Change Needed at Emeryville's Schools:
Elsie Joyce Lee For Emery School Board
Vetted by the People, Not the School Board
Opinion
By Tattler Editor Brian Donahue
The Tattler has long reported on the dysfunction at our little school district and this year it’s no different. Because we should not let dysfunctional government continue and because Emeryville’s schools are highly dysfunctional, we should vote for a new face with new ideas to break up the ossified insularity here. We should vote for Elsie Joyce Lee for Emery Board of Trustees (School Board) because she represents the change that’s needed.
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| Emery School Board Candidate Elsie Joyce Lee A new voice for EUSD, vetted by the people, not the School Board. |
There are two Board seats in contention. The incumbent running for re-election and the husband of the existing Board member Regina Chagolla, who’s also running, represent the status quo, the ‘no change team’. Challenging them is Ms Lee, the change agent.
My name, Brian Donahue, also appears on the ballot but I don’t want to be on the School Board. I don’t want to win. I only ran to force an election and give voters a chance to have a say in how their schools are governed. Because I don’t want to be on the School Board this year, I’m directing anyone that would vote for me to vote instead for Elsie Joyce Lee and only Elsie Joyce Lee, a classic ‘bullet vote’ strategy. This 'one vote only' strategy provides pro-change voters the best chance to get Ms Lee elected.
Because I entered the race and forced an election, my job is here is finished. Now it’s the job of the electorate to put a new face with new ideas on our School Board.
Emery Unified School District is academically the second worst school district in Alameda County (when controlled for the percentage of student English learners) and Emery gets the most funding, by far, over any other school district in the county. Emery is funded at almost $28,000 per student per year. The second highest funded district in Alameda County is Piedmont Unified at about $18,000 per student.
Low scores and high funding: that’s a unique level of dysfunction that highlights Emery's unique level of mismanagement.
Shockingly, the existing School Board members are defending the dysfunction, stating inexplicably, that we need to “keep Emery on track” . They excitedly point to the fact that two years ago, Emery was the school district with the worst academic results of all 15 districts in Alameda County but now we’ve moved up to second worst, and that’s somehow worth rewarding them with your vote. What they're not saying is at this rate of improvement, Emery will finally be a good school district in half a century hence.
We Emeryville residents are very generous to the schools. Our school parcel tax rate is legendary among districts around the Bay Area. Other districts are jealous of the money Emeryville property owners lavish on their schools. But while it's imperative for voters to adequately fund public schools in the community as we have done, we can't then just walk away. We can't just continue to throw money at the school district and expect our job to be done. We also need to hire good stewards for all the money we're investing. The existing Board is remiss in their duty to the taxpayers, yes. But more importantly, they are failing the students at Emery. We need a change here in this locus of dysfunction. Candidate Elsie Lee provides a chance for such a change.
Ms Lee was not informed about this opinion piece before posting.
Please see Ms Lee's impressive performance at the League of Woman Voters Candidate's Forum: School Board Forum HERE
https://youtu.be/Zs7RTtnwhFA?si=CcEKXHqj--czjX34
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| Emery's test score results are the second worst among Alameda County school districts (when controlled for percentage of English learners). Source: California Department of Education |
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| Low test scores and high funding means Emery is poorly managed. The children suffer when the schools are so terribly managed. Even though Emery is by far the highest funded school district in the county, they spend the smallest percentage on instruction (19% of budget). Most of the money goes to corporate educational consultants. Source: California Department of Education |
This school district can’t ever get it together. Always vote against the incumbents
ReplyDeleteExcept usually you don’t get a chance to vote at all.
DeleteI'm gonna name my heavy metal band Locus Of Dysfunction
ReplyDeleteWhat specifically about Elsie’s positions merit your endorsement for school board?
ReplyDeleteShe has never hidden or obscured bad but truthful information about the schools from the public. She has never underpaid a teacher. She has never hired a corporate educational consultant. She has never hired too many administrators. She has never put children in harm’s way by refusing to provide a safe campus. She has never violated the Brown Act. She has never failed California’s Mandated Reporter law. She has never said the worst performing school district in Alameda County should be called out to “keep on track”. She has never cherry picked information to make the public think she has done a good job. She has never stood by an administrator who stopped a legal citizen commenter at a public meeting. She has never stopped a grassroots citizen action to name a school facility after the teacher the district fired for being transgender. She has never lied to the public.
DeleteBecause she is most likely a normal person and because she would enter the job without owing anybody any favors, she is unlikely to become part of this culture that promotes board members doing these things this school board does that contributes to keeping this school district so dysfunctional.
What will she do about the doors?
ReplyDeleteBy ‘doors’, I presume you mean the security gate that keeps getting propped open at the school campus that the Tattler recently reported on. In that case, because she’s most likely a normal person and because normal people would want to keep the children safe and because if elected, Elsie would not owe anybody at the school district anything, I would assume she would work to try to solve the security gate problem.
DeleteI hope she is ready to stand up against the facade of caring. Our kids are sitting ducks in that place. Along with their teachers. The school board and admin just want to make it all look and sound great.
ReplyDeleteI am a parent in this district so I am most definitely ready to stand up and fight for what’s right when it comes to our children. I also believe our children are the future and we need our amazing teachers to provide them with the tools to become the next generation of leaders, doctors, lawyers, and amazing law abiding citizens. Just as your child is a sitting duck so is mine so trust and believe I will do everything within my power to always make sure they are safe and well taken care of. I don’t believe we should spend less money to educate our children than we do to incarcerate them. The change you want to see within our district I am sure is the very change that I want to see which is my reason for wanting to run.
DeleteThank you ! I moved to emeryville last year and this school is very dysfunctional and seem shocked when a child of color has two loving caring parents. The supervision is terrible and there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY for the staff. It seems like the students are held at a higher standard than the administrators. I thought the school was great but I’m on my second year and it’s getting worse and worse with the dysfunction…
ReplyDelete