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Coalition backs Patel, Cooper for PUSD seats

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Poway Unified School District board candidates Darshana Patel and Debra Cooper have been endorsed by a coalition of parents, teachers, local business owners and community leaders.

The Coalition for Effective School Board Leadership, formed in January, announced the endorsements Wednesday morning following a meeting Tuesday night.

Nine candidates are running in the Nov. 8 election for two seats on the five-member school board. Trustee Kimberley Beatty is seeking a second four-year term while 20-year board veteran Andy Patapow is retiring.

Coalition spokeswoman Karen Harkins Slocomb said Wednesday the all-volunteer group has 19 members plus several hundred supporters who have signed up through the group’s website. Members include Mary Andrews as chairwoman and former Poway High School Principal Scott Fisher. She said that plans call for campaign funds to be collected through a spin-off political action committee and for the coalition to host events in coming months to introduce the endorsed candidates to voters.

Patel and her family moved to Rancho Penasquitos from the Bay Area in 2010. She said it was important to her and her husband that their three daughters attend schools within the PUSD. The girls attend Park Village Elementary School.

“(The district’s) reputation is known throughout the state of California as a place to get an excellent public education,” she said.

Patel holds a Ph.D. in biophysics from UC Irvine. She spent eight years in the biotech industry before deciding to devote full time to her family and community.

“I love doing research and I love problem solving,” Patel said. “I genuinely believe that education can be inspiring,”

She serves on the School Site Council at Park Village and is the school’s representative to the District Advisory Committee. She also sits on the Rancho Penasquitos Town Council, the Rancho Penasquitos Planning Board and the Park Village Elementary Foundation.

Cooper is a Santaluz resident with children attending the Design 39 Campus and Del Norte High School. She is president of the Design 39 Collaborative and is a director on both the Black Mountain Middle School and Sunset Hills Elementary School foundations. She is a “professional volunteer” with a background in marking research.

“Cooper is a forward thinker with a passion for education,” the coalition said in a press release. “(She) has an understanding of the complex issues that face the school district in coming years.”

Slocomb said eight of the nine candidates filled out questionnaires and were then interviewed at length by members of the coalition. Beatty was not interviewed because she did not seek an endorsement, Slocomb said. Basic background checks were conducted on each candidate, she said.

The questions asked centered on six key ideas identified by the coalition as focus points when the group announced its creation in January. These criteria include demonstrating personal integrity, promoting a positive atmosphere and respecting diverse viewpoints; demonstrating focus on students and the educational reputation of PUSD; demonstrating the ability to build a consensus; understanding the complex issues related to all aspects of public education; understanding school board governance and the role of a school board member; and advocating fiscal responsibility and transparency with an understanding of California education funding.

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