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.