Candidates vying to replace Roger Daley on the Del Norte County Unified School District Board of Trustees will take questions from teachers and classified staff Tuesday.

The Del Norte Teachers Association and CSEA Great Northern 178 will host a forum featuring the contenders for the District 4 seat.

The unions representing the district’s certificated and classified staff want to give their members a chance to put a face to the names and begin building relationships, DNTA President Marshall Jones told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Friday.

The forum will be held after the DNUSD Board of Trustees conducts its second of two interviews. The Board will appoint a candidate to the District 4 seat at its public meeting Thursday. That person will begin his or her duties no later than March 2, according to DNUSD.

Jones said DNTA and CSEA reached out to the candidates who were willing to take part in the forum. Both unions are also petitioning their membership for questions to ask the candidates. The format will consist of four moderators, each asking the candidate one question, before moving on to the next contender, Jones said.

In addition to finding out the reason behind a candidate’s desire to be appointed to the District 4 seat, Jones said they’ll also bring up the November 2020 election.

“One important question I do want to ask is ‘are you going to also run to continue that or are you just doing this for the interim?’” Jones said, pointing out that the District 4 seat is one fo two up for election this year. “That’s definitely one question I would like to have answered by all five candidates.”

The five candidates for the District 4 seat are Joey Borges, Judith Cordts, Charlaine Mazzei, Mike Mealue, and Albert George Olson.
Cordts was Daley’s predecessor on the Board of Trustees, serving until 2016. Mazzei ran against Daley and Cordts for the District 4 seat in the 2016 election.

Mealue is a retired teacher and former president of the Del Norte Teachers Association and is currently spearheading a recall effort against each member of the Board of Trustee as well as Jeff Harris, the Del Norte Superintendent of Schools.

Jones said the questions DNTA and CSEA representatives will ask the candidates likely won’t be related to the recall effort. Contract negotiations between DNTA and DNUSD over salaries and healthcare benefits are still ongoing.

“I want to give the person who’s chosen a shot at being the best they can be without thinking one group already (is) not in their favor,” Jones said. “It’s more we want to get to know you. We want to know why you’re doing this.”

The DNTA-CSEA forum will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Del Norte High School library, 1301 El Dorado Street in Crescent City.

The DNUSD Board of Trustees will hold its second set of interviews at 4 p.m. Monday at the Educational Resource Center, 400 Harding Ave. in Crescent City. The district is also accepting questions from the public through 4 p.m. Tuesday either submitted to the district office at 301 W. Washington Boulevard in Crescent City or emailed to lprouty@delnorte.k12.ca.us.

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