These issues have been drawn to the forefront this season, as school board elections draw closer, with three four-year seats available and one two-year seat open.


Four-Year Term Candidates

Janice Compton is a 21-year district resident. Her children are now adults but were former Lakeside students. She is a tax accountant for a firm in Cupertino and holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration with an accounting concentration, a master's in taxation and has recently applied for a CPA (certified public accountant) license.

In this election, Compton recognizes the importance of the new $2 million multipurpose building being built but would like to stay as neutral as possible. "The bond issue was passed, and we need the building," she said. "But it is uncertain whether the construction needs to go as fast as it is going."

Compton believes it is a good thing she does not have children currently attending the school. "I think that because my kids are out of the district I can be more objective and really work for the best," she said. "I have no hidden agendas. I just want to be nonpolitical and do good things for our children."

George Green has lived in the school district for 38 years and has three children, all grown. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English literature, is a retired English professor from San José City College and currently works as an independent property manager and developer.

Green has been a longtime volunteer in multiple projects for the Lakeside School District, and he is running to voice his opposition to the construction of the multipurpose room.

"I think there has been a lot of misinformation and deception," he said. "We need to find out what's really going on. I would love to get interested community members together to review the whole thing."

Green is not only apprehensive about the cost and bidding procedures, but also the design. "The building they are putting up is a modular, which means it's generic," Green said. "Lakeside is a special place that deserves a design instead of a box. It offends me that we will have to drive by a useless building for generations."

Brent Schwager has been a Santa Clara resident for 31 years and a Lakeside district resident for two years. He has two children at Lakeside, is the operations executive for his family-owned PR firm and holds a bachelor of arts degree in business administration.

Schwager believes the most important issue is Lakeside's declining enrollment. He would like to review the school's inner-district transfer policy and survey why local parents are sending their children elsewhere. "The bottom line is that attendance impacts the amount of money the school gets, and the tighter the budget gets, the harder it becomes to retain quality teachers and enrichment programs," Schwager said.

Schwager believes the multipurpose room controversy is "a non-issue." He says, "I would rather move forward and do what I can for the kids."

"I have been very hands-on with the school from day one," he said. "I am at the school at least once a day, and I am very accessible to the teachers and students."

Parker Stokes has been a Lakeside district resident for 13 years and a Los Gatos resident for 22 years. He has twin fourth-graders at Lakeside, is currently a program manager for Hewlett Packard and holds a bachelor of science degree in organizational development.

Stokes was appointed to the board nearly two years ago and is the current president. His main priority for this election is to focus on the quality of the educational experience and Lakeside's waning enrollment.

"We need a certain amount of students for quality programs," he said, "but not so many that we stretch out that money. The question is, then, how do we approach this, and how do we structure our learning environment?"

Possible solutions include rewriting the inner-district policy or reverting to combined classrooms, with learning centers for specific subjects.

Stokes does not feel the multipurpose building should be an issue for this election. "Let's go. There is no advantage to taxpayers, the board or the school to stop building."


Two-Year Term Candidates

Trish Dubberley has lived in the school district for 17 years and had two children attend Lakeside. She served on the board from 1987 to 1994 and then from 2000 to the present. Dubberley currently manages a water company in the Santa Cruz Mountains and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting.

Children are the most important issue for her in this election, as the "future of the children and their education is paramount," she said. Limited funding is also a concern for her, as well as "finding the best way to use our funding in order to maximize the benefits for the children."

The multipurpose room is not a major concern, although Dubberley believes it is "certainly something that we need to keep a watch over and make sure is completed in a timely fashion."

Stacey Johnson is a 15-year resident in the district with one child currently attending Lakeside and the other recently graduated from the school. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry and is the software-engineering director for the health website WebMD.

He feels the most important issue in this election is to "wrap up" the issue of the multipurpose room, which "has been going on for quite awhile."

Johnson was interested in being on the board as a way to become more involved with his children's school. "It seemed like a good opportunity," he said. "I am part of other local community boards, and I enjoy that work, so I thought I would give this a try."

"I think the existing board has done a great job, and I just want to be a part of that," Johnson said.