Root, Johansen join school board; Area 5 seat still open

Kyle Root and Jackie Johansen are sworn in as school board members by superintendent Dr. Steve Kennedy. Menifee 24/7 photos: Kristen Spoon

By Doug Spoon, Editor

There were more than 50 items on the agenda for the Menifee Union School District Board meeting Tuesday, but none concerned the most talked-about issue of the last month.

Two new board members were installed as a result of the November election, but a replacement necessitated by the controversial exit of elected Area 5 trustee William Hoag was not discussed. In fact, said board President Reg Bennett after the meeting, the issue was only briefly mentioned at the end of a closed session that ran almost 10 minutes into the scheduled start of the regular meeting.

It is unclear whether the item was left off the agenda because of the many other procedural matters to be addressed in the regular meeting, which ran about 2 1/2 hours. Newly elected board members Kyle Root and Jackie Johansen were unofficially sworn in for the closed session in order to be briefed on the many agenda items they were to consider along with current member Bennett and Bob O'Donnell. But for whatever reason, the procedure for filling the vacant Area 5 trustee seat was not given priority in that meeting.

Thus, unless a special board meeting is called in the interim, the matter won't be discussed by board members until their next scheduled meeting on Jan. 8.

"Believe me, I don't want to wait," Bennett (left) told Menifee 24/7 after the meeting. "In the closed session, there was so much to discuss to prepare for the meeting and we ran out of time. That issue was thrown out at the last second. I think filling an assistant superintendent position today (with Dr. Kimberly Huesing) was our biggest task to accomplish. I don't feel like we had adequate time to address the other issue."

At the same time, Bennett admitted that it is important for the newly configured, four-member board to act swiftly now that Root and Johansen have been officially sworn in and have voted in their first full meeting. For one thing, Area 5 -- a western portion of the city -- is unrepresented as long as that seat remains vacant. For another, the potential for tie votes on agenda matters exist.

Beyond that, adding that fifth member to the board will help everyone move forward from the controversy surrounding Hoag. The relatively unknown candidate, who somehow defeated four other candidates by a wide margin, withdrew from the position "for personal reasons" after a Menifee 24/7 investigation indicated he did not live within district boundaries and is ineligible.

The Menifee City Council faced a similar decision earlier this year when it was reduced to four members by the death of Mayor Neil Winter. The four remaining council members chose not to call for a special election to replace Winter and, with time running out to find a replacement, finally agreed on the appointment of Bill Zimmerman as mayor.

This case is different in that there are four other candidates who ran against Hoag and remain in the picture. Assuming the board chooses not to call for a costly special election, the current trustees must agree on who to appoint to the Area 5 seat.

Will that be Kenyon Jenkins, who finished second to Hoag's 2,119 votes with 1,302 votes; Debbi Manion, who finished third with 1,271 votes; Jerry Bowman, who finished fourth with 886 votes in a bid to retain his board seat; or Joe Long, who finished fifth with 546 votes? Or perhaps someone else?

"We haven't had a chance to discuss it, but personally, I would like to have an interview process with all who ran for the position and appoint one of them, but I can't make that decision," Bennett said. "Legally, we could expand the appointment process to everyone, but I believe the people who had enough interest and commitment to run should be the ones considered."

Final voting was not certified by the Registrar's Office until Dec. 7. Even then, although certified as winners of their races, Root and Johansen could not participate in any discussion about a replacement for Hoag because they could not be sworn in until Tuesday. Even if they had been, such matters cannot be discussed outside a publicly noticed meeting because of the Brown Act.

It's a situation none of those involved has faced before.

"Mr. Hoag certainly threw everything off," Bennett said.

No one in the district office or on the school board has had any contact from Hoag other than an email sent to the board secretary by Hoag announcing his "resignation". Neither has anyone come up with an explanation of how a man who reportedly lives in Orange County and illegally used his daughter's local address received so many votes. Some speculated he was the popular choice because of his military background and his statements about school safety.

The only thing certain at this point is that Root and Johansen are now officially members of the MUSD board and Hoag is not.