San Luis Obispo County voters have the care of students in their hands with upcoming school board elections

The safety, education and more for students is in the hands of San Luis Obispo County voters for the election on Nov. 8, 2022.

“The test scores just came out and no big surprise, but they dropped during the pandemic,” Gary Joralemon, candidate for Lucia Mar Unified School District, said. “So getting kids back up to speed is really important to me.”

Jorolemon is an instructor at Cal Poly and Cuesta Community College.

According to the Tribune, 47 people are running for school board seats across eight local districts. Only 19 seats will be filled.

The San Luis Obispo County Mom’s For Liberty Chapter has been actively involved in local school board meetings.

“Our mission is for parents to be in control of the education and health of their kids,” San Luis Obispo Moms for Liberty Chair Jennifer Grinager said. 

As the chapter chair, Grinager has attended some local school board meetings herself.

“Right now in Lucia Mar, the board keeps shutting parents down,” Grinager said. “When they come to speak, they turn off their mic, and they’re preventing them from finishing their three-minute comment. And that’s a violation of the Brown Act.”

Many parents are frustrated by some of the school boards’ actions.

“I want to see a person who’s really going to pay attention to what the kids are needing, what’s going on with them, and being a voice for not just the parents, but the community at large,” Grinager said. “Right now, I feel like most of our boards are just a rubber stamp.” 

Jorolemon also thinks that the school board needs to take more initiative for the interest of both parents and students.

“The vast majority of teachers in Lucia Mar were wonderful, and I trusted them with my sons when they were going through school, and I would trust him with my grandchildren,” Jorolemon said. “Having said that, there is a, what I think, is a very disturbing pattern of sexual abuse from staff to students.”

Jorolemon served as a chief deputy probation officer for San Luis Obispo County and as a juvenile hall superintendent. He believes these past experiences will help him accomplish his top priorities.

“I want to proactively address these abuse cases,” Jorolemon said. 

Jorolemon said that unlike police officers, probation officers are fully armed, but “know how to respond to an active shooter” and have “specialized training in dealing with kids.”