Yet Another Appointment to Emery School Board
After Another Elected Trustee Resigns
After Another Elected Trustee Resigns
Emeryville, Meet Your Newest Board Member-
John Van Geffen; Advocate for Business Interests
& Foe of the Working Poor
In his third attempt, local attorney and former City Council candidate John Van Geffen was finally successful this week in securing an appointment to the position of Trustee on the Emery School Board, a governing body that is supposed to be elected by the people of Emeryville. However due to recurring resignations among Board members, executive appointments to this legislative body here are often the norm. Also common is the appointing of community members to the Board that have been previously rejected by the voters of Emeryville. Or in the case of Mr Van Geffen, a candidate that had been previously rejected by the voters AND (twice by) the School Board. He now takes over the position of former Trustee Sarah Nguyen who resigned earlier in the year.
This week's continuation of Emery's Board of Trustees tradition, manifested by the elevating of Mr Van Geffen, comes after his 2016 City Council bid when he came in last place in a field of six candidates. The deeply unpopular John Van Geffen was bested by current Board member, appointee Brynnda Collins, who also lost her Council bid in 2016, coming in 5th place in the six candidate field. Unlike Mr Van Geffen however, Ms Collins actually won a subsequent (2018) School Board bid put to the voters.
Political office aspirants facing voters is the norm in a functioning democracy except here at the Emery Unified School District where Board members commonly resign before their terms are finished.
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| Third Time's a Charm- Newly Appointed School Board Member John Van Geffen He lost a City Council bid and two previous attempts to get appointed to the Board. |
Newly minted School Board member Van Geffen was a controversial pick for the existing four Board members with his conspicuous ‘limited government’ conservative philosophy and open hostility to Emeryville's popular and progressive minimum wage and 'fair work week' ordinances in his failed City Council bid (see the League of Woman Voters video below). Whereas Emeryville voters (and previous iterations of the School Board) soundly rejected Mr Van Geffen's attacks on the working poor in the community in 2016, the newest iteration of the Board now see a simpatico fellow traveler they can work with.
The appointment of Mr Van Geffen to the Board of Trustees adds to two existing other appointees currently on the Board. Not including Board member Collins who was appointed and finally elected, the Emery Unified School Board now is comprised of only three members whom voters have elected and three that have not been either rejected at the ballot box or appointed to their Board position. A spare majority of three were selected by the people of the City of Emeryville, a tenuous majoritarian condition given Emery's historic inability to hold onto Board members for their full terms.
Readers may wish to review Mr Van Geffen's presentation in the League of Woman Voters' 2016 City Council candidates' forum in the video below and the Tattler 2016 City Council candidates' questionnaire, in four installments:
#1 HERE
#2 HERE
#3 HERE
#4 HERE
What does the school board have to do with the minimum wage? I understand you don't like all the appointments but keep your editorializing about the min wage out of it. The board will never even discuss it. It's a city issue not a school issue.
ReplyDeleteTrue, City ordinances are not something the School Board normally avails itself of. But an applicant's passionate advocacy against our town's policies informs about his general demeanor and philosophic worldview. School policies will be affected in predictable ways by anybody in power that's ideologically inclined. At a minimum, the public has a right to know what's going on at the School Board and who's getting appointed. Mr Van Geffen is unusual in Emeryville politics and his elevation to Board member status is newsworthy.
DeleteI would like to add, as a parent of a freshman at Emery High, that someone's political background is very important. It shapes who they bring to the table every time. We ARE NOT a wealthy school district and if he is advocating against a fair livable wage, that should be known.
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