I had an exchange with the contributor from The Acorn Newspaper who did the hit piece on me.  Stephanie Bertholdo claims "The article was completely fair, not negative, was not a commentary (opinion piece) and 100% based on your answers. I included as much information that you provided and that space allowed."  While some of this is true, there were mentions of other items in her hit piece which were not part of the interview, therefore some of her answers came from independent research.

Here are the character and word counts for the articles written by The Acorn.

Josh Alpert: 1825 characters/288 words

Dallas Lawrence: 2218 characters /393 words

Angela Cutbill: 2207 characters /361 words

Lesli Stein: 1990 characters /317 words

I took the opportunity to write a neutral article about myself while staying within the same range of characters and words that the Acorn Newspaper contributor did.

Acorns Article on me:  1825 characters/288 words

My Article on me:  1737 characters/261 words

• Small business owner Josh Alpert's campaign is based on several pressing issues, including school safety, mental health services, financial responsibility, accountability & transparency."  Alpert, a self-proclaimed school safety advocate, is very passionate about protecting students from the threat of school shooters and has floated the idea of arming willing and capable teachers as the first line of defense because "our children are sitting ducks." Through social media, Alpert has been actively raising awareness in the district regarding the dangers of Fentanyl exposure and consumption and is thrilled that LVUSD retained a security firm to deal with the drug problems on campus. Alpert would like to see LVUSD hire more mental health counselors to better cope with mental health crises because "kids are going to die."  Alpert believes LVUSD schools are "excellent" regarding teachers, academics, and programs. Still, Alpert thinks that the 94% graduation rate constitutes a wider variety of vocational programs to prevent the 6% of high school students who do not graduate from "slipping through the cracks." Alpert has been hyper-critical of the district for financial mismanagement and stated, "the district has millions of dollars per year in net operating losses. As a businessman, I am concerned that the district is on an unsustainable path to insolvency. The budget in the future is dire, considering the pension obligations plus declining enrollment. The school board is not doing enough to hold the district accountable; I can change that." Alpert also feels the School Board Members lack transparency when addressing the community's concerns. For more on Alpert's platform, please visit www.facebook.com/Alpert4LVUSD.