Poway teachers union, school employees union endorse candidates

The Poway Federation of Teachers and the Poway School Employees Association have announced their endorsements in the Poway Unified School District Board of Education elections.

The two unions will endorse incumbent Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff in District D and incumbent T.J. Zane in District C, over fellow incumbent Charles Sellers, who is also running for re-election in District C.

District B is the only one of the three election areas in the PUSD without an incumbent. The PFT and PSEA announced they will endorse candidate Kevin Juza over his two opponents, Kim Garnier and Ginger Couvrette.

PFT President Kelly Logan said the group voted to “offer a friendly incumbent endorsement” to O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane because they “have been a consistent support to students and teachers in Poway Unified during their term.”

Due to having no incumbents in District B, Logan said all three District B candidates were invited to participate in the endorsement process. This included completing a written questionnaire, attending a candidate forum and participating in individual oral interviews.

Logan said only Juza and Couvrette accepted the invitation to participate in this endorsement process. “Our elected PFT site representatives provided input based on the candidate forum and the written questionnaires. After carefully considering this input, as well as the candidates’ face-to-face interviews, the elected PFT Executive Board endorsed Kevin Juza for (District) B,” Logan said.

PSEA President Courtney Martin did not provide any further explanation for its endorsements as of press time.