When Ernie Dronenburg announced his resignation from the San Diego County Board of Education on December 14 during the regular board meeting, the resulting news reports were nowhere to be found. Curious, considering that only a few years ago when Susen Fay and Jim Kelly served on the board, neither of them could breathe without a Union-Tribune headline or editorial.
Nowadays, without anyone serving on the board that the media would define as "right-wing," 
apparently the U-T doesn’t even cover the meetings, so the paper knew nothing about Dronenburg’s resignation. It should be noted that before serving on the County Board of Ed, Dronenburg served a mere 20 years as a Republican on the State Board of Equalization, among many other things authoring the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. See his bio here.
Yet, still no news reports or even announcements from the board’s County Office of Education until January 3, and only after I called to inquire about the rumor of Dronenburg’s resignation. The U-T then finally picked it up.
Even today, while the County Office website proclaims as the main headline the pending retirement of Superintendent Rudy Castruita, there is apparently nothing posted to show Ernie’s resignation and nothing to indicate a vacancy on the board, including the process by which the remaining four members will fill the position or the application period. The website shows only the board’s photos with a blank one including the caption "Vacant" for District 3. The minutes of the Dec. 14 meeting make a very brief mention of Ernie’s announcement, and the agenda for Jan. 11 (no minutes yet) include items to name a room after Dronenburg and to address the process to fill the vacancy.
Read into it what you want, but when the hired superintendent’s departure is more noted by the government agency than an opening for an individual that will DIRECTLY represent the public on education issues, including a 1/5 vote to hire and/or fire that superintendent, I have to ask: Are the public and the elected board truly being served by the office staff here?
The public should not have to sift through minutes and make phone calls, as I have, to try to figure out how to apply for a board position, especially not with a big, beautiful website paid for with our tax dollars.
I urge the remaining board members, including Republicans Robert Watkins, John Witt and Susan Hartley (all good people, by most accounts) to demand the superintendent and his staff do what is necessary to make the vacancy and process be as widely known as possible, including boldly on the website. (As a note, Watkins, chairman of the Lincoln Club of SD, was especially helpful in getting back to me with relevant information.)
By the way, how I heard about Dronenburg’s resignation? Although the County Office had not sent anything official, within days of the Dec. 14 meeting Superintendent Castruita (remember, he’s retiring) made at least one phone call looking to recruit candidates for the vacancy, and the word got out…at least mildly out. Read into that what you wish as well.
What is known, although perhaps not proclaimed at this point, is that the application process is now open, with a deadline of January 27. The board will conduct interviews in a special meeting on February 6 (also not found on the website) and may make an appointment that night so as to seat a new member by February 8.
The vacant district is number 3, seen here on the map. Lots of East County and back country. Huge Republican registration numbers (read: Hunter, Hollingsworth, La Suer), although the office is non-partisan. Two applications have been pulled thus far, by Rick Winet (a Republican) and Sharon Jones (a Democrat), who both serve as trustees on the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District board. As noted prior, the remaining members include the three Reps and Nick Aguilar, a Democrat.
I’ll handicap those vying for the vacancy in a later post. Suffice it to say, at this point, that the selection may have as much to do with personalities and demographics, as it does with what current Superintendent Castruita says. I hope the board members prove me wrong.