GUSD Board of Trustees Lindsi Haynes, Elias Haynes, Phil Lewis and Dale Wallace in 2023, before Casey Bowden filled the seat vacated by Cherrill Clifford.
For the first time in 16 years, voters in the Gateway Unified School District will be presented with a bond measure dedicated to raising funds for new construction, renovating existing school buildings and athletic facilities, upgrading computers and other technology system and much more on November’s ballot.
If 55 percent of the district’s voters pass Measure J, GUSD will issue up to $65 million in bonds underwritten by the district’s property owners. According to the ballot measure, the cost to property owners will be $49 per $100,000 in value, which for the district’s median home value of $343,000 works out to $168 added to the property tax bill annually, or $14 per month.
Earlier this year the district surveyed the parents and guardians of its 2300 students about the bond issue; 7 out of 10 said they supported it. At the first of two June meetings on the bond measure, the GUSD board of trustees voted 4-1 to permit Superintendent Kyle Tuner to pursue the bond measure, only ultraconservative trustee Lindsi Haynes voted against it.
“I say no, I just don’t think we can afford any more taxes in California,” Haynes said at the June 18 meeting. “People can barely put gas in the car and food on the table.”
But at the June 28 meeting, after being informed the cost of the bond for the average homeowner could be mitigated by forgoing one fast food meal per month, Haynes changed her mind and the board voted unanimously to permit Turner to place what became Measure J on the ballot.
If passed, funds from Measure J cannot be spent on administrator, teacher and employee salaries. The list of infrastructure improvements the $65 million can be spent on in the coming decade is extensive and not limited to the following:
· Expand and renovate career technical education classrooms and labs.
· Repair or replace leaky roofs.
· Replace outdated HVAC systems.
· Renovate and construct science and technology labs.
· Renovate deteriorating plumbing and sewer systems.
· Upgrade aging electrical systems and network infrastructure.
· Improve student safety at drop-off and pick-up areas as well as parking lots.
· Upgrade playgrounds and playfields for school and community use.
· Replace temporary portables with permanent classrooms.
· Renovate cafeterias.
Gateway Unified School District includes Buckeye School of the Arts (K-6), Grand Oaks Elementary School (K-8), Shasta Lake School (K-8), Central Valley High School (9-12), Mountain Lakes High School (Continuation) and Gateway Educational Option (Independent Study).
Gateway Unified School District Area 3 is shown in blue.
Incumbent GUSD Trustee Elias Haynes Faces Parent Advocate Bobbie Simpson
For much of 2022 and 2023, GUSD board meetings were dominated by culture war politics. Elias Haynes was appointed to the board in 2021, his wife Lindsi Haynes won election in 2022, both were members of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Moms for Liberty Shasta County at the time. The Haynes teamed up with Cherrill Clifford, a longtime local Republican extremist, to form a 3-2 majority against common sense moderates Phil Lewis and Dale Wallace.
The trio summarily fired former superintendent Jim Harrell and attempted to rush through one poorly thought out resolution after the other in a frantic attempt to hire controversial failed Shasta County Superintendent of Schools candidate Bryan Caples as GUSD’s new superintendent. After a number of missteps, Clifford resigned in February 2022.
GUHS trustees Elias and Lindsi Haynes.
For more than a year, the GUSD board of trustees, reduced to four members, was deadlocked in a 2-2 draw on most important issues, particularly on who to appoint as the new board member.
That changed in November 2023 when common sense moderate Casey Bowden handily defeated Moms for Liberty adjacent Camille King for Clifford’s old seat in a special election. Since then, Bowden, Lewis and Wallace have formed a 3-2 majority against the Haynes, which has made subsequent board meetings calmer and more productive.
Since Elias Haynes was appointed to the Area 3 trustee position, this is the first time he’s run for office. He didn’t file a candidate statement with the Shasta County Registrar of Voters. He didn’t respond to the lengthy questionnaire A News Café sent to both candidates.
Contacted by phone after several failed email attempts, Haynes said he had a lot of good things to say about the district and would respond to the questionnaire. He didn’t.
GUSD Area 3 Trustee candidate Bobbie Simpson.
His opponent, GUSD parent Bobbie Simpson, did submit a candidate statement to the Registrar. She also replied to A News Café’s questionnaire.
Readers of A News Café and anyone who’s been attending Shasta school board meetings the past couple years know who Bobbie Simpson is. Simpson may be the only transgender female who regularly attends school board meetings in Shasta County. Considering transgender females have become the figurative punching bags of hard right Republicans and Shasta County can be as red as it get gives you some idea about her courage.
As A News Café documented in this profile, Simpson, 45, has surmounted mental obstacles which for many people have proved impossible. Diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder at age 10, she lived many years as a male while sorting her identity issues out, even though she suffered from gender dysphoria too.
As young adult male, Simpson married the woman who’s still her wife, they have two sons, 15 and 9, who attend GUSD schools. It wasn’t until she was 40 that Simpson started wearing female clothes in public. It felt so natural she’s been stepping out ever since.
A News Café asked Simpson what Gateway schools are doing right—and what are they doing wrong.
“Currently I have a child at a SCOE school and one at Central Valley High School, so I can only speak to my experiences with Buckeye School of the Arts and Central Valley Highschool,” Simpson said. “Both of my children are benefiting from the special education resources of both GUSD and SCOE. Gateway staff has been supportive of our family and tried to find the best placement for my kids, as well as supporting us as a family.”
Asked if she supported so-called parental rights policies such as the forced outing of trans students, Simpson answered from experience. ,
“I am for parents’ rights but absolutely opposed to any forced outing policy,” Simpson said. “The current laws do not infringe on one’s rights as a parent. If you care about your children and want to support them, let them know. Talk to them.”
“I emphasize communication because I have heard many stories from people that had familial support after coming out but they were scared they would be cast out,” she said. “Sadly, I also know people who have been cast out of their homes and even been physically threatened or abused because they expressed themselves.”
Simpson decried the damage to public schools caused by groups such as Moms for Liberty.
“Moms for Liberty is doing everything they can to undermine our faith in public education and cause financial ruin for schools and districts,” she said.
When asked what differentials her from her opponent, Simpson pointed out she isn’t married to another GUSD trustee.
“The first reason I ask for support from voters is that having two board members that live together [Elias and Lindsi Haynes] does not seem appropriate,” she said. “Gateway’s Board of Trustees is small enough that if any other member contacts them, they have a quorum, which is a [B] rown Act] violation. They cannot discuss anything District related under these circumstances. I feel this is not a balanced board, and not a equitable representation of families in our district.”
Like Elias Haynes, Simpson supports the Measure J bond.
“I think everyone should have an interest in public schools,” Simpson said. “Whether or not you have kids they are the future of our country. We need scientists, doctors, and teachers, just to name a few. We also need business owners, mechanics, electricians and plumbers. Whatever the vocation a person goes into I want the person providing me service to have a good education.”
“I believe Gateway is headed in the right direction and I look forward to the opportunity to work with Gateway’s excellent educators, leadership, families, and the community to lead Gateway in continuing to be the best it can be,” Simpson says in her campaign statement.
“Our future lies with the children of today; an investment in a quality educational experience is an investment in a better future.”
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