The candidates for District 7

I will report on them in alphabetic order. This gives
Jon Barela an advantage over other candidates as his name
always comes at the top of the stack; a serendipitous and
plausibly deniable advantage that has not been lost on the
planners of the process which has been steadfastly alphabetical
with no apparent attempt shuffle the deck occasionally
to level the playing field.

Jon Barela is sharp, and experienced, and learned.
If he were not hooked up with the Modrall law firm,
and if he were not hooked up with the good ol' boys that
run the APS, he would be a worthy candidate for service
on the school board.

Unless and until he indicates otherwise, it is safe to assume
that he will join the leadership of the APS in their efforts to
resist any audit of the APS Modrall relationship. It is safe
to assume that he will also join the effort to protect the
good ol' boy organizational structure of the APS from exposure
and from remediation.

Arturo Candelaria is experienced. My misgivings with him
stem from the fact that if asked what are the most important
problems in the APS, he strays to issues like growth, which
while important are no where near the top of the stack of
issues that stand between teachers and the education of
students. He is already one of "them", sharing their priorities
and their stock answers to feed to stakeholders.

Kathy Frazier has a record of stepping up to the plate
and involving herself first hand in solving the problems
that came up while her own children were working their
way through the APS. Her candidacy falls apart when
asked what she thinks are APS' weaknesses; the failure
to keep abreast of growth, and the negative perception of
the APS in the community. She actually believes that the
negative perception should be addressed, not by dealing
with the very real and present problems, but by creating
"effective" communication with the community.

Michael Glenn Gibson is imho, the best candidate by far.
As an individual board member, he sees a responsibility
to communicate to stakeholders, along with accomplishments,
the "challenges" that face the district.

I spoke to him briefly, and he indicated to me that if elected
to the board, he would have no problem holding himself
accountable as a role model for students. He is the only
candidate so far willing to make that commitment.

He brings a skill set in business, that would serve to his
great advantage.

He strikes me as a man of some substantial character.

David Peercy is bright and articulate. He was unafraid to
answer a question about arming school police, by stating
that he didn't know enough specifics to voice an opinion
without hearing from the experts.

Interestingly, he points out that among the roles of members
of the board of education is to "respond to public queries in
Open Meetings.

That alone will disqualify him from further consideration by
the truth hiding leadership of the APS.