Jenkins appointed to vacant Area 5 seat on school board

Kenyon Jenkins is interviewed by board members of the Menifee Union School District shortly before his appointment Tuesday. Menifee 24/7 photo: Kristen Spoon

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Ultimately, the candidate who received the most votes that actually counted was the one who will fill the Area 5 trustee seat on the Menifee Union School District Governing Board.

Getting there wasn’t easy, however.

Kenyon Jenkins, one of five candidates on the original ballot, was appointed to the position by a 3-1 vote of the board members at a special meeting Tuesday. One of three candidates who sat individually before the board and answered the same six questions, Jenkins was approved by a 3-1 vote, with only trustee Bob O’Donnell voting no.

Jenkins received 1,302 votes for the Area 5 trustee seat. That was 817 votes behind unknown opponent William Hoag, an ex-Marine who appeared to the runaway winner in the days following the election. But that was before Hoag withdrew from the race following a report that he was ineligible because he lived outside the district.

MUSD board members – including Jackie Johansen and Kyle Root, who had just won seats on the board – could’ve chosen to appoint Jenkins based simply on his second-place finish. Instead, their decision to allow all four eligible candidates to interview for an appointed position turned the post-election period into a 10-week waiting game.

“It’s such a tough situation because we don’t know what would’ve happened had everyone played by the rules,” said board chair Reg Bennett, who conducted Tuesday’s special meeting.

Following the interviews, all board members agreed that the decision came down to a choice between Jenkins and Debbi Manion, another longtime community volunteer who finished 31 votes behind Jenkins with 1,271. Board members said they were more impressed by Jenkins’ 14-minute performance in the interview than Manion, whose interview session lasted only about five minutes.

On the other hand, Manion (left) presented board members with a stack of letters of recommendation from what Bennett called “reliable sources”.

Joe Long, who finished last in the final voting results with 546 votes, appeared to stray off topic in answering some of the questions and was not considered a front-runner by board members. Jerry Bowman, who finished fourth in the voting with 886 votes after a 10-year run on the school board, chose not to interview for the position.

After the interviewees were escorted to the foyer, discussion among the board members centered around the weight of Jenkins’ strong interview and business skills vs. the longtime community commitment and many recommendations of Manion.

“Interviews are a snapshot of life,” O’Donnell said. “Some people are very good at interviewing and some are not. I believe we should evaluate the potential members not just on the interview, but also the other material we’ve received from these individuals. This is a difficult decision for us.

“Kenyon Jenkins comes in with a real good background. You have to measure him up against Debbi Manion. Either of those candidates would serve us well. If I was going to make a choice, I probably would go with the one who did a lot of work and who we received a lot of recommendations from.”

Root said he placed more value on the vote of the people for Jenkins, plus his dedication in the community during the campaign.

“I’m a firm believer in our voting system and that our votes count,” Root said. “The Registrar of Voters has no doubt failed in their attempt to vet candidates here, so we’ll never know how the votes would’ve happened. Still, we need to make a decision about a school board member.

“Kenyon finished second. His popularity in the public was also made very public through social media. Menifee 24/7 did a poll that was overwhelming for Mr. Jenkins (87 percent of the vote).

“In the interview, he had a lot to say. He has a lot to bring to the table. Not that Debbi doesn’t. She has a longstanding reputation in this community and I respect that. You look at a stack of resumes … I respect that, and there were a lot of them, but I look at that as kind of a sidebar. Kenyon finished second. I followed him during the campaign and he hit the streets a lot. He was very involved. In my opinion, he put in a lot of work. He really did.”

Johansen said she was impressed by both Jenkins and Manion but seemed to favor Jenkins.

“I really like that he has a child with special needs who has gone through this district, and he knows that side of things,” she said.” Special ed is something every district is working on. I also like that Kenyon has a spouse who is a teacher. I think you can learn a lot about education by being married to someone in education.”

The final comment before voting came from Bennett.

“I value who the letters came from,” Bennett said about Manion’s letters of recommendation. “Quite honestly, if Mr. Jenkins had just brought in a couple, that probably would’ve done it for me. I really wish he would have. Either way, I think our kids would benefit from the choice.”

Finally, Root made a motion to appoint Jenkins, seconded by Johansen. Those two voted yes and O’Donnell voted no, leaving Bennett to determine whether the motion would pass or the awkward four-member board who result in a tie vote.

Bennett’s "yes" vote sealed the appointment for Jenkins, who will be sworn in Jan. 22 at the next MUSD meeting. As an appointee, his term will be for two years rather than the normal four-year elected term.