Tribune Endorsement: Here’s our choice for Paso Robles School Board | Opinion
The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District would be best served by a constructive, common-sense candidate willing to put students first.
Only one of two candidates running in the special April 18 Board of Trustees election fits that description: Angela Hollander.
She has extensive experience working with children: She coordinated the early childhood literacy program with the County Office of Education, she managed scholarships for the Community Foundation, and she’s served on various community advisory councils for Paso Robles school district initiatives, including bond measures.
We’re also impressed by her positive campaign and her commitment to ensuring Paso Robles schools are a safe place for all students.
“I’m not a disrupter,” she told Tribune education reporter Mackenzie Shuman. “I want to work with our school district, not against it.”
Her opponent, Kenney Enney — who was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board and then booted off through the petition process — appears committed to ramming through his personal agenda.
He has made it clear, for example, that he has nothing but disdain for the teachers union, vilifying members — or at least the leadership — for holding “wildly radical anti-American and anti-family beliefs”
“I look forward to working with (the teachers union) when their primary focus is on student achievement of basics skills as opposed to the divisive social justice agenda they are currently pushing,” he told The Tribune via email.
Teachers’ unions are not going away, and anyone who hopes to hold a leadership position in education should arrive with a collaborative mindset that respects teachers as the backbone of our public school system.
Tarring and feathering the Paso Robles union will only drive a bigger wedge between faculty and the administration.
How Kenney Enney has battled administrators
Teachers aren’t the only ones Enney has attacked.
He belittled the administration because it objected to his use of the district’s official logo on his campaign materials. Enney attempted to downplay it by calling it “Logogate.”
In a show of good faith, why not just remove the logo, instead of turning it into a controversy?
On top of that, he filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission, accusing district employees of working on the petition to oust him while they were on the clock. Among other allegations, he accuses staff of sending emails during work hours.
He even draws County Superintendent of Schools Jim Brescia into the fray by claiming on KPRL Radio that Brescia “coached” a district employee on how to put the petition together.
The FPPC dismissed the complaint, but Enney told The Tribune he intends to refile.
This is a man who appears more interested in picking fights and pushing his personal, far-right beliefs — which include negating transgender rights — than in student welfare. And if he can embarrass the administration along the way, so much the better.
Even Chris Arend, a former school board president known for his conservative views, now supports Hollander over Enney.
“I have been very disappointed by Kenney Enney’s actions and those of his supporters,” he wrote in an op-ed.
He cited several examples, ending with this: “Above all, I am disturbed by Kenney Enney’s hostile attitude toward Superintendent (Curt) Dubost.”
Enney does have the support of the local Republican Party, not that that is any surprise, as the county GOP has consistently lent its backing to unqualified extremists running for office in SLO County.
“He is a fighter and just what we need on our school board in these very turbulent times,” one pro-Enney testimonial circulated by the Republican Party says.
Candidate also spreads conspiracy theories
Turbulent times?
The turbulence is a direct result of a far-right contingent turning school board meetings into battlegrounds by opposing COVID restrictions, including those imposed by the state; by insisting that white children be shielded from historical teachings that might make them feel bad about themselves; by watering down or even disregarding protections for LGBTQ+ students; and by giving credence to even the most outlandish conspiracy theories.
A prime example: Last November, Kenney Enney took to Facebook to warn there had been complaints about “furries” — people who have alternate animal personas — at the Paso Robles district. Superintendent Dubost called it “an unfounded allegation.”
So much for Enney’s hair-on-fire warning.
The Paso Robles school district does not need to be distracted by ginned-up controversies aimed at advancing a conservative agenda.
It needs a level-headed trustee who will put the focus back where it belongs: on the students.
Given the opportunity to have their voice heard on this opening, Paso Robles voters should reject Enney and send him and his divisive beliefs packing.
The Tribune strongly endorses Angela Hollander for the Paso Robles Joint Union School District Board of Trustees.
