CLEARLAKE— With elections less than a month away, the Thursday Morning Judge’s Breakfast forum in Clearlake focused on electoral discussions and provided space for candidates to interface with their constituents. This week there were five guest speakers all of whom are candidates for the three open seats on the Konocti Unified School Board. The candidates are incumbents Joan Mingori, Bill Diener and Pamela Bening-Hale and challengers Marty Arreberg and Jennifer Hughes.
Mingori is a Lake County native, coming from a long line of educators. Mingori was first elected to the board in 2018 after working in the district for over 20 years sharing “For years and now, I have been the ears for students, teachers and staff in the district and worked to resolve their different interests and priorities. Now I want to continue to be their voice.”
Diener was also born and raised in Lake County and volunteered with Lower Lake Fire for 18 years. Diener has been on the board for three years and hopes to continue serving the community saying, “Not only have I done the board, I helped start the Lower Lake Football Fundraising Association with Mr. Kramer and with Mr. Purdock, we started that in 2007 and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for high school student athletes.”
Candidate Bening-Hale was a teacher in the district for her entire career. Seeing all the changes in the district over those years Bening-Hale noted the need for a set curriculum stating, “I got on the board hoping to make a difference – from a different angle – because I know how valuable it is when a teacher has curriculum already prepared.”
Hughes is also a native Lake County resident who graduated from Chico State and has been a dental hygienist in the county for 28 years. Hughes has decided to run for a seat on the school board after her children have experienced its educational programs volunteering for various activities and events for the past 17 years. Hughes shared “My goal as a board member would be to represent the stakeholders, uphold the constitution and oversee the superintendent.”
Candidate Arreberg was also born and raised in Clearlake and attended Yuba College. When her son entered school, Arreberg began working in the district, and eventually branched out to the Human Resources Department where she discovered a passion for helping people be successful, which she said she would like to continue doing on the school board. Arreberg said, “My biggest drive is making sure that our kids are afforded the education that I feel they always deserved.”
Dr. Mark Cooper as host and mediator opened the forum first asking: “What do you envision as the role of a board member, what are your duties?” Hughes described her approach to the role as being very involved and communicative stating “I believe that (students) should be recognized for their accomplishments and hard work.” Bening-Hale responded with a definition of what a board member should be, highlighting traits saying “Provide support. The support comes through reviewing the budget, through following the laws…and ensuring accountability and providing community leadership for children.”
Cooper also asked, “Imagine one single change that would improve student outcomes, what would that look like?” Dinner responded that attendance is at 80 percent and participation is at an all-time low stating “At Lower Lake High School we have 1,100 students. We’re struggling to put together a football team, we’re struggling to get a full band, we’re struggling to get people in the drama program, the kids are not participating. So when they do show up for school, they’re not really doing anything.”
Mingori agreed that participation is a major issue sharing her thoughts on how to encourage children to come to school. She said, “I would like to see if it was one single thing is to encourage and develop more career pathway exciting classes, we have some at the high school but at the lower grades, seventh and eighth grade, I’d like to see that starting a bit more.” Arreberg added that in a perfect world, every student would have the resources and opportunities to be successful including proper facilities. “We’re so impacted right now we have to find a way to grow our facilities so that we can accommodate students, especially our students in the district, but even those students outside of the district that just want to better their education.”
The Judge’s Breakfast is held weekly on Thursdays at 7 a.m. in the Clearlake Senior Center. Next week’s guest speaker in Anita Grant discussing the upcoming measures on November’s ballot. For more information visit the Thursday Morning Judge’s Breakfast Facebook page.
