■ Incumbent cites experience with district, Benicia

Editor’s note: Three terms on the Benicia Unified School District’s Governing Board of Trustees come to a close this year. Four candidates — three incumbents and one challenger — are vying for the three seats. Incumbents Peter Morgan and Rosie Switzer were featured in the Oct. 12 Benicia Herald.

During this year’s televised candidates forum, Steve Messina called himself “a known commodity and praised the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees for the direction it has taken since he was elected to the panel in 2009.

He is seeking re-election to the Board Nov. 4.

Messina, a former two-term mayor, has lived in Benicia much of his life, although as a member of a military family, he and his family moved frequently.

He came back to stay about 20 years ago, and here is where several members of his family live as well.
When he initially ran for the Board of Trustees in 2009, he said he was worried about declining test scores that had seen local schools slip from being in the top 8 percent to being in the top 29 percent.

One of his goals was not only to stop the slide, but see that scores were heading back towards the top by focusing not only on standardized tests but also on the curriculum, how it’s taught and whether students are prepared.

In addition, he said, Benicia schools have faced financial difficulties. His goals then were to combine wise spending with fiscal stability in a process that was more available to public view.

During the 2009 public forum for city and BUSD candidates, Messina said that as Benicia’s mayor, he addressed greenhouse gases and emissions and water conservation.

“It’s no different with the school board,” he told the audience, saying the Board of Trustees should adopt environmentally-friendly policies and seek grants to pay for projects.

At this year’s forum, he said he’s happy in the direction it is heading.

Later, he said, “I have experienced first-hand the ability of public service to change lives — for the better. I believe my proven leadership, experience and ability to work collaboratively will enhance the quality of education within our community.

Among his strengths, he said, “I have demonstrated an ability to get things done, improve morale, increase efficiency, expand service levels and balance budgets without staffing reductions in both strong and weak economies.”

He said steps the Board has taken in the past five years line up with the goals he promised to accomplish during the 2009 campaign.

“Some of the most significant accomplishments were stabilizing the financial situation, rebuilding a strong leadership team, increasing the transparency in the decision making process and ensuring inclusion of parents, students and teachers,” Messina said when asked what he had achieved as a Trustee.

But the work isn’t over yet, Messina said.

“Our biggest challenge is to ensure our children have a safe learning environment, dedicated caring teachers, state of the art facilities and the high quality curriculum needed for our children to grow and mature into secure and successful adults,” he said.

But the Board faces other challenges as well, he said.

“The two major issues are how to maintain competitive wages under the new state funding formula (and) maximizing the impact of the $49 million facilities bond expenditures,” he said.

“To achieve our goals, we need experienced, proven, hard-working leaders who have earned the respect and support of our community,” Messina said.

After his election in 2009, Messina became the clerk of the Board of Trustees.

Compared to his time spent as mayor and an additional term as a member of the City Council, Messina has said previously that the school district’s code is even more strict, but that his time as a municipal public servant had prepared him well for becoming a Trustee.

In addition to his public service in Benicia municipal government and on the BUSD panel, Messina, who has a real estate license, has been a local business owner who formerly owned Double Rainbow, a popular First Street ice cream shop he sold in 2011. He ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Solano County District 2 Supervisor Linda Seifert in 2012 He formerly represented Benicia on the Solano County Fair Board of Directors.