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Written by: Val Nixon

Published: 25 October 2022

Created: 25 October 2022

Last Updated: 25 October 2022

My husband and I moved to Kelseyville 37 years ago and enjoyed careers as park rangers at the local State Parks. We raised our children here and they both went through the Kelseyville school system. They are UC graduates and are busy with successful careers. I spent 25 years volunteering in classrooms and eight years on Site Councils.

We are enthusiastically supporting the reelection of Rick Winer for Kelseyville Unified School District Board. Rick has been an actively engaged board member for 20 years. He visits every campus, gets to know the staff, and can always be seen at school activities and events.

Rick doesn’t just identify local education concerns; he acts on them. For example, his recognition of the local and nationwide enormous problem of bullying was to support the implementation of the K-8 Stop, Talk and Walk Anti-Bullying Curriculum and it doesn’t end there.

Staff and board members are required to complete bullying recognition and response training, sexual harassment policy and prevention training and youth suicide prevention and postvention training, annually. Students and parents can now anonymously report any instances of bullying for investigation at www.kvusd.org.

Rick recognizes the importance for learning in a safe environment and has supported the hiring of trained Campus Monitors and increasing their employment to full time. The training of these employees is essential to effectively observe and intervene when appropriate during lunch, recesses and breaks on campus.

Rick has supported salary increases of all staff and has experience in the complex negotiation with the unions of both certified and credentialed staff. This past year all employees of the district received a 7% raise and incremental increases for longevity were also negotiated to increase retention.

His oversight of the implementation of Measure U’s $24 million budget has allowed for the near completion of modern modular, technology friendly classrooms, a state-of-the-art vocational center that is shared by the high school and middle school, a new multipurpose room at Kelseyville Elementary and the replacement of a deteriorating septic system at Kelseyville Elementary. Anyone can see all the Measure U improvements on the web page at www.kvusd.org.

Kelseyville High offers a wide variety of career and five technical courses. It has two dual enrollment courses offered in collaboration with Mendocino College.

Since I have lived here there have always been easily accessible avenues for communicating with teachers, administration, and school board members. From site councils, PTOs, parent teacher conferences, volunteering in classrooms to attending school board meetings and attending the monthly “Family Night” there are many ways for parents' concerns to be heard.

Rick Winer’s oversight, support and involvement in the running of the Kelseyville Unified School District has been critical to the implementation and continuation of programs and campus improvements listed above.

We trust Rick's experience and proven abilities to help navigate our district through hiring a new superintendent, mitigating learning losses from the COVID pandemic and continuing to improve the resources for all children’s learning, social and emotional needs .

Please join us in voting for Rick Winer for Kelseyville Unified School District Board.

Val and Tom Nixon live in Kelseyville, California.

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Written by: Kate Schmidt-Hopper

Published: 25 October 2022

Created: 25 October 2022

Last Updated: 25 October 2022

I’m glad the phrase “family values” is a campaign slogan for a school board candidate because it presents an opportunity to discuss the phrase.

In our modern world, “family” can be described in many ways: multi-generational, single parent, two working parents, two same gender parents, foster, adoptive, come to mind. Family is personal, and not always genetic.

“Values” is an even more complicated word to define. One definition states:” A person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life.” (Oxford Languages)

I’m sure you, dear reader, can make your own list of influences on a person’s “values”:1) cultural, including nation or region of origin, 2) religious or spiritual practices, 3) ethnic or racial identity, 4) gender identity, 5) political affiliation, 6) financial and 7) occupation.

Each of these influences molds our perception of the society in which we live, and affects how we interact with our community. One family’s values may not be identical to another’s.

I invite you to consider, however, where values are likely to overlap. For instance: responsibility, respect, helpfulness, generosity, fairness, integrity and kindness.

Perhaps we can expand the phrase “family values” to “community values” and discover where our personal values intersect community wide, and work towards using those principles and behaviors to build a vibrant, tolerant and unified community family.

Kate Schmidt-Hopper lives in Hidden Valley Lake, California.

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Written by: Kirk Andrus, Sabrina Andrus, Caitlin Andrus and Megan Andrus

Published: 23 October 2022

Created: 23 October 2022

Last Updated: 23 October 2022

The Kelseyville School District has always been important to our family. Kirk served on the school board for several terms and enjoyed his work there immensely. All three of Kirk and Quincy’s daughters — Sabrina, Caitlin and Megan — attended K-12 in the district and graduated from Kelseyville High School, well prepared to get undergraduate degrees.

Father and daughter duo Kirk and Caitlin coached basketball at the high school and Caitlin was a substitute teacher.

She also stepped up to be a member of the oversight committee for Measure U, which provided $24 million for modernization projects which are almost completed — on time and on budget.

And when two of us returned to Lake County to start businesses in downtown Kelseyville, we were grateful to find a well-educated workforce, courtesy of Kelseyville Unified, to help us in the shops.

All four of Kirk and Quincy’s grandchildren are now starting their Kelseyville Unified journey (we’ve got a first grader, a kindergartner, and two preschoolers on our hands!).

Our love for our family and for Kelseyville Unified fuels our desire for maintaining a strong School Board.

We are impressed that despite the major disruption during the 2020-2022 school years, the board stayed focused on keeping students, staff, and the community as safe as possible while staying in compliance with the required statewide public health regulations.

With the upheaval that many other school districts went through these past few years, we are even more impressed with the Kelseyville Unified School Board.

The Kelseyville Unified School Board Board instituted Zoom access to their monthly meetings so that parents could engage without attending in person.

Since schools have reopened, the board has given all staff salary increases, hired additional staff to focus on turning around learning loss and supporting students’ wellness needs — all while maintaining good financial control.

We give a lot of credit to long-time Board Chair Rick Winer. His 33 years of experience as an educator working in many diverse leadership positions has provided him with a wealth of knowledge on which he can draw to meet the challenges of the moment, including the upcoming selection process for a new superintendent. He shows up on campuses and engages with staff, students and parents.

The Andrus family wholeheartedly recommends Rick Winer’s re-election to the Kelseyville Unified School Board, along with Allison Panella who is also running for reelection after completing her first four-year term.

Please cast your vote to ensure the stability of the Board continues as they build a lasting future for the Kelseyville community.

Kirk Andrus, MD, Sabrina Andrus, JD, Caitlin Andrus and Megan Andrus live in Kelseyville, California.