South County Report: Leadership Shakeup In Chula Vista Schools

By Jim Hinch, the Voice of San Diego

February 20, 2025

In the space of just a few months, the leadership and possible future direction of the Chula Vista Elementary School District has undergone a major reorientation.

Following a contentious school board election in November and an equally drama-filled appointment process in January to fill two vacant board seats, the district, which serves more than 28,000 students, now has new leaders who may bring new ideas at odds with the previous board’s priorities.

I’ll be writing later this week about the strange sequence of events that led to the leadership turnover. For now, it’s enough to know that a board formerly dominated by staunch supporters of the district’s teacher’s union – which returned the favor by donating heavily at election time – now has two new members with little political track record and no known alliances with district interest groups.

The new board members are both parents of district students. Jessica Tolston was appointed to fill the remaining two years of board member Francisco Tamayo’s four-year term on seat 1. Tamayo vacated his seat after he defeated fellow board member Kate Bishop in an election contest for her spot in seat 4. (That’s right, Tamayo simultaneously served as a board member and ran for a second board seat, voting to appoint his own replacement on the first seat after he won.)

Tolston is a Coast Guard veteran, a member of the PTA at her son’s elementary school and currently works in what she described as a “law enforcement support” role for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In her written application to join the board, she stated her intent to “help refocus” the district on academic achievement and avoid “politics” in her decision-making. She also noted her church involvement, crediting a church she attends in Tijuana for helping her through the unexpected death of her husband, a Marine Corps veteran who recently died of cancer. Tolston said she is a registered Democrat.

Keren Ramirez Dominguez was appointed to fill the remaining two years of former board member Cesar Fernandez’s four-year term on seat 5. Fernandez left the board after winning a seat on the Chula Vista City Council in November. Dominguez, a Republican, ran against Fernandez in the 2022 race for seat 5, losing to him by 8,000 votes.

Dominguez is the parent of two students in district schools and works as a playground and lunchtime monitor for the district. In prepared remarks to board members shortly before her appointment, she cited as a major source of inspiration her membership in the local Chula Vista campus of Awaken Church, a San Diego-area evangelical megachurch known for its outspoken advocacy of conservative social and political views.

“Real success is when we serve God and can serve others,” Dominguez told board members. “I am the fruit of the local church.”

I reached out to both new board members via their district email addresses last week to ask for an interview. Dominguez did not respond. Tolston said she was “unavailable” for a phone interview and asked for a written list of questions. Here’s some of what Tolston had to say in her written responses:

She said she was “raised…in Chula Vista and Tijuana” and wanted to “give back to our community” after her son’s school supported her family following the death of her husband. “I would like for all students to have and know about these opportunities,” she said of the academic and social support her son received at school.

She also said she would support the district’s recently adopted Rigorous Learning for All five-year plan to address ongoing learning loss stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. She did not propose specific ideas to address a possible $15 million district deficit but said she would “engage with stakeholders to understand the district’s true priorities and needs” before making decisions.

Asked if she had any other goals, she said, “I want to make a positive impact on our students and be able to provide them with opportunities for them to discover their own individual talents.”

Of note: Before the recent musical chairs on the five-member board, Democrats held a 4-1 majority. The board now has two Republicans and three Democrats, with one of those Democrats, Tolston, stating her intent to make apolitical decisions.

The South Area Caucus of the San Diego County Democratic Party is scheduled to meet this evening to decide which candidate to endorse in the race to replace recently departed District 1 Supervisor Nora Vargas.

Odds for the endorsement currently seem to favor Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, who has rolled up endorsements from at least nine local Democratic clubs, along with numerous labor unions and local elected officials.

San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno also has a strong list of endorsements, including San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe, Assemblymember David Alvaraz, the Chula Vista Democratic Club and a big-spending union representing construction workers.

Endorsements from local Democratic Party caucuses are highly influential in determining who gets the crucial nod from the county party, which in turn can unlock major sources of campaign funding and sway voters at the ballot box. Democrats outnumber Republicans in District 1 by more than two to one.

Tenants forced to vacate an aging apartment building in Imperial Beach to make way for a major remodeling project plan to rally tonight and tomorrow in an effort to convince city leaders to strengthen a recently adopted tenant protection ordinance and help them remain in their homes.

Backed by the community organizing group ACCE, tenants at The Swell apartments on Imperial Beach Boulevard will hold a candlelight vigil tonight and a press conference at tomorrow’s City Council meeting.

The tenants say a tenant protection ordinance recently adopted by the city, which makes it harder for landlords to evict residents for remodeling projects, doesn’t go far enough because it doesn’t outlaw such so-called “no fault evictions” entirely.

City Council member Mitch McKay, whose district includes The Swell and a neighboring complex undergoing a similar remodeling project, said he respects tenants’ “right to peaceful protest” but didn’t expect the rallies would lead to stiffer protections.

“I just don’t think they’re realistic,” McKay said.

Voice of San Diego is a nonprofit news organization supported by our members. We reveal why things are the way they are and expose facts that people in power might not want out there and explain complex local public policy issues so you can be engaged and make good decisions. Sign up for our newsletters at voiceofsandiego.org/newsletters/.