John Garnica

Name: John Garnica
Running for: School Board

Statement provided by candidate:
Facts and Candidate Statement for John Garnica for Fillmore Unified School District Board of Education.

Fast Facts
Full Name: John Lopez Garnica
Age: 42
High School: Fillmore High School class of 1984
University: BS in Computer Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point – Class of 1988.
Work Experience:
1988 to 1991 - US Army – two years in Germany and one at Fort Knox, KY as a Tank Platoon Leader and Tank Company Executive Officer.
1991 to 2003 - Ingersoll-Rand Company in Santa Fe Springs, CA as an Applications Engineer, Area Manager, and Manager of Distribution.
2004 to 2006 - Key Group Inc. Fillmore CA as a Marketing Consultant
2007 – UltraViolet Devices – Valencia, CA – Regional Sales Manager
2008 – Aquafine Corporation – Valencia, CA – Manager of Engineered Products

Personal: My wife Beverly and I are both graduates of Fillmore High School and my wife teaches 5th grade at Sespe School. I have three daughters, Natalie, 17, Laura, 13, and Grace, 8, and all three attend Fillmore Schools. I am the youngest of 9 children and my brother Jess is a bus driver/scheduler for Fillmore Unified School district. I am active as the head lector at St. Francis of Assisi Church and often teach confirmation classes.

Candidate Statement
I was first elected in 2000 and I am running for re-election for two reasons. First, as a FHS graduate, parent, and active community member, I have the perspective and vested interest in ensuring Fillmore students get the best education possible with the funds we receive from the state and federal governments. Second, I feel obligated to give back to my community and my alma mater that gave me my start and the opportunity to improve my life.

I believe the foundation of a good education is a safe and secure learning environment. We as a school board influence this by setting the discipline policy of the district and allocating funds to ensure we have safe campuses. To that end, I have been a consistent proponent of the funding for a police officer on the High School Campus and supported no tolerance for weapons at school. I have consistently voted to expel students that bring weapons to school. Since my daughters attend our schools, I want them to be as safe as possible.

Next, I believe that quality teachers are the most important part of a child’s education that we as a board can influence. To attract high quality candidates that will stay in Fillmore, we need to pay teachers a salary that is competitive with other school districts in Ventura County. I have been a proponent for over four years of ensuring a fair salary without sacrificing student programs like athletics and music, and I will continue to push for quality teachers.

I also believe that we must provide modern and properly maintained facilities for our students and staff. During my tenure we renovated the high school science and arts buildings, the cafeteria and the gymnasium. We are finishing the renovation of the football stadium and track and have worked cooperatively with the city to build the new pool and tennis complex. We built Mountain Vista Elementary, the first elementary school in over 50 years, and are in the process of building Rio Vista, mostly with state or developer funds.

I believe that teachers, schools and we as a district must be held accountable for the education our students receive. Although not yet where we want to be, test scores have gone up at all of our schools over the last four years. We have implemented a standards-based curriculum and hold staff accountable for ensuring children learn. I will continue to work towards improving our student achievement so that our Fillmore graduates have the opportunity to succeed in their chosen field, whether that is college, a trade school, the military, or directly into the work force.