School Board President Makes Bid For City Council Seat

Wednesday, August 03, 2005 | Saying he has “this public servant mentality,” Luis Acle, president of San Diego Unified School District’s Board of Education, decided yesterday to run for San Diego City Council to replace Ralph Inzunza from District 8, who resigned July 18 after being found guilty of criminal charges.

Just elected to the school board last November, Acle said he is not abandoning the school district by choosing to seek another public office only eight months into his four-year-term, but rather is volunteering to serve in city government in a time of need.

“I’m giving my voters choices,” Acle said. “Do you want me here, or do you want me there?”

Acle said the school district is now in good shape and his services may be needed more at the city. “We had a major fire, and we put out the fire,” he said, referring to what he called a highly polarized school board prior to the November elections which brought in three new trustees. “Before, we were very much divided as a staff, and we needed to bridge the gap.”

Acle said the school board is back on track, with harmony restored and a new superintendent, Carl Cohn of Long Beach, chosen. He said Cohn’s request to include a clause in his contract that the board not micro-manage the day-to-day operations of the district was justified and proper.

“We have an excellent superintendent taking over, one who had the wisdom to put us in our place,” Acle said, calling the board’s unanimous decision to select Cohn a “major achievement.”

The city, however, is only “running on five cylinders, there isn’t representation for citizens, and there isn’t the respect of the electorate,” Acle said. “Now we have a bigger fire, which is just as important to our children and the community.”

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