The Governing Board of the Cabrillo Unified School District chose its officers tonight.  The Board unanimously elected Dwight Wilson president. Wilson, vice president of the board last year, presided at tonight’s meeting.

The Board also elected Roy Salume to the position of vice president. This is the only position that was contested. Jolanda Schreurs nominated Charles Gardner, who received her vote and his own.  Salume, an apparently reluctant nominee of John Moseley, received votes from himself, Wilson, and Moseley.

Jolanda Schreurs was unanimously elected clerk of the Board. Wilson congratulated her, saying, “Now you can enjoy carpal tunnel syndrome, too.”

[This story was posted live from the CUSD Board meeting, which is still in progress.]

Later, the board accepted the presentation of the strategic planning committee and encouraged citizens to sign up for committees. The board strongly supports the process and is really looking for people to participate.  In a theatrical touch, Deputy Superintendant B.J. Mackle brought forward the eight or so visiting members of the strategic planning group and had them alternate reading the list of beliefs that came from the meeting.

The Board’s goal is to create a strategy that will inform its decisions and to push responsibility deeper into the organization.

This is not the first such mission statement the District has created.  In 1992, as part of its facilities master plan, the District created an 11-page mission statement [pdf] that has a lot in common with the product of the current strategic planning team.

The Review knows who took out the anonymous attack ad in its October 20 edition, and managing editor Clay Lambert has said when his investigation is complete he will publish a story not only revealing that person’s identity, but “all the players”.

I talked to Clay this morning after reading his apology for the ad in today’s Review to find out if he knew the mystery shopper’s identity and why it wasn’t revealed before the election. He says that there was no time before the election to get the complete story and apparently that story is still under investigation.

“We have been duped,” began Clay’s editorial in today’s Review, which ends with “And I’m sorry for that [the anti-democratic impact of the ad]”. The apology is thorough and sincere, and Lambert goes on to mention some things the Review is doing to alleviate the problem, including following up with the Fair Political Practices Commission to see if the law was broken, rethinking the Review’s policy of allowing campaigns to reserve prime advertising space, and reconsidering accepting ads from committees without valid ID numbers.

My interpretation of all this is that the Review feels used. Regardless of their political alignment, nothing pisses off a newspaper publisher like being taken advantage of by a paying customer. It’s supposed to work the other way around.

Jonathan Lundell lost by fewer than 500 votes, so it’s entirely possible that this nasty, anonymous ad affected the outcome of the election. That can’t be undone, but the Review is taking the right steps in the wake of this mess.