handled by the Board. That was a moment for the Board members to show empathy and support for the members of the public who spoke up against racism and shared their experiences with racism and PGUSD. As a board member, I would have joined Trustee Carolyn to validate and empathize with those who have experienced racism in or around PGUSD and to call for anti-racism work in the district to begin immediately.

The Board’s overall response at that meeting was disappointing and discouraging. First, we have to be honest and direct about what is occurring within our district and not be afraid to say we have problems. We, as a board have to be willing to have difficult conversations about difficult topics. Let’s engage our students and stakeholders and find out what they need, what is lacking and how we can best support them. This is an opportunity to begin an honest and frank discussion that has been overdue in our district. This is going to require Board level cultural shifts that percolate down throughout the district. Students need to know that the Board sees them, believes them and will make policy decisions to protect them.

Do you believe the PGUSD board and individual board members should do anything differently when it comes to relationships with parents and other community members? Is there a good amount of outreach and communication? If not, what would you change?

Except for Trustee Carolyn Swanson, yes. Trustee Carolyn has a Facebook page called “School Board Nerd” that provides a service to the community that is missing from the rest of the Board and the District Office. Frankly, Trustee Carolyn is providing a service to the community that should be provided by the district. We are behind other districts in the area in terms of outreach and communication.

One recent example that comes to mind is the districting process PGUSD went through earlier this year. Districting is a huge issue – we are changing the way we vote in elections for school board members. It is an issue of community wide importance. I felt this was an opportunity to do community wide outreach to encourage public participation. We could have set up a table at the post office, held community forums to help the public understand the process and engage stakeholders. At each board meeting on this issue, I encouraged the district to go further than meeting the minimum requirements for notice to the public. The public needs and deserves to know about this change. The Board held multiple required meetings and met minimum noticing requirements but did little to engage the community. So I did what any civic minded citizen would and I chatted with my neighbors and community members about the potential changes to voting and the drawing of boundary lines that could potentially cut my neighborhood in Del Monte Park in half. I rallied community members to write to the board and make public comment to share which map they felt best represented the community and they did. But after the Board

held the public hearing, heard public comments and acknowledged the community support for the map that kept Del Monte Park together, they voted 4-1 to choose a different map (with Trustee Carolyn voting opposed).

The map chosen appeared to value incumbency over the voices of the community. This was one of the final decisions of the board that made me realize I need a seat at the Board table.

What do you think the future of school resource officer presence in PGUSD schools should be?

In general, I am not in favor of armed law enforcement officers on school campuses. The research shows that they do not in fact make students or schools safer. That said, this is a contract that comes before the Board every year and the Board has approved the contract for the SRO with little conversation or evaluation in the last five years from what I’ve seen. I would like to see the SRO position assessed and evaluated to determine what benefits are being provided to students at each site and the district as a whole. I would love to know more about SRO interactions with students at each site and how does the community, especially people of color and other marginalized groups, feel about this issue? I would also love to see a survey to students about their experiences or lack of experience with the SRO to help inform my decision on this issue as a board member.

What will you do to support public engagement in school district governance and ensure all voices are heard at PGUSD?

The district’s business is much easier to do in an atmosphere of mutual respect. When you diminish that environment, you diminish the Board’s effectiveness, and the process shows what you value as a board member.

I value open, honest, two-way communication that is improved by public input. I hope to bring a willingness to listen with an open mind, examine who is left out of conversations, and who cannot be in the Board room to speak their truth and be the best representative for the community of PGUSD that I can because I care about all students and know we can do better for them. Let’s engage students, staff, stakeholders. Let’s form committees and task forces. Let’s get into our neighborhoods and do outreach to engage our community.

As this is a learning process, I expect to learn more when I am on the Board about what I can do to support public engagement.

Who is your proudest endorsement?

It does not appear on my website or anywhere publicly, but my proudest endorsement is definitely my kiddos, Emily (10) and Benjamin (9).