Grossmont school-board candidate claims misrepresentation

The war of words between two candidates for Grossmont Union High School District trustee spot has spilled over into court.

On August 23, candidate Kevin Conover, who teaches Bible studies and creationism to students through his nonprofit Educate for Life, filed a writ of mandate against his opponent in the race, Elva Salinas, for stating on her ballot statement that she is the only candidate with "actual classroom experience" in the race.

Conover's writ of mandate also names San Diego County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu and the County of San Diego for publishing the misstatements on the official ballot.

Quite the contrary, says Conover in the court filing; he has ten years of classroom experience teaching Bible classes and intelligent design courses to students through his nonprofit. According to the complaint, the Association of Christian Schools International certified Conover as a secondary teacher and "Bible specialist" in 2010.

Conover's website says his nonprofit "offers home school, online, and seminar classes that defend and explain the Bible. [C]lasses cover topics such as world religions, the reliability of the Bible, how to approach tough cultural issues biblically, creation vs. evolution, church history, and the Bible itself."

Among the classes that Conover teaches are, "Created or Evolved," "Religion: Who's Right," and "The Bible Applied," a class that asks if "America is a Christian nation? It sure doesn’t act like one. In fact, there seems to be an outright hostility towards traditional Christian values! Is this the way it has to be? This class answers the question of whether we can (and should) apply biblical teachings to controversial issues faced by modern day society."

Conover's rival candidate has a much different background in regard to teaching. Salinas, according to her candidate statement, has taught for 32 years and was named Teacher of the Year at San Diego City College.

Conover is requesting a judge to order Vu to delete the sentence. If not, he says the voters will be misled.

"Should the requested writ not issue, the voters of the Grossmont Union High School District will be materially misled by Salinas' ballot statement and will be led to believe that [Conover] has not been an active classroom teacher and that Salinas has been a high school classroom teacher, thus suggesting that Salinas is more qualified for the position she seeks than [Conover]; a proposition that is patently false."