The only honest evaluation of School Board candidates in Vallejo available to voters.

The Times Herald often will offer an interview process with candidates, but rarely will a voter find any honest, unbiased overview of each of the candidates who are running. There are eight candidates running, and after having attended at least six forums with all seven of my colleagues, as well as dozens of school board and city council meetings,  I would be happy to share my experiences, and valuate them for voters who are interested in comparing and contrasting, or critical thinking.  Of course, there are wildly different standards in the minds of many voters.  Many have been influenced by the lamestream media, which has a standards system that is wildly out of sync with history.  Many have been influenced by similarly influenced ‘experts’ and ‘leaders’ in our society.  We are in a groupthink bubble in Solano County, as is the entire Bay Area.  It is Sophism, which is where people think their own opinions are always true, not realizing they are propagandized.  This ideology destroys nations, and has been destroying Vallejo for years.   If you don’t believe me, simply go up and talk about a conservative ideal at a Vallejo City Council Meeting or a Vallejo School Board meeting and see how many sour faces get made at you.  Or, if you don’t get sour faces and looks made at you, watch how people avoid you like you have the plague, and treat you like you are a member of a leper colony. You will never find a member of our police department, fire department, teacher, or any other public service position in Vallejo or any other Democrat run city, that will get up and state a conservative opinion in public. If they have them, they know to keep them quiet. If they do state them publicly, work will become hell, or they will get fired. Most employees are not hired for their competency and merits, but rather if they fit in with Vallejo’s liberal ideology. So we have educated parrots infesting our city at all levels. These people know little else other than to follow orders. They have no idea how to think for themselves and get irritated if you try to engage them in an honest discussion. They will often hurriedly end conversations, and will even rudely interrupt them, on occasion. The leaders of the Democrat establishment in Vallejo run a tight ship, and dissent is not tolerated.  Many people never sit down and examine why they think the way they think.  They are creatures of their own feelings, and rarely reason.  Many HATE to think!  Since so few like to critically think and examine ideas, and PROVE what they believe, the media and academia are dominating our thinking, and instead of choosing our destinies for our own good, we are having our destinies chosen for us for the good of people who do not care about us at all.  If we will not control our own time and thoughts, there will be others who will control our time and thoughts for us, and not for our own good either.

The eight school board candidates are myself, Tony Ubalde, Burky Worel, Ralph ‘Tony’ Gross, Christy Gardner, Allan Yeap, John Fox, and Ruscal Cayangyang.  Each will be evaluated with their good and bad, though if my evaluation is supposed to coincide with popular media biases, you will be sorely disappointed.  My biography is listed above and I will not belabor the reader by repeating it.

Tony Ubalde has been a trustee for six years.  He introduces himself as a pastor, though there honestly are some things I see in my Bible that I don’t hear from him. But some people prefer to uncritically believe individuals evaluations of themselves, and dislike the work it takes to see if they are what they say they are.  He is normally dignified, calm, and reserved in meetings.  He rarely loses his cool.  He supports the school bond measure, which I oppose and which I detailed in another post.  He supports vocational training in the schools, which is a fabulous idea.  He has not often taken a controversial stand when one is needed, and prefers to build a consensus, and rarely, if ever, takes a stand that varies with the majority.  He is quite connected, and is on the boards of numerous organizations of note.  His website is here.  Part of critical thinking is criticizing.  On his site, the reader can note that he speaks of higher graduation rates.  Before he talked about declining suspension rates.  Both figures are very misleading.  Suspensions went down not because behavior was changed by students and they weren’t worthy of discipline, but rather, the schools changed their standards, and stopped suspending students who deserved it.  So students have been going wild in the classrooms, disrupting classes, attacking teachers, and other students.  Also, higher graduation rates mean nothing when 70% of students are incapable of doing math and English at the 12th grade level.  Notice Mr. Ubalde never discusses this at all on his website.  He does not discuss how we got into this problem, nor how we get out.  If one does not acknowledge a problem, how does one solve it?  He has the backing of many of the same figures who were instrumental in getting Vallejo schools into this mess.  These figures could give two hoots about success and excellence, they just want power and money, and to hell with the taxpayer and their children. That said, I will probably vote for either Mr. Ubalde or Burky, as they are the best third choice besides Allan and myself.

Burky Worel has served on the board for three terms.  I’ve known him for six years.  He is a dedicated member of the community, and was a police officer for 30 years in Vallejo.  He is genuinely committed to improving the community.  He attends city council meetings and school board meetings even when he is not on the council and school board, which is quite rare in Vallejo, and says a lot about him.  You know someone loves something when they do it when they don’t have to.  While I don’t note that he has all the solutions to the problems we face, he is at least willing to listen and hear others out.

Ruscal Cayangyang is a product of Vallejo schools, and is the youngest member of the board.  His views are quite in line with the liberal media and schools that he recently attended.  He quotes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a socialist.  Socialism destroys.   He is active in the environmental groups here in Vallejo.  He is very susceptible to the influence of the Vallejo liberal activist community, which has taken him under their wing.  He does not believe the First Amendment covers the right of people who say things he deems offensive.  This means he believes he can silence those he disagrees with.  He said as much in the October 3rd School board meeting.  He has excellent goals, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. He is to be commended for courageously opposing the school bond.  He is a political and historical neophyte, and Vallejo will pay a heavy price if they entrust their schools to one who is so little acquainted with the problems and how to correct them.  He attempts to overcome his incomprehension of the problems by stating he is willing to listen to the parents. Leaders do not rely on their voters for ideas. If the voters have all the ideas, then why aren’t they the leaders? Leaders have ideas and the voters select them to lead them because they have the best vision, which offers the best future for the voters. Frequently, voters select leaders to do what they want them to do, and the leaders lead the voters right to destruction. Too often voters select leaders who they like, or who they feel good about, and too rarely do voters select candidates who understand the lessons of history, and who can apply these lessons to get the greatest results today and that will last long into the future.

Ralph Gross is a former teacher, and a former principal of Bethel High School.  He has a genial and amiable manner, and is immensely likeable and charismatic.  However, more is required of leaders than charisma alone.  He too supports the school bond, which is a huge mistake.  He also has never shown a propensity to oppose ideas damaging for the schools and children.  His moral compass is often shaped by asking for what the community thinks, rather than having a fixed course he is pursuing.  John Fox, Christy Gardner, and Ralph are all former teachers, and all will unhesitatingly remind the voters that ‘experience matters’.  Well, if experience matters, then why are our schools a wreck while they are being run with very experienced educational professionals?   Is it not true, dear reader, that wise men learn from others mistakes and fools have to learn from their own?  It would be interesting to find out if Mr. Gross agrees with Jesse Lee Peterson about the root and solution for the disproportionate black achievement and discipline levels in Vallejo schools.

John Fox has been an educator for 21 years. He is active in the community, and like Burky, has attended board meetings long before he wanted to be elected. However, he has an ulterior agenda. He supports SB 48, which is indoctrinating children into thinking homosexuality is perfectly alright. California parents overwhelmingly object to this, but John Fox and his cronies don’t care about California parents. In their minds, the students belong to the state and the federal government, and the parents can be damned. He is the most dangerous possible candidate for School Board, and if Vallejo elects him they will pay for it for decades. There has been a sophisticated disinformation program of psychological terrorism to vilify any who disagree with homosexuality as a public health disaster.  Ruscal Cayangyang is a close second. Both candidates are very uninformed about history in general, and believe their view of the world, which is merely academic and media indoctrination, should be accepted simply because they believe it to be true. Both cannot defend their positions with reasonable arguments, and are incapable of discussing their ideas without getting passionate and emotional and silencing those they disagree with. This is very dangerous, and both are a threat to the First Amendment rights of every single citizen in Vallejo. These are terrible role models for our children. If John Fox ended his advocacy for sexual degeneracy in our schools, I’d support him completely, but there have been few signs that that will happen.

Christy Gardner is another former teacher, who stands upon these credentials to say this is why she deserves votes. She also believes in a school bond, as every former educator in the 2018 race does. Having never run businesses, they think demanding tax payer money is how you solve problems, with no eye to accountability at all.  She also plays identity politics and will stress that she is the only woman running.  Now, exactly why is it, dear reader, that any human deserves anything due to their race or gender?  Did not Martin Luther King Jr. say judge people on character, not on color, and does that not also apply to gender?  Should we be voting for people simply because they happen to be born a woman, or born a particular race, or should we be voting for the person with the best idea, no matter their race or gender?  If we are supposed to vote for people based on gender or color, then why does anyone of us qualify for anything?  Aren’t there others of other genders or colors who will claim just as loudly that they deserve positions or jobs due to their sex and color?  What a mess our society would become?  And if this is the case, what is the point of learning anything or achieving anything?  It would no longer be necessary, we can just say we deserve things based on our color or gender, and we would be given them, no matter whether we deserved them or not. I’m not sure why a voter would believe a person who is part of the decaying establishment, who won’t acknowledge it’s problems would have a solution, but there will be voters who vote for Ms. Gardner. The union loves her, as they care only about money, with little to no regard to the actual education of children. They will claim they love children, as their hands continue to reach for the taxpayers pockets.

Allan Yeap is a financial wizard who understands the financial peril the school district is in once again. While he has given no evidence of recognizing how the finances got this bad, or what societal issues need to be addressed to fix the problem, yet he is open minded. He is very brave, bold, and courageous, and is not afraid to oppose the majority. When he was wrongly accused of being in bed with special interests at a recent school board meeting, he defended himself very well with an impassioned defense, and got a standing ovation from the audience. He attended GATE schools in Vallejo, as did I. While I recognize an ideological divide, I am personally voting for him.

In conclusion, of my seven colleagues, I’m only aware of Ruscal ever having taken a brave stand publicly on a controversial issue. Even he had the help of a fellow board member, Marianne Kearney-Brown when he opposed the bond. Not one of them has been able to stand on principle, unflinchingly, and defend it, no matter what others thought. Too often we get leaders who are obsequious sycophants, who simply fit in to try and please men. This means the elites get what they want, but our city is a mess. I represent what is right for the people, short and long term, and I have no shortage of issues where I stood up against popular opinion. I have never been proven wrong on anything I stood up for. Indeed, the more time that passes, the more correct my words prove to be. My words are not my own, they are taken from the wisdom of thousands of years, and from the same inspiration that the Founders of this nation relied upon. If Vallejo wishes to have me serve her, and to lead her to prosperity, I will humbly accede. If Vallejo wishes to have more mediocrity and dysfunction in the schools, along with bumbling ineptitude, then they will have what they wish, but they need to be sure not to vote for me. The truth doesn’t change whether people agree with it or not, whether they like it or not, or whether they vote for it or not. In four years, if I am not elected, Vallejo will be facing the same problems, only they will be worse. So, does Vallejo want to fix the problems now, or let them get worse? That is the question. If the voters thoroughly consider the candidates, and PROVE what is the best for Vallejo, I will be elected in a landslide, but if voters continue to haphazardly vote based on who they like, what signs they saw, or other irrelevant factors in choosing leaders, then I will not be elected. Either way, my happiness does not reside in the commendations of the crowd, nor does my sorrow reside in the condemnation of the crowd. The crowd is fickle, and may love a man one day, and hate him the next. A man must be sure his conscience approves of him, for that is the one friend he needs when he dies. The philosopher Spinoza said, ‘He whose honor depends on the opinion of the mob must day by day strive with the greatest anxiety, act and scheme in order to retain his reputation. For the mob is varied and inconstant, and therefore if a reputation is not carefully preserved it dies quickly.Too many voters are taken advantage of by their own pride, for they wish to be first, and are not since they have not paid the price, and are easily manipulated by the flattery of politicians who are charlatans and who will tell then whatever they wish to hear.

It is my sincere hope and desire that Vallejo will be able to tune out the familiar voices of deception and flattery, the same ones that led us to the quagmire we are currently in, and listen to the voice of reason, of virtue, and of wisdom. The voices that led us to prosperity, peace, and joy in our past, are still speaking, however quietly, and we can hear them, if we will but listen. They are not commonly found with little effort, they will not be found by the apathetic and lazy, they will not be found by the corrupt, they will not be found by the foolish. They will be found and heard by the diligent, by the honest, by the earnest, and by the persevering.  Thank you and I hope you will join the silent majority in voting