Meet the Rialto Unified school board candidates

Oct. 05--RIALTO -- With board president Joanne Gilbert's decision to not seek reelection, voters are guaranteed of one thing after they go to the polls Nov. 4: There will be at least one new face on the Rialto Unified school board when the new term begins in December. There will potentially be two new faces, but incumbent Edgar Montes is seeking a second term on the board.

Eoma "Teddy" Harris

The Chicago-raised Harris moved to Rialto almost three decades ago, where she raised six children, one of them who still attends high school in the district.

"So, believe me, I know," she said. "I've had the ones who get in trouble and I've had the perfect ones."

This is not Harris' first time seeking a seat on the board, having first attempted to do so in 2012.

"I wanted to make a difference," she said. "In Rialto, if a parent has a problem, they're lucky if they can get beyond the bottom (rung of the ladder)."

Harris believed that parents who had genuine concerns for the safety of their children were being ignored by officials, she said.

After losing -- she came in sixth out of a field of seven -- Harris said she grieved "for about two months."

Harris is giving it another go this November.

"I want to be a better voice for parents. There's a lot of good teachers and staff in the district, they just need someone to believe in them."

Lillie M. Houston

Houston moved from Seattle to Southern California to attend Los Angeles City College, got a job to support herself while in school, and just kept going, picking up degrees and advancing through jobs in the aerospace industry before she eventually opened her own insurance office, which she ran for more than 25 years. It's that business background, including time as an accountant, that she wants to bring to Rialto Unified's school board.

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"I have been going to the board meetings and seeing what they do," said the now-retired Houston. "I see kids running around and not being in school. Why aren't they being inspired?"

She believes in the quality of a Rialto Unified education, she said.

"This is where I raised my family."

Houston has lived in Rialto for more than 20 years.

Edgar Montes

Born in Upland and a graduate of Fontana Unified schools, Montes today runs his family's pallet company. But he's always had a passion for education, he said.

"There are many elected officials that are not doing the job they're elected to do," he said. "I think I've proven myself to not just be a rubber stamp."

(Initially, his two twin boys attended elementary school in Fontana to be near his family business, although they've since changed districts.)

First elected in 2010, Montes has been critical of the district's direction from the beginning:

"I didn't appreciate (that) the previous board approved a four-year evergreen contract" for former superintendent Harold Cebrun "two weeks before the election."

He also championed the complaints of parents of special education students, which he said were "vindicated" by the results of an audit released earlier this year.

"I'd rather be a good, productive, one-term board member than an ineffective multiple-term board member," Montes said.

Don Olinger

If he's elected on Nov. 4, this will actually be Olinger's third term on the board -- he previously served two terms, through the early 1990s.

Prior to serving on the school board, he was a teacher and principal in Rialto Unified.

"Wisdom is kind of a foundation and you build on it with experience," Olinger said. "I'm not a person to rush to judgement on decisions."

But he does think the district, which he says he loves, is lacking something.

"They don't have a spirit," he said. "I think it lacks teamwork. I think people know exactly goals are, but it doesn't coalesce."

But that's a solvable problem, according to Olinger.

Russel Silva

Silva, who grew up in Hollister, moved to the Inland Empire in 1982, when he got a job with the Cucamonga Water District. Two years later, he purchased a home in Rialto.

All five of his children attended school in the district, and three of them graduated high school there. Today, two of his grandchildren attend district schools. Silva's wife works for the district as a secretary and was named employee of the quarter in Fall 2012. With all those connections to the district, he found himself attending board meetings periodically.

"I just started paying attention to what's going on and didn't like a lot of what I saw," he said. "I thought Cebrun controlled the board too much, in a negative way. ... I believe he was not giving them correct information."

Silva, though, wants to focus on the best possible outcomes for the district as a whole and students.

"I never thought I'd do this, get into politics," he said. "I just want to make sure I keep that common sense and practical thinking and keep the politics in check."

Dina Walker

Walker grew up in the Inland Empire, graduating high school in Fontana before attending college at San Diego State, where she got a bachelor's degree in education.

"I've been a college adviser or academic adviser my entire adult life."

And in 2001, she returned to do just that in the Inland Empire, where she now runs the BLU Educational Foundation, a non-profit that works to help poor local families afford higher education.

With years of seeing how the education system is supposed to work -- and how it sometimes fails to -- Walker began hearing she should run for school board five years ago.

"I've been blessed to have the hands-on, grass-roots experience," she said.

When she was a child, Rialto "was the place to go."

And Walker said she wants to make it that sort of place once again.

Endorsements

Rialto Unified's teachers union, the Rialto Education Association, has endorsed Montes and Walker, according to REA president Lisa Lindberg.

Rialto Unified's Chapter 203 of the California School Employees Association is expected to announce their endorsement on or soon after Oct. 9, according to president Cheryl Decker.

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