New Emery School District Test Scores Plummet

 Emery School District Slides Precipitously

Department of Education Shows Emery on Bottom Academically

School Board Election Claims Shown to be False

Board Member Brynnda Collins
She got the endorsement of the
Alameda County Democratic Party
and she told voters to "Keep Emery
on track".

The California Department of Education has released new test score data that tracks an academically plummeting Emery Unified School District, getting worse over last year’s results which already had Emery in the basement.  The plunging test scores reveal Emery to be once again, in last place among all Alameda County school districts, a position the district has inhabited for several years running.  

The district fell from 23% proficiency in math last year to a new low of 14% proficiency, a dreadful nine point slide; making Emery the worst performing district in the county.  English proficiency wasn’t much better.  That plunge from 37% to 34% proficiency, makes Emery now second only to San Lorenzo Unified School District, a district with a much lower number of students with English as their primary language.  When that is factored, Emery performs lower than San Lorenzo in English (as well as math).

The test results show while Emery is taking up last place outright in math and very nearly in last place in English proficiency, the rate of ‘English learners’ at Emery (22%) is much lower than at the second and third worst placing districts, Hayward and San Lorenzo.  Those two districts show a rate of 28% and 30% of students classified as English learners.  Emery is shown to have a ‘Hispanic’ student population of 24% while Hayward and San Lorenzo have 64% and 28% Hispanic population.  Both those two districts show Hispanics as the primary student demographic. 

Board President
Susan Donaldson
During the election campaign
she told voters the district's test score
data was "misinformation being
shared by someone running for
School Board". 
Now what does she say?

When the two primary test scores in math and English, tracked by the State are numerically combined, Emery registers at 48 while Hayward and San Lorenzo total 53 and 62 respectively, making Emery the worst performing school district in Alameda County (even before factoring in the English learners handicap).

Emery is also unique among East Bay school districts with its high administration cost.  Emery has the highest ratio of administration to students of any district in the East Bay.  The data reveals that even though Emery spends by far the most money per student, they spend only 19% on actual instruction, the lowest amount of the money taken in of any district in the East Bay.  The lion’s share of revenue at Emery goes to administration salaries and election consultants.

The disheartening new data from the Department of Education comes after a November School Board election that featured three incumbents gushing over how good they are at their jobs and how the voters must not risk putting in a new person with different ideas about how to run the district.  School Board President Susan Donaldson told voters in October the three incumbents were doing a “great job” and that Emery is a “top rated” school district, never mind the actual data from the State.  Board member Brynnda Collins warned voters not to listen to anybody who brings up test data but instead insisted we must keep Emery “on track”. 

School Board member Regina Chagolla
She insisted voters re-elect her and the 
other incumbents because new ideas 
must not be allowed to take hold at Emery.

The Tattler editor Brian Donahue, who ran a low cost insurgent campaign for the Board countering the three incumbents, told the voters the top down, administration heavy Emery should try a new path by putting teachers in a higher position and paying them more.  It was a stance the three incumbents strongly refuted, stating the teachers were happy with what they have at Emery.  Mr Donahue ran on the three incumbent’s records, reminding voters of the low test scores putting Emery in last place, a charge the three refuted.  Hiding the fact that Emery’s English language learner rate is much lower than San Lorenzo and Hayward, President Donaldson made a case that Emery is only the third worst district in Alameda County and that is part of what makes Emery “great”.  

Notably, the three incumbents refused to answer the Tattler election questionnaire for voters last October, a first in Emeryville electoral politics, and none of the three would comment on the new State of California Department of Education data for this story.

Straight From The State
These numbers are as critical for Emeryville residents to know as they are 
 inconvenient for the three incumbents.

Breaking News: Election Results

 With two of two precincts reporting, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters released results from the City Council election and the Emery School Board election.  Kalimah Priforce and David Mourra will be elected to the City Council and the three incumbents, Regina Chagolla, Susan Donaldson and Brynnda Collins won re-election to the School Board.

Kalimah Priforce	503	25.09%
David Mourra	419	20.90%
Sukhdeep Kaur	402	20.05%
Brooke Westling	379	18.90%
Eugene Tssui	302	15.06%

Regina Chagolla	769	31.34%
Susan Donaldson	659	26.85%
Brynnda R. Collins	624	25.43%
Brian Donahue	402	16.38%

Should School Board Members Run For Re-Election? They Should Resign in Shame

 The Worst Academic Record in the East Bay: 

The Emery School Board Members Should Not Be Running For Re-Election

Instead, They Should Do What Failed Leaders Do In Japan: 

恥ずかしながら辞職 

Opinion

Perennial Emery School Board member Brynnda Collins spoke for the whole board at the recent League of Woman Voters candidate’s forum when, on camera, she told the attendees that Emery school district must "stay on track".  That’s a cliché line commonly used when a politician wants to run on their record.  But Ms Collins and her slate mates, Susan Donaldson and Regina Chagolla, the three Emery school board members who are running for re-election, really don't want to run on their records – so Ms Collins’ line was only meant to obscure.  In truth, they don’t want us to know their record.  Because the more Emeryville voters find out about the record of the existing school board, the more they want Emery to get off that track.

On their watch, Emery Unified School District hasn’t budged from last place academically among Alameda County school districts.  The current culture of failure began six years ago when Emery slid to the bottom.  And there it has remained ever since.  But it’s not for a lack of spending.  Emeryville taxpayers fund their school district at the highest rate of any school district in the entire East Bay.  We pay more than $27,000 per student per year for them to run our school district.  The next highest spending comes from Berkeley Unified where they spend about $18,000 per student (California average is about $14,000).  But Berkeley gets excellent academic results for the money they pay.  We spend the most and get the worst results.  Our students score 23% proficiency in math and 37% in English, the worst scores in Alameda County.  And so these three incumbent school board members are out talking to voters about anything other than their record.

Where does all the money go at Emery?  How could they spend so much and get such bad results?  The answer is administrators and consultants.  Emery has the highest ratio of administrators to students in Alameda County.  But more distressing is the squandering of public funds going to educational consultants over the last six years on the school board's watch. 

Emery spends millions of dollars on educational consultants. The numbers tell the tale: whereas California school districts spend on average 52% of their budget on instruction, Emery spends only 19%.  Other school districts spend on average 12% of their budget on 'other spending' which includes educational consultants where Emery spends 67%.  That’s an awfully high percentage of the budget to be spent on something that's clearly not helping.

Meanwhile, teachers at Emery are paid so poorly they can’t afford to live here.  Paying teachers more could help Emery attract the best and the brightest to our little district.  If we stopped spending so much on consultants (and administration) we could pay the teachers more.  Teachers know how to educate children in the real world, educational consultants don't.  Teachers are the ones in the trenches, doing the real work. To empower teachers is to upset the dysfunctional 'top down' culture at Emery.

Now these three incumbents at Emery school board want us to vote for their re-election.  They're asking us to vote for dysfunction.  They're asking us to vote to keep Emeryville schools on the bottom, the worst in Alameda County.

The Japanese have an expression commonly used by CEOs of large corporations when they fail to manage the corporation and bring shame upon themselves, it’s called Hazukashinagara jishoku or 恥ずかしながら辞職 , meaning to shamefully resign.  That’s what should be happening at Emery instead of them running for re-election.  

Alas, this is part of the current trend in America; failed leaders doubling down and gaslighting the public.  In Japan, a place where public shame still exists, failed leaders announce for the good of the organization they will 恥ずかしながら辞職 as they step down in humility.  Here, they tell us to keep them on track.

A valuable site to verify how Emery is failing the children may be viewed HERE.  Make sure to scroll all the way down to 'Academic Summary' and 'District Finances'.

This is how they do it in Japan
Executives at a Dentsu Corporation press conference resign in shame
over a worker 'karoshi' scandal or death from over work.
In America, failed leaders double down.

Election 2022: School Board Candidate's Statements

As voters prepare for November 8th when they will decide who runs the school district in Emeryville, the Tattler is providing a space for the candidates seeking a term on the school board to tell the voters who they are and what ideas they have for our schools.  

Since the Tattler's editor, Brian Donahue is one of the four candidates, we have laid down ground rules applicable to all.  Each candidate's statement is to be no longer than 300 words and each statement was due October 8th.  To ensure the editor didn't have an unfair advantage by seeing what the others had written, he agreed to write his statement first and photo time stamp the statement so the three other candidates can be assured there is no advantage.

Despite this opportunity to educate voters and despite the safe guards to ensure fairness, the three incumbents, board members Regina Chagolla, vice president Brynnda Collins and president Susan Donaldson (all running as a slate), have all declined to provide candidate's statements for the benefit of the voters.  

Emery School Board Candidate Brian Donahue's Candidate Statement:

I'm Brian Donahue and I’m running for Emery School Board, the only candidate with a child enrolled at Emery.  I’ve lived here for over 40 years.  

Emery is failing.  We spend more money per pupil than any district in the East Bay but we have the worst academic performance.  

Spending the most money while delivering the worst outcome should not be rewarded with your vote.

With the three incumbents in charge over the last years, Emery schools have been driven to the bottom among all the districts in the East Bay academically. 

Eight years ago, Emeryville's school district was ranked 12th among Alameda County’s 16 school districts.  Now, Emery is ranked last. 

Emeryville voters have repeatedly approved property tax increases to provide the school district with more funding.  Emery’s revenue per student is the highest in the East Bay, by far.  The school district budget per student is $27,613 -- far more than any other district.

Just 23% percent of our students are proficient in math. In reading, 37%.  In Berkeley, where they spend $9,478 per student LESS than Emery, the figures are 62% and 68%, respectively. 

How can this be?  Emeryville's school district has used the new tax money to spend millions of dollars on consultants and administrators, at the same time providing its teachers with paltry salary increases. 

On November 8th, Emeryville voters will select three new school board members.  Seated on the board as a new voice, I will see to it the era of failure and reckless spending on consultants and lack of accountability ends at Emery Unified School District.  

If elected,

1.  I will curtail the out-of-control spending on administrators and consultants. 

2.  I will increase teacher retention through salary increases.

3.  I will shame large corporations like Disney/Pixar to fulfill their promises of financial support for the schools. 

Emery School Board Candidate Regina Chagolla's  Candidate Statement:

Declined to participate

Emery School Board Candidate Brynnda Collins'  Candidate Statement:

Declined to participate

 Emery School Board Candidate Susan Donaldson's Candidate Statement

Declined to participate

Emeryville Will Have a School Board Election

 No School Board Appointments This Year, Emeryville Voters Get to Decide

Emeryville residents will get a chance to vote in a school board election in November after Brian Donahue, Tattler editor and parent of a child enrolled at Emery, entered the race.  The other three, incumbents all, are Susan Donaldson, Brynnda Collins, and Regina Chagolla.  

The entry of Mr Donahue appears to have upset School Board plans to forgo an election and instead simply appoint (two) new members as they have done in the past.

The District has struggled to find people willing to run for school board and they have commonly relied on appointing new members instead of holding elections.  This go around too, Emery Unified was ready to forgo the election.  Ms Donaldson and Ms Collins had both expressed they did not want to run for re-election, enabling the whole Board to appoint their replacements.    

Mr Donahue, the only candidate with a child enrolled at Emery, registered to run for election just two days before the Alameda County Registrar of Voters deadline, forcing Ms Donaldson and Ms Collins to scramble to pull papers in time for their names to appear on the ballot.  Ms Collins got her name in just  minutes before the 5:00 pm shut off according to a Registrar employee.

The smallest school district in the East Bay, Emery Unified has about 700 students enrolled in an elementary, middle and high school all located at the Emeryville Center of Community Life.

With new ideas from one new voice against a unified incumbency, the election is set up to be a referendum on this School Board’s record.  How good of a job have the incumbents done?  Is Emery thriving?  Look to the Tattler for answers to those questions and for full campaign coverage including interviews of candidates in the coming weeks.

City/School District Fails on Acknowledgment of Wrongdoing Against Transgender Teacher

 What To Do About Steve Dain?

Emeryville Settles on Inaction 

Opinion/News Analysis

Hey Emeryville!  November 20th was national Transgender Day of Remembrance.  A day that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.  What did you do to observe it?

The answer is nothing.  Nothing was done by our government in our name to observe the date or even to set its own terrible record right with regard to the mistreatment of transgender people.  Regardless that in 1976, Emeryville fired a transgender teacher for who he was and with lots of recent talk about that not representing who we are emanating from our government, nothing is being done.

Still 47th Street
The City of Emeryville said this sign would 
read 'Steve Dain Drive' by this time.

The just passed national Transgender Day of Remembrance November 20th, followed Transgender Awareness Week November 13th through the 19th; an auspicious time for a ribbon cutting ceremony if there ever was one to reassert our Emeryville values.  But that was not enough to get Mayor Christian Patz to follow through with his pledge to re-name 47th Street Steve Dain Drive.  Mr Patz, who’s mayoralty ends on December 1st, took up the charge for the City, promising the name change after Emery School District failed to acknowledge the wrongdoing of the firing of Mr Dain.

Call it just another failure to honor Steve Dain, who was humiliated by the government here in Emeryville, for being transgender.  That humiliation goes on today following his 2007 passing.  With neither government agency able to do the right thing by Mr Dain and therefore all transgender people, the humiliation is on us, the people of Emeryville.  Indeed, WE fired Mr Dain for who he was and WE refuse to apologize here and now for that act of public cowardice. 

Transgender Flag Flying
at Emeryville City Hall
As far as Emeryville is 
ready to go at this point.

Surprisingly, Mayor Patz claims that 47th Street is already named Steve Dain Drive (it is not).  He says he has done it and he was given an award for it in September.  At the 8th annual East Bay Stonewall Pride Awards ceremony on September 13th, Mr Patz, accepting the award, told the group,  "I worked with the School Board to honor Mr. Dain, but just as in the 70s, there are too many bigots in public office.  Thankfully, I work with an amazing City Council and together, we were able to rename the street in front of the school Steve Dain Drive."

It's all talk now in Emeryville.  Two elected officials, Christian Patz of the City Council and Susan Donaldson of the School District, rode in to set Emeryville right but both dropped the ball.  Mr Patz let his mayoralty run out and Board member Donaldson wrote a public letter, posted in the Tattler in May, stating that the Board would finally and officially apologize for the firing of Mr Dain.  But without any interest among her School Board colleagues, Ms Donaldson has also quietly dropped the issue.

The electeds in Emeryville (at least two of them) have a message for you Steve Dain: The people of the City of Emeryville didn’t care about you when you were alive and we sure don’t care about you now.  And with that, it seems it's time for Emeryville to move on.  With this unpleasant issue forgotten, it’s back to brunch in Emeryville apparently.

School Board Member Proposes Official District Apology for Steve Dain Firing

School Board Member Donaldson: District Needs To Apologize for "Unjust Firing"

1976 Termination of 'Teacher of the Year' Still Isn't Resolved 

at Emery

A week of rapidly moving events at the Emery Unified School District including bad press from the Bay Area's LGBTQ community have culminated in a board member announcing she will propose the district draft an official apology for the 1976 firing of an Emery teacher who after gender confirmation surgery, transitioned to a man, ending in his termination for what the district called at the time, “immoral conduct”.  School board member Susan Donaldson said she will propose to her colleagues at the beleaguered district they write an official letter of apology to acknowledge the wrong done by the district against its former employee, Steve Dain in his “unjust firing”.

Emery School Board Member
Susan Donaldson

The announcement comes after the Emeryville City Council last week pledged to rename the street fronting the high school where he taught, Steve Dain Drive’.  The City was moved to action a year after the School Board failed to act on promises to honor Mr Dain in some other capacity following a board vote against naming the school gymnasium after Mr Dain.
Mr Dain died in 2007.

Current board president Brynnda Collins drew the ire of the LGBTQ community and the news outlet, the Bay Area Reporter during the naming debate last year after she reprimanded her colleague, then board president Barbara Inch for proposing the district honor Mr Dain with the gym name at all, calling it abjectly “political”.  She proceeded to call down Mr Dain, telling her colleagues that instead they should name the gym after “a pillar of the community”.  It was a comment that City Council member Patz called “transphobia”.
Ms Collins refused to elaborate or clarify her ‘political’ charge for purposes of this story.

The idea for honoring Mr Dain initially came some six years ago from then board member Christian Patz who learned of the fired teacher that earned ‘teacher of the year’ commendation from the district the year before they fired him.  Mr Patz proposed naming the newly rebuilt gym after Mr Dain who had been a PE teacher at Emery.  The concept did not go over well with his colleagues who subsiquently deep sixed the idea.  It wasn’t until later, after Mr Patz was elected to the Emeryville City Council and his spouse, Barbara Inch was elected to the School Board, the idea was brought up again.  The board however still resisted the idea of naming the gym by fiat with a simple up or down vote as they could have.  Instead the board members voted to consider other people to name the gym after and then do ranked choice voting.  That vote allowed three choices and Steve Dain lost to a former coach at the high school, Elio Abrami.

Board President Brynnda Collins
Naming the school gym after
the former gym teacher
Steve Dain is "political".

Steve Dain came in second place in a field of 12 choices.

Board member Brynnda Collins voted for Mr Dain as her third choice while member Cruz Vargas didn’t vote for Mr Dain at all, offering instead a vote for Steph Curry, a person who has no association with Emery Unified School District.
Mr Vargas refused to return calls from the Tattler.

President Collins, aware of a public relations kerfuffle stemming from last year’s rejection of Mr Dain followed by last week’s City Council street renaming, has been contacting local leaders (and the Tattler) to let them know she is happy the City is renaming 47th Street Steve Dain Drive.  However, she refused to comment to the Tattler whether the District would go ahead with their promise to honor Mr Dain in some other way as they promised they would last year.

Here is a portion of the text of Board Member Donaldson’s letter proposing an official apology from the district:

I will be proposing to the school board that we issue an official letter of apology to Steve Dain’s family regarding his unjust firing in 1976.  I am in support of the city naming a street after him and am so happy to see that honor, but I would like the school board to officially apologize for the action it took many years ago.  As a board, we have updated our policies to reflect that we will provide a "Safe, Nondiscriminatory School Environment for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming” students and staff.  Now we must be the change that we ask our students to be by acknowledging this wrong from our past and apologizing for it.  There is more work to do, but an apology is a start.

Susan Donaldson
Member, Emery Unified School District Board of Trustees

Elio Abrami Gym Name: Not Political (presumably)
However, the newly named Elio Abrami Gymnasium
will have a Steve Dain Drive address.

Breaking News: Council to Name 47th Street 'Steve Dain Drive'

Council Moves to Honor Former Emery Teacher After School District Twice Fails

Breaking (City Hall):
Tonight the City Council moved to change the name of a portion of a street in town after an Emeryville PE teacher that was fired by the Emery Unified School District for “immoral conduct” in 1976 after he had gender confirmation surgery, transitioning to a man.  The unanimous vote  to rename 47th Street between San Pablo Avenue and Doyle Street ‘Steve Dain Drive’, came after the Emery School Board failed to name the school gymnasium honoring Mr Dain last summer following a tumultuous public debate there.  The vote tonight directs the staff to bring the issue back to the Council for the final OK at a future meeting that hasn’t been announced.  Emery High School and the gymnasium are located on 47th Street, a piece of infrastructure owned by the City of Emeryville.

Council member John Bauters was the most animated among his colleagues during tonight’s discussion, stating he found the School Board had “reached a new level of disappointment” and that he was “very unhappy” over their refusal to make amends for the unpropitious firing of the Emery teacher, “terminated for who they were” Mr Bauters said.  However the lone School Board supporter of the naming of the gym to honor Mr Dain last year, Board member Susan Donaldson, expressed support for the renaming of the street in a phoned in comment to the Council tonight.  “I was on the losing side” Board member Donaldson told the Council recalling last year’s School Board retrenchment on the Steve Dain issue, but she praised the Council’s vote to “right this wrong” done by the district to the former Emery teacher.

Former Emery Teacher of the Year Steve Dain
His courage will finally be remembered for all
time with the naming of our street in his honor.

The short section of 47th Street to be renamed has the AC Transit’s bus yard facility and the Emery gym and high school on it, fittingly the same address where Mr Dain was a teacher for ten years.  Notably, during his time at Emery, Mr Dain was elected teacher of the year before he was terminated by the district.  He died in 2007 at the age of 68.
There are no residents or businesses located on the portion of the street to be renamed.

After the school district balked on naming the gymnasium after Steve Dain last year, Board members announced they would seek to honor him in some other unspecified way but they failed to do that, a fact noted by Council member Bauters tonight.  Councilwoman Dianne Martinez raised the issue of Emeryville’s legacy with the renaming of the street, recalling that Steve Dain is “an important part of our history.”
But it was Mayor Christian Patz that seemed to best capture the mood of the Council, “you should be allowed to be who you are” he said as he cast his YES vote.

The City Council will make the vote official at a subsequent meeting followed by a street sign replacement, probably this summer.

City Council Moves to Overturn Family Housing Rules

Council Says Family Housing Rules From 2015  Are Too Onerous

Big Developers to be Helped With Regulatory Rollback

The City Council voted Tuesday night to move forward with a plan to roll back existing family housing regulations for large developments in Emeryville citing claims that developers can't make their projects "pencil out" if they are required to provide such housing in their unit mix.  While the Council made no secret the rollback is primarily meant to benefit the developer of the 58 story Onni project proposed for Christie Avenue, they expressed hopes their proposed deregulation for big developers could spur a flurry of tower building similar to Onni for Emeryville.

Ignoring the pleas of three attending School Board members hoping to safeguard the family housing 'unit mix' rules enacted in 2015, the Council also voted to move to rollback regulatory impediments that dictate how close towers can be to each other, Emeryville's so called 'tower separation' rules meant to stop the manhattanization of our town.  The case was made that the tower separation rules and the unit mix rules were stifling skyscraper tower construction and that the City had blundered in 2015 when they mistakenly enacted the regulations.
Councilman John Bauters lead the charge against the family housing unit mix rules stating that high rise towers are more expensive to build than low rise buildings and that makes the rules too onerous for the developers of those buildings.
Emeryville's unit mix rules for family housing for small developers will remain unchanged by the proposed rollback.

Two Proposed Apartment Buildings
Two Tier Law
The one on the right must provide family
units, while the one on the left gets a pass.

Mr Bauters told the assembled crowd Tuesday the City did not develop the two tier law it now proposes back in 2015 when the regulations were crafted because no one at the City at the time was aware how much more expensive buildings over 100 feet tall are to build and that large developers need the extra help.  Besides, he said, reducing the requirements for large projects like the 700 foot tall Onni tower to supply three bedroom units would result in more families moving to Emeryville.  Board President Barbara Inch dissented, stating "Three bedroom units may not benefit the developers but they do benefit the community."  Her colleague, Board member Susan Collins said the existing unit mix rules should stand and deregulating as the Council proposes will hurt the community, Emery schools and the City's investment in the ECCL, "The community has signed on to the Emeryville Center of Community Life" she said.

With the exception of Councilman Christian Patz who argued to save the existing unit mix regulations stating "If we want families in town we have to do it", the City Council was united and undeterred by his and the School Board member's pleas when they moved to bring on the regulation rollback after another study session planned for the near future.  The biggest fan of regulation rollback on Tuesday however, Councilwoman Dianne Martinez, was clearly agitated over the vote to hold one more study session on the subject.  Warning her fellow Council members that the Onni tower developer needs their help now, Ms Martinez was definitive, "No more study sessions should delay this" she said.

Alameda County Certifies November Election: RULE Sweep

Election Certified:

RULE Wins Emery Unified School District Board Majority

Councilwoman Martinez Takes Historic 49% of vote

Alameda County Registrar of Voters certified the results of the November 6th elections today, officially confirming the majority takeover of the Emery School Board by the Emeryville resident advocacy group Residents United for a Livable Emeryville.  The election of RULE School Board candidates Brynnda Collins, Sarah Nguyen and Susan Donaldson on November 6th makes RULE endorsed Board members now a majority.  On the City Council front, RULE candidate and incumbent Dianne Martinez sailed to victory with 49% of the total vote; the largest in modern Emeryville history with 3182 votes, representing the largest number of votes ever garnered by a candidate for elective office in Emeryville history.

The historic election cements RULE's power in Emeryville with a popular total RULE backed City Council and now a new super majority RULE backed power base at the School District.  In 2016, RULE crushed the election with the sweep of it's candidates John Bauters, Ally Medina and Christian Patz, shutting down the anti-RULE business backed contenders and turned the previous simple majority into a five for five 'RULE bloc' totality on the Council.  This November's election RULE sweep notably makes the seat of existing School Board member Cruz Vargas the last lonely holdout for the anti-RULE minority in all of Emeryville.

Equally unparalleled in Emeryville history is the fact that RULE has never missed even one call.  Every single candidate or ballot initiative measure (like last June's Measure C the affordable housing bond) RULE has endorsed has passed; a remarkable perfect record dating back to RULE's inception and the election of Councilwoman Jennifer West in 2009 who handily beat her contenders (anybody remember Frank Flores for City Council?). Anyone considering running in two years for the seat now occupied by School Board member Cruz Vargas might want to take to heart the last ten years in Emeryville election history.

NOTE TO READERS:  This story originally contained an inaccuracy and the Tattler issued a retraction on December 8th.  The retraction can be viewed HERE. 

Asterisks represent RULE candidates
as well as election winners

Sarah Nguyen, Brynnda Collins, Susan Donaldson Win School Board Race

School Board Election Breaks for 

RULE Candidates

RULE Backed Incumbent Council Members
Dianne Martinez & Scott Donahue Also Win

With all five precincts reporting tonight but the election results not final, the hotly contested Emery School Board race appears to have swung for two change agent candidates Sarah Nguyen and Susan Donaldson with 1149 and 781 votes respectively or 29% and 19% of the total vote.  Incumbent Brynnda Collins who also can claim victory,  garnered 1123 votes or 28%.  Losers Katy Brown and Ken Bukowski are taking up the rear at 654 and 225 votes representing 16% and 5% respectively.  The three winners are all endorsed by the resident activist group Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE) as well as the Democratic Party of Alameda County.

The City Council race is breaking as expected tonight with RULE backed incumbents Dianne Martinez and Scott Donahue winning with 1471 and 1191 votes reflecting 49% and 39%.  Ken Bukowski came in at 319 votes or 10 %.

Election 2018: Emery School Board Candidate Susan Donaldson

School Board Election 2018

Candidate Questionnaire

The Tattler presents the 2018 Candidates Questionnaire; School Board edition.  Five candidates are running for three seats, making this a very consequential election that will constitute a majority on the five member Board.  The order of presentation for this series was chosen randomly.  Only one candidate's answers will be posted on a given day but regular Tattler stories might be interspersed in the sequence of candidates and there might be more than a day between candidate postings.
Readers may use the search bar to see the candidate's answers as they are posted by typing in 'School Board 2018 Candidates Questionnaire' or the candidate's name; Katy Brown, Ken Bukowski, Brynnda Collins, Susan Donaldson or Sarah Nguyen.
We thank all the candidates offering their services to the benefit of our school district, the parents and children.

The election is on November 6th.

web: facebook.com/susan4emeryschoolboard
email: susan4emeryschoolboard@gmail.com

Susan Donaldson
Mother/Business Owner

Name the top three problems with EUSD right now and what are your suggestions for how to deal with them?

Lack of stability - Unstable conditions that have lead to a cascade of problems: Low teacher morale, poor student achievement, poor community engagement, declining site maintenance to name a few.   The new leadership feels like it has made huge strides in stabilizing the district and hopefully a new board will be another step in the right direction. 

Lack of resources - We need to grow, sustain and align our resources to support the needs of our students.  Our schools need more money and Emeryville is a community rich with resources.  The board should absolutely advocate for, support and execute on fundraising for the our district.  There is nothing but opportunity for strengthening the relationships with donors and particularly businesses in our community and I think the board should take the lead on this.

Transparency, Engagement, Focus - What are we doing, where are we trying to go, how are we going to get there?  There has been so much confusion over the last few years and everyone involved in the district feels it.  Families leave the school, teachers leave, neighbors are confused about how the “Center for Community Life” serves them.  We all want clarity and to feel like we can finally move forward together toward a common goal.

How do we know if a school superintendent is doing a good job?  Is there any way to measure it?  Are there objective components?

I believe we will know if the superintendent is doing a good job by subjective and objective measures.  Teacher retention, test scores, growing enrollment - these objective measures are indicative of a superintendent that has created an atmosphere for success. Subjectively I think we will see a positive reflection in the community as well - from parent engagement to student and staff morale.  

Would you be willing to consider examining the idea of melding EUSD with Berkeley Unified if they would be amenable to that?  Why or why not.

I am always willing to consider an idea however it is my understanding is that this particular idea has been considered and rejected by Berkeley Unified and the community at large.  

EUSD has had the worst teacher retention record of any district in the Bay Area for at least four straight years.  Former superintendent Rubio said that was a feature of his tenure, not a bug….a sign he was doing his job.  Do you agree that was needed and if so, was Superintendent Rubio the right person for the job?

I do not think Rubio was the right Superintendent for us.  My impression is that strong teachers left and also that there has been an atmosphere of distrust and contention.  

Are you aware of EUSD’s academic ranking among Bay Area districts?  Has it been trending up or down? 

According to the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, we have more lower performing students than the rest of the county.  We are consistently ranked lower than other students in the County and State and our performance has trended slightly down from 2016.    

Between parents, teachers or the administration (Superintendent, managers); who should play the leading role in general at EUSD and specifically in the formation of policy?  

The administration plays the leading role in the formation of policy: As leaders, they must be advocates for their stakeholders, and hear the ideas and concerns of the parents and teachers. The administration and staff work together to implement the policy day to day.  

When was the last time you voted?  How would you describe your political views? 

In the 2016 elections (my ballot wasn't counted in the primary this year due to a mail-in error).  I describe my political views as progressive.  

How do you feel about School Resource Officers at ECCL? 

I am not in support of SROs at ECCL.  I agree with Mayor John Bauters that in the United States, we have a problem putting children of color in a pipeline from school to prison and that SROs contribute to this problem.  

Have you ever attended a school board meeting in Emeryville? PTO meeting?  Met with district administration?  What involvement have you had with the school?  How familiar are you with its management?

I have been a very involved parent since my daughter began school in Kindergarten at Anna Yates in 2013.  I have been an active member of the PTO since then and became the Vice President and Secretary, serving for the past 3 years.  I have attended many board meetings as a representative of the PTO and also as a concerned parent.  I frequently meet with administration and teachers and would say that I am very familiar with the management of the school.   

How much money do you plan to spend on your campaign?  Do you plan to fundraise?

I plan on raising and spending under $2000 for my campaign.

What is your first goal (or goals) when you take office?  

Work with the school’s new leadership to refine the long-term vision of the district and set a clear path for helping our students achieve their highest potential.

Foster a functional, cooperative, board that ensures a positive climate and encourages the best from staff.

Fundraise in order to grow and sustain resources to meet the needs of the students, teachers and community.

RULE Endorses Three for Emery School Board

Emeryville's longstanding progressive resident advocacy group Residents United for a Livable Emeryville today announced their endorsement of Sarah Nguyen, Susan Donaldson and Brynnda Collins for Emery School Board in the November 6th election.

With the School Board endorsement, RULE now fills out their picks for Emeryville for the 2018 campaign season having endorsed Dianne Martinez and Scott Donahue for City Council earlier.
The three School Board candidates have also garnered the endorsement of the Democratic Party of Alameda County as well as the entire Emeryville City Council.  Ms Collins , the only incumbent of the three, is currently president of the Emery School Board having been selected by the Board in 2017 to fill in for a vacating member.
The three School Board candidates are not running as an official slate but campaign watchers have noted they appear to be collegial among themselves and have been appearing together at campaign events in town.
RULE vetted and selected the candidates in an interview process conducted at their posted meeting on Saturday.