5 vying for Galt school board

It's a crowded race, even by Galt standards. Five people are vying for two seats on the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District, and two are incumbents.

In the November race, trustees Ervin Hatzenbuhler and Susan Richardson are being challenged by Doug Vanderkar, Tami Anstess and John Gordon, and all have one thing in common: They are parents of district students.

Tami Anstess

Tami Anstess

The 35-year-old mother of two feels ready to take on the school board. She has already served the district and the Galt community for almost eight years in various capacities including president of the Marengo Ranch Parent-Teacher Association and on several district committees such as the new high school bond steering committee and district's budget committee.

She said she regularly volunteers her time in classrooms, front offices and other areas of need, like organizing school beautification projects and teaching art classes in individual classrooms.

While raising her two sons in Galt for the last 13 years, she has felt the effects, good and bad, of the changes in our community.

"I have seen firsthand the difficulties and successes that students, parents, teachers, staff and site administrators face each day," she said. "I feel that my experience as a parent, coupled with my ongoing involvement in our Galt schools, will be a positive asset to the school board."

Anstess sees one of the greatest issues that needs improvement is what she calls the deficiency in communicating in a timely and accurate manner. She would like to improve this, from the school board and district office, to the teachers, staff, parents, students, the community "and back again" possibly through a districtwide e-mail notification system.

"This would cut down on the stacks of notes that are printed and sent home on a weekly basis," she said. "The cost savings on purchasing paper, ink and the manpower alone is a great benefit, plus the reduction of waste into our environment. Establishing a more direct channel of communication would also improve the timeliness of information getting to the parents."

While she's not sure how it could have been handled differently, the candidate said the district's recent reconfiguration created stress and anxiety for some and doesn't feel it was the best decision to place all of the city's middle school students at one campus.

During her regular attendance at school board meetings over the last seven years, Anstess said she has developed relationships with individuals and organizations for the betterment of Galt students and families. She feels this, along with her ongoing involvement in the schools, would be a positive asset to the board.

"I am a good and fair listener. I gather all the facts first, research if applicable and only then draw conclusion," she said. "I am not afraid to ask questions. I have strong communication, organizational and multi-tasking skills developed through significant management, marketing and legislative experience."

Anstess, a trade show coordinator, is married to her husband, Lawrence. Their sons attend McCaffrey Middle and Marengo Ranch Elementary schools. Prior to moving to the city, Anstess lived her entire life in the south Sacramento area.

She has a bachelor's in business administration.

John Gordon

John Gordon

Gordon, a state schools facilities analyst, has children that have gone to both the east and westside schools. The 39-year-old has lived in Galt for four years, but has been involved personally with the district for six after meeting his wife, Yvonne.

He said one of the main issues facing the district is weighing whether reconfiguration was the best option and if the elementary district should move toward unifying with the high school district. "Why fix something that's not broke?"

Gordon, 39, feels he has a statewide perspective of what's going on in Galt. As an analyst for the California Department of Education's School Facilities Planning Division, he reviews architectural plans for new schools, renovations and building addition projects to ensure they meet state standards. He also reviews new school site documentation to ensure the proposed school site meets health and safety standards.

He just completed his master's in public administration at the University of San Francisco and holds a bachelor's in communications from California State University, Sacramento.

Gordon feels he's extremely qualified and said he can bring new energy and leadership to the board. "I'm going to work to be someone who is more accessible and will listen to what people have to say."

And, he added, he's going to start by asking the superintendent and teachers what they feel are the biggest issues facing the district at this time.

Gordon, whose two step-children attend River Oaks Elementary and McCaffrey Middle schools, feels his professional background can aid not only the board, but the district.

"I have a lot to offer the community. When you look at my experience and my education, I have a lot of resources available to me," he said, adding that he just returned from an international conference that connected him with architects and educational planners from all over the world.

He also learned about upcoming trends and what's working in other states.

"Unlike my competitors, I have valuable relationships with several school district professionals throughout the state. If I don't know the answer, I know where to get it."

Ervin Hatzenbuhler

Ervin Hatzenbuhler

Hatzenbuhler, who spent decades teaching and coaching Galt High's football team, is running for his fifth term on the school board. He wants to be re-elected to help keep what he calls "a winning board" intact.

Always one ready with a sports analogy, he said his track record speaks for itself. "We, as a board, and I say as a board because there are six of us, have done a lot of good things through the years."

He wants to continue to stay on top of district spending and is looking toward grants to pay for declining enrollments. Districts receive per-pupil funding based on the number of students enrolled, and like many districts statewide, that figure is drastically going down in Galt as families are reportedly moving out of the state because they can't afford to live here.

Hatzenbuhler, who believes the district needs to continue to sell last year's reconfiguration process to the public, also wants to work on keeping students' grades up and meeting state-mandated requirements. "It's very hard to meet those, especially when you have a high number of English-learners."

The retired teacher is 75, but said he feels like he's 50. He and his wife, Betty, have lived in Galt since 1967 when they moved from Lodi, where he was raised.

Hatzenbuhler earned a master's in education from University of the Pacific before beginning his teaching career in Galt. During that time, he taught U.S. history, health, driver's education and physical education.

He officially retired in 1994, although he's returned to coaching throughout the years.

He has two grown children who both went through the Galt school system and three grandchildren, one of which will attend Galt schools in the next couple of years.

"I enjoy doing this for the kids of the community," he said of his tenure on the board.

"I just hope (voters) realize we have a winning team, and you know what they say about a winning team: Stick with it."

Susan Richardson

Susan Richardson

The 60-year-old incumbent may not have any children currently enrolled in the Galt elementary district, but two of her 10 children graduated from Galt High School and one of those two attended Greer Middle School. She and her husband, Galt high school board candidate Dennis Richardson, also have 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild on the way.

"They all keep us young, energized, and informed about the things that are pertinent and important to their generations," she said of her children who attended Elk Grove Unified School District schools since she's lived in the Galt area for 11 years.

Simply put, Richardson is running for re-election because she likes the job. "And I like being a part of the solution."

In the next four years, she said the district's biggest issue has to do with money.

"We have lost over two hundred students in the last three years. The state is struggling with their budget. And now the federal government is borrowing money to help support our financial institutions. That means they don't have any money either. I expect all this to trickle down to us, and that means we will have to make cuts," she said.

"If I am re-elected then I will make sure that these cuts are balanced between what's good for students and what will keep the doors open."

Meanwhile, she wants to examine ways to put money into the district's budget, possibly through installing solar panels on all of the buildings. The candidate also wants to improve communication with parents —with special focus on homework — by using technology.

She was among the contingent that restructured the district and said it was done to meet budget reductions due to declining enrollment, to improve student learning, to save district jobs and to satisfy No Child Left Behind requirements. "(It) was a good thing and quite a balancing act."

Richardson does not have a traditional college degree, although she said she has completed almost 60 credits in classes including science, art, math English and Spanish, and has "had an occasion to use everything I have learned in my capacity as a board member."

She also earned a master's in governance through the California School Boards Association which is an 18-month program.

Doug Vanderkar

Doug Vanderkar

Vanderkar feels he is qualified to serve on the school board not only because he has two children who attend McCaffrey Middle and River Oaks Elementary, but because he has actively participated in school activities "as a concerned parent."

Those activities include science camp, the Yosemite Living History Program, field trips and the parent-teacher association.

"Being at the schools with other parents, teachers and administrative staff weekly, if not daily, for meetings, teacher conferences, sports events, band concerts, and kid pick-up and drop-off allows a board member a conduit for keeping in touch with what is actually going on in the district," said Vanderkar who has more than 15 years experience preparing and managing public-sector budgets and working with various unions and bargaining units at his position on a local transit department.

He is running because he would like to see change in the district.

"Over the last several years, as district administration has changed and evolved, test scores at some of Galt's schools struggled to meet state minimums, budgets got tighter and now enrollment has declined," he said. "The school district has been faced with making difficult decisions and grappled with how to be creative and do more with less.

Vanderkar, who is not necessarily against the reconfiguration but the manner in which it was done "with little to no communication," is also frustrated that he feels the district is not using sources such as e-mail, phone trees and the newspaper to communicate with parents about what is going on.

On top of his list of concerns over the next four years is meeting state-mandated test scores and dealing with declining enrollment.

"Many hard decisions and struggles loom in coming years before district administration and the board. The key to navigating them will rely on creativity and communication," he said.

Vanderkar, 42, and his wife, Carey, have lived in the Galt area for almost five years. But the candidate is native to the greater Sacramento area where he graduated from high school in Placerville and earned a Bachelor's of Science in agricultural and managerial economics from University of California, Davis.

Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.

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5 vying for Galt school board

Hatzenbuhler, Richardson, are challenged by Vanderkar, Anstess, Gordon

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