Mayor Scott Donahue has joined with 123 other mayors across the nation to poke a thumb in the eye of President Trump and his American withdrawal of the Paris Climate Agreement with a commitment to make Emeryville a '100% clean renewable energy' town. It's part of a Sierra Club effort to move past the broken and dysfunctional Republican politics in Washington and move ahead with an ecologically sustainable America without them.
The Sierra Club has set its sights on getting all 1481 mayors from the US Conference of Mayors to sign on to the pledge to go 100% clean by 2035, thereby reducing America's greenhouse gas emissions by 42%.
The Sierra Club 'Mayors for 100% Clean Energy' website may be seen HERE. Emeryville is on the growing list.
Emery School District Superintendent John Rubio, responding to a crush of negative public comment at a much talked about recent School Board meeting, has released his official minutes of the public meeting that negates any mention of his own poor job performance, the locus of the public condemnation. The June 15th denouncements (covered by the Tattler) by nine of the teaching and administrative staff members represented an indictment against Mr Rubio, accounting his hostility against them, charges of racist practices being promulgated by him and his general incompetence but they were reduced to one sentence in the minutes in which his name did not even appear. In similar fashion, Mr Rubio failed to acknowledge the substance of the nearly 50 minutes of allegations against him made by the educators at the June 15th meeting, dismissing them at the time with an ignominious "I'm not perfect. I'm trying my best". Here is the Emery School District's just released minutes of the June 15th incrimination against Superintendent Rubio:
5. PUBLIC COMMENT
Seven teachers, one former Classified instructional aide, and the outgoing K8 principal spoke to the Board regarding their perceptions of cultural sensitivity, issues surrounding race, wanting to feel more supported, stating that the town of Emeryville needs to commit to education, and the importance of mutual respect between the city and the district (asking if the city partnership is really a partnership).
In an act of record keeping asymmetry, the Superintendent then went on to document by name two other commenters at that meeting, both praising of the District; devoting four sentences to the official record by his hand for their contributions. The Board will vote to approve these minutes (or an amended version of them) at their next meeting on Wednesday. The Superintendent could not be reached to comment on this story.
A roomful of vacating veteran teachers at the June 15th School Board meeting blasted Emery Unified School District’s Superintendent John Rubio for what they said was his incompetency, lack of leadership and racist practices he has instituted at Emeryville’s schools. Among the nine speakers one of whom said by quitting she was “voting with my feet”, was the Anna Yates Elementary School Principal who is also leaving, citing that she was being “undermined” by the Superintendent.
The spectacle was summarily dismissed by Mr Rubio who tersely said of the criticism, “I’m not perfect. I’m trying my best” after the near 50 minute onslaught but before he urged the Board to move on to the business at hand.
The united teacher front, colleagues granting extra time by yielding their allotted three minutes to those speaking, is but the latest in a series of exigencies highlighting a school district in chaos led by a dysfunctional superintendent. The portrait painted by the onslaught of distressed teachers is of an Emery superintendent that is a bully, leaving "even parents crying” as one teacher recalled, her colleague adding “I’ve never seen a lack of leadership as I’ve been seeing here.”
The bullying recalled by the fleeing teachers has had a negative consequence for the District: the speakers excoriating Mr Rubio represent but a fraction of the 37% of teachers that have fled Emery in the last year, a hard number provided by the District itself but nonetheless refuted by the Superintendent. The teacher retention crisis, brought on by Mr Rubio, has given Emery the dubious distinction being the worst among all school districts in the Bay Area.
The teacher comments at the June 15th Board meeting however were mostly directed at Mr Rubio’s hostilities to teachers, treating them as “roaches and dogs” according to one of the teachers. Teachers noted how the Superintendent ‘talks a good game’ especially on equitability at the District but “There is a surface politeness covering a man I have come to distrust, not responding to issues but instead attacking teachers.” said one. Another noted how racist practices had grown since Mr Rubio was hired on, stating “It has been difficult to be here and watch the institutional racism that I see around me” she said.
Teachers came to the defense of the elementary school principal. One commented how Mr Rubio would subvert the principal, stating “I’ve seen many examples of how his leadership seems to lack the ability to reflect upon what he’s done, to ‘stay in his lane’ and let the principal do her job.” For her part the Principal took the Superintendent to task for his “selective accountability”, her finding based work derided as ‘opinion’ and for keeping her in the dark about new directives coming from on high.
Teachers spoke of a changed district since the hiring of Mr Rubio, an “administrative heavy” district and that the fleeing teachers represent a loss of more than 100 years of institutional service and connection to the children. One teacher lamented the loss of the Anna Yates Elementary School campus before the building of the new Center of Community Life or Mr Rubio as Superintendent, “Our best years were when [Anna Yates] was Kindergarten through 6th grade” she said.
That same teacher finished her comment by informing the Board and Superintendent Rubio “The last few years have been so difficult that I must leave.” She warned the Board they should be careful when hiring a new superintendent, presuming they would do that, stating, “Look for a superintendent that is competent and culturally sensitive.”
One particularly popular teacher (as confirmed by his colleagues) gave a heart rending accounting of the district under Superintendent Rubio and finished by saying to the assembled crowd he was leaving now and “I never thought I would leave here so early in my career.”
Another fleeing teacher was more circumspect about Emery Unified School District under John Rubio; standing with her young child at her side, she said simply “I would never send my son here.” Video provided by Ken Bukowski (action starts at the 1:10 mark)
Superintendent: Children Lied, 'Mandated Reporter' Law Not Applicable
Emeryville Police are investigating two alleged sexual assaults at the K-12 campus of the Emeryville Center of Community Life, expressing concern that the School District failed to report either incident, a possible violation of California law.
Emeryville Police Chief Jennifer Tejada described the recent allegations involving students at the school as potentially "serious crimes" and has notified the Alameda County District Attorney of both cases. She said her department is also conducting its own investigation.
John Rubio Emery Schools Superintendent The children are lying he says. It's better to error on the side of NOT calling the police.
School Superintendent John Rubio, meanwhile, said he didn't make a report because he believed the students were lying and that no assaults occurred. Speaking through the School District's attorney, Rubio said he came to this conclusion based on his "professional experience." He said because he believed the allegations to be false, he was not bound by the state's mandated reporting law.
California AB 1432 sometimes called the mandated reporter law, requires professionals who work with children, including teachers, school administrators, psychologists and others to notify police or child protective services when they receive a report of alleged abuse. The law states that “No proof of abuse or neglect is needed, only ‘reasonable suspicion’ that child abuse or neglect may have occurred.”
Mr. Rubio argues that that "reasonable suspicion" did not exist in either of the two incidences the students reported at the school.
Police have disclosed little information about the incidents, which came to light after a parent of one of the alleged victims went to the police and filed a report. According to the police crime report, the incidents occurred on April 28 and May 1 and involved allegations of “lewd or lascivious” acts at the elementary school and “sexual battery” at the high school. While all K-12 students share a campus at the Emeryville Center of Community Life, the elementary and high school are housed in separate buildings.
Police Chief Jennifer Tejada She thinks there may be something to the children's allegations and she is running an EPD investigation.
At a May 11th meeting of the Emeryville Public Safety Committee, Chief Tejada expressed concern over the School District's failure to make a report, "My concern is around the lack of reporting for serious crimes" she said, adding, "We came across these crimes not through school personnel, who had previous knowledge of the alleged assaults."
A mandated reporter who fails to make a required report is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and/or up to a $1,000 fine. Schools are required under the law to hold annual trainings of all school personnel. That training is to occur within six weeks of the start of school and/or the first six weeks of employment. The State has provided a free resource for schools that clearly sets forth all the law's requirements.
Superintendent Rubio, who said he would answer questions from the Tattler only if they were in writing, did not answer a question of whether the District had met the state's training requirements.
Chief Tejada said she was working with the School District to get them up to speed on their obligation under the law. “We are in the process of taking care of the mandated reporter issues at the school,” she said.
The ATF and the Emeryville Police Department call this person the prime suspect. Don't be fooled says Rob Arias, this photo is fake news distributed by a duped ATF/EPD.
The Emeryville Tattler editor Brian Donahue has been named as a prime suspect in a felony arson fire in a San Pablo Avenue apartment project at a June 8th joint EPD/ATF press conference held at the Emeryville police station. The announcement came from the sidelines; Rob Arias, editor of the E'Ville Eye, a pro-business and developer friendly blog in town. Mr Arias' announcement was not picked up by the gaggle of media outlets or Emeryville Police Chief Jennifer Tejada or the Federal agents from the bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms who told the assembled throng they chose instead to highlight a different suspect; a mysterious bicyclist caught by one of the 12 security cameras at the site.
Mr Arias implored attendees at the press conference to not be hoodwinked by the presentation of the photograph showing a bicyclist revealed by ATF agents but instead to direct their attention to the Tattler editor whom he revealed had done negative stories on the development project. "Brian Donahue is the Mayor's own brother...he called the [Maz] development a 'men's dorm'" Mr Arias proclaimed, attempting to stoke the imaginations of any conspiratorially minded law officers or reporters at the conference.
E'Ville Eye Editor Rob Arias Don't listen to the Emeryville Police or the ATF; Brian Donahue is the REAL suspect.
The Tattler has long called for residential development projects better than the Maz project. Specifically, Emeryville needs more affordable units, more family friendly housing and more ownership condos, none of which Maz delivers on.
Mr Arias's call for the arrest of the editor of the Tattler on June 8th was not his first; he has put his blog to work chronicling the crimes of Mr Donahue since he began the E'Ville Eye several years ago. Careful readers of that blog will note however that despite the allegations of crimes committed, Mr Donahue, the editor of the other blog in Emeryville, hasn't been jailed or even arrested for his many crimes highlighted by Rob Arias in his blog. Those facts however have not constrained Mr Arias and his heavily monetized E'Ville Eye who continue to warn anyone who will listen in Emeryville about how dangerous the Tattler is and why it needs to be shut down.
