Kevin Sabellico, a political campaign consultant, is running for the Area 4 seat on the San Dieguito Union High School board of trustees. The San Diego Union-Tribune asked all the candidates running for school board in districts around San Diego County about their policies, plans and priorities. Here’s what Sabellico told us about his. Why are you running for school board? What makes you a good candidate? I’m running to restore civility and integrity to our school board — that’s why I’m endorsed by San Dieguito’s classroom teachers, classified staff and the majority of our school board trustees. Our school district should be in the news for academic excellence, not corruption and dysfunction. That’s how it was when I was a student, and the education I received gave me the foundation to go to college and start my career. That’s what every parent wants for their child, and they don’t want political extremism getting in the way of their kids’ education. Kevin Sabellico (Marcy Browe) I’m someone with a demonstrated track record who shares our district’s values. As a city planning commissioner, county environmental health board member and school site council president, I’ve balanced budgets, kept our schools safe and helped raise reading and math scores. I’ll be a school board trustee who puts students first, not extreme politics. What is the most important issue currently facing your school district? San Dieguito is facing several challenges: expiring funding from the COVID era, recruiting and retaining a full complement of teachers and staff and the mental health crisis brought on by social media giants. But most of all, we have to stop far-right political extremism from getting in the way of our kids’ education. My opponent, a die-hard MAGA Republican who donated thousands of dollars to Donald Trump, has pushed his extreme right-wing agenda on our school board. He mocked transgender students, called “free education” a “socialist policy” and accepted the endorsement of the California Pro-Life Council and San Diego County Gun Owners Association. Our schools should not be a test site for Project 2025 and the radical right-wing agenda. We deserve a school board trustee who shares our values and will put students first. And that can’t happen until the incumbent trustee in Area 4 is gone. What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the school board? Spend money in the classroom, not the courtroom. Our district has spent so much money paying lawyers when we should be paying teachers. The district settled a gerrymandering case for $40,000 and paid over $300,000 to the superintendent who sued because my opponent allegedly harassed and retaliated against her. The investigation into my opponent cost the district an additional $49,000. Keep the promises we made to voters under Prop AA. Our taxpayer money is precious, and we need to ensure the credibility of our district by building the projects that were promised to voters. Make classrooms phone-free. Cell phone addiction is a serious problem for young people, and it disrupts the learning environment. There’s a bill awaiting the governor’s signature that would require school districts to adopt their own policy limiting the use of smartphones during the school day. Our district should implement it fully. What would your approach be to district budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? As a school site council president, I’ve balanced budgets and made sure we have the resources we need to help every student learn, and that’s what I’ll do on the school board. It’s important that we be fiscally responsible by continuing to set aside money in our reserves during years with a budget surplus. It’s also important that we maintain a working relationship with our employee bargaining units. Personnel is 80 percent of our budget, and education is a people business where excellent teachers and school staff are the largest drivers of student success. I’ll work with my colleagues on the board and our superintendent to attract the highest-quality teachers and staff while conducting our budget process in a transparent and equitable way. Additionally, as the former campaign manager for Sen. Catherine Blakespear, I have a direct line to the state legislature, where I can advocate for our school district. How should your school district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a school board member to accomplish that? Our school district is one of the highest performing districts in the state, and that’s thanks to our fabulous teachers and staff. Last year, our students took nearly 10,000 AP exams and boasted an 84 percent pass rate. But we also need to worry about the students who are falling behind or who suffered from learning loss when schools were closed. As a trustee, I’ll make sure we’re closing the gap for students who are English learners or socioeconomically disadvantaged. My top priority as a trustee will be to recruit and retain highly-qualified teachers and staff. The first way we can do that is offer competitive salaries, but perhaps even more important than that is to show respect. My opponent has disrespected teachers time and time again, with behavior that was described by an independent investigator as “demanding,” “disrespectful” and “inappropriate.” That’s why teachers are endorsing me in this race. Do you think anything currently offered in school curricula or libraries should be removed? If yes, what, and why? If no, why not? No. We must uphold the principles of academic freedom and let our students engage controversial subject matter free from political interference — that’s how they learn to think for themselves and become good citizens. Parents have the right to decide what materials their kids read at home, and I trust teachers to use their judgment on what materials are allowed in the classroom. My opponent tried to make it easier to ban books. Specifically, he proposed a policy that would have let anonymous complaints pull any instructional material off the shelves. While not everything is appropriate for the classroom, I believe books should be innocent until proven guilty. I’m proud of the board for passing a balanced policy — one that solicits the opinions of teachers, parents and students before any instructional materials are taken out of circulation. What do you think is driving student absenteeism in your district, and what would you as a school board member do to reduce it? Chronic absenteeism isn’t a new problem, but since COVID, it’s become much worse. In addition to loss of funding when our average daily attendance dips down, truancy costs our state billions of dollars in lost productivity. That’s why my former boss, Kamala Harris, made truancy one of her top priorities when she was attorney general. Truancy has many root causes which all need to be dealt with differently. For instance, an unstable home life can cause major life disruptions and affect students’ attendance. For those students, ensuring they get nutritious meals, counseling services or an extra set of textbooks would go a long way. Absenteeism is a community issue, and I’ll work to meet individual student needs to help families get their kids to school. Do you think schools should notify parents if their child’s gender identity or presentation at school changes? Why or why not? Our schools must be safe places to learn for all students, no matter how they identify. If a child chooses to identify by another gender while at school, it should ultimately be their decision who to share that decision with. If a student wants to talk to a trusted counselor or teacher about something they’re going through, that should be confidential except for mandated reporting situations. I was proud to support AB 1955, the Safety Act, which prohibits forced outing of our students. As a member of our LGBTQ community, let me be clear — these “notification” policies are systematic forced outing. It’s simply a fact that LGBTQ youth are far more likely to be homeless because of family rejection. We must keep students safe, and that means respecting their privacy.