Hey, not everyone is good with numbers

It’s open season for a seat on the San Ysidro School District board for the post recently vacated by Jose Barajas, a trustee who decided to resign instead of face a recall election.

The governing board of the district accepted Barajas’s resignation at its August 27 meeting and chose to appoint a new member rather than hold a special election. Barajas wrote that he was stepping down for “personal reasons.” As reported by La Prensa San Diego, Barajas had been presented August 12 with a petition stating that the people intended to recall him because he had "failed" to manage district finances. Nearly 2000 signatures had been collected.

Who wants to be a board member?

On August 27, the school board decided to call for applications to fill the vacancy, setting a filing deadline of September 18. The board announced it would conduct interviews and make the appointment when it meets again six days later, on September 24. The term expires at the end of 2016. Two people — Felipe Nuno and Steven Kinney — signaled they were interested in running for the vacated seat during public comments at the August 27 board meeting. Both have run for the school board before. Nuno had also applied to be a temporary school superintendent. Kinney finished out of the running last November, despite the backing of the district’s teachers and employees.

That vote for Manuel Paul's fat severance paycheck didn't help

Elected in November 2012, Barajas had cast the deciding vote the following March to give then-superintendent Manuel Paul a severance check for $211,347. Paul would later be sentenced to 60 days in federal custody after pleading guilty to accepting cash from contractors. All the while, Barajas had been calling for cuts to teachers’ pay.

The petition suggested that Barajas was supporting "nepotism." Parents and others who follow school district affairs said the families of both ex-superintendent Paul and Barajas were very close; the spouses said to be “comrades,” according to La Prensa San Diego. In March, the school district filed a suit to have the $211,347 returned by Paul, alleging the money was obtained through fraud and a breach of his fiduciary obligations. Paul's attorney wrote to La Prensa that Paul rejects "any suggestion" that he should give the money back.

Knock-knock. We're not satisfied.

Barajas learned of the recall petition when he answered the door at his house on the evening of August 12. “We were descending on him,” said Bertha Gonzalez in a phone interview with the Reader. “The people are not happy." Gonzalez, a longtime San Ysidro businesswoman, had arrived unexpected with the documents, accompanied by two parents who were members of the PTA. He looked "very surprised to see us," she said. “And he was also friendly, polite, and very courteous. In San Ysidro, we love our children and we care for our children. He [Barajas] is a friend of the community.”