Emery Sued For School Campus Rapist

 Emery School District Sued For Negligence in Campus Rape Case

A San Jose based law firm announced yesterday they are representing a 16 year old Emery High School girl who alleges she was forcibly raped on campus by a school district employee last November.  The complaint for childhood sexual damages, filed with the Superior Court of California at Alameda County today, seeks damages for sexual assault of a minor, negligent hiring by District employees and negligent supervision by the District.  The perpetrator, Daniel Parham, a 2020 graduate of Emery High School who took employment at the school as a security guard, was arrested and charged with statutory rape according to a press release issued by the law firm Cerri, Boskovich & Allard. He posted bail and currently awaits trial.  

Lax Security at Emery School Campus
This unattended self closing gate was left propped
open Tuesday, something that happens "all the time"
according to a City employee.

The complaint alleges Emery employees breached their duty to protect the safety of the students in their care by “permitting the plaintiff to be isolated [with the perpetrator] in the senior center and/or the science room and/or the gym office behind closed/locked doors and/or failing to detect and deter such isolation.”   Also alleged, Mr Parham “groomed” the girl, discussing intimate topics with her over one-on-one electronic communications. After gaining the Plaintiff’s trust, he went on to sexually assault her (including intercourse) on school grounds on at least three different occasions from late October 2023 through early November 2023.

The security guard had been frequently groping other students and allegedly further sexually assaulted at least one other minor female on “multiple” occasions on campus. 

Emery has been negligent when students have been sexually assaulted on campus before.   In 2017, a previous Superintendent failed to report to the police an incident as is required by California law.

A spokesperson for Emery’s Superintendent, Quiauna Scott, told the Tattler the District would issue a statement “next week”.  

After Rubio: School Board Hopefuls Need a Litmus Test

Emery Unified School District:

Emeryville's Last Bastion of 

Pure Civic Dysfunction

With a New Superintendent and a New Board President,
Will We Have Turned a Page?

We're Guessing NO

The only change that will come will be from the ballot box

News Analysis/Opinion
Last week two more teachers announced they will not be returning to Emery Unified School District in the fall.  That adds to the eight that already announced earlier for a total of ten this, the last year of John Rubio as Emery superintendent.  Really bad, but an improvement over last year's 37% teacher exodus.  Emery, under John Rubio, infamously can't hold on to its teachers. 
Mr Rubio's anti-teacher tactics, described by the teachers themselves as "bullying" and "racist", however bad, are nothing new for Emery superintendents.  The last two out of three supes here tried to outright destroy the teachers union.  The last one, Debbra Lindo, offered to testify against Emery's teachers in the union busting Vergara case after receiving a vote of 'no confidence' from 92% the entire teaching staff in their 2012 Teachers Resolution.  Rabidly anti-teacher policy: It's an ongoing pattern and practise at Emery.

 But now it would seem Emery is changing.  The leadership, if you can call it that, is falling like dominoes; we're getting a new superintendent and just last week the School Board ganged up and kicked President Cruz Vargas out of his leadership position.  Normally you would expect after a substantive course change with that kind of power shift, a move towards competency at least would be forthcoming.  But this after all is Emery, and therefore it's ossified.

Every time a superintendent is removed or a School Board is replaced or a breathlessly announced new program is initiated, we inevitably drift back into the same culture of dysfunction centered around incompetency, lack of transparency, authoritarianism and a general aversion to evidence-based policy.  Politics as usual. The results for Emery where the rubber meets the road, are low enrollment numbers and low student academics resulting in failing school 'growth' and a district-wide lowered ranking.  The only way forward by the way (and the only way not tried at Emery), is to support our teachers, not engage in a war against them, the heretofore default Emery programmatic expediency from an uncreative and ossified School Board.

The debacle at the June 14th School Board meeting is emblematic of the culture of decline that has a stranglehold at Emery.
To wit: A power hungry and vituperative Board President pissed off one too many colleagues (as well as the Superintendent) and found himself kicked to the curb.  Stepping in to correct a locus of dysfunction; that would normally be considered a good move made by a public entity trying to center itself around what should be its core duty.  But again, this is Emery.  So what ensued instead was just another political power struggle.  What could have been a moment of accountability  turned instead into just so much more counterproductive churlishness.  Due to Board factious infighting, what the people of Emeryville now have is a School Board president and vice president that none of us ever voted for; in what should be a democratically elected body we now have two unelected and unaccountable leaders.  That's a terrible place to be with a new superintendent coming in.

The Definition of Out Of Touch
He's working for the kids...blah, blah blah.
In reality, Board member Donn Merriam  joined
colleagues Bailey Langner and Cruz Vargas
in saying NO to affordable housing
for Emeryville families. 
72% of Emeryville voters
disagree with them. 

Post Vargas, there is no reason other than pompous impetuosity that the people of Emeryville couldn't have figured into the equation.  What about democracy, Emery? You know, the people themselves getting the chance to have the people they picked govern this public enterprise?

If the Emery School Board weren't so highly dysfunctional, the Board President would now be the people's choice....the one who faced the voters and who the voters said they liked to run Emery; namely Barbara Inch.  But politics as usual has taken hold once again. This is not a good sign.  It foretells that where we're headed is where we've been.  Again.  A new superintendent, who presents us with a moment of great possibility, will be infected by incestuously base and venal Board politics.  Again.

Now presents a rare chance to actually change this District the Board has refused to seize.
It's rare because we have a new superintendent who wants to do the right thing (but needs a competent Board).  Rare, because this time our new superintendent will be the beneficiary of a "threesy" election this November.  Three Board members will be selected by Emeryville voters.  This aligning of the stars could actually change this school district.
But Emeryville voters will have to step up.  We cannot leave this to the usual lying poseurs seeking office.  Anyone running for School Board needs to face a litmus test.  The test need not be anything radical...it only needs to be radical for Emery.  Below are the minimum bars needed for prospective School Board members at Emery:

• Do they accept high teacher retention as a worthy goal? 
• Will they work to ensure high teacher retention is achieved?
• If Emery again fails to retain teachers (as compared with other districts), will the prospective Board member intervene?  How exactly?
• Will criticism from parents or the citizenry be encouraged?  How?
• Will bad news or flawed policies be openly discussed?
• Will rational and evidence-based policy be the default?  Will the prospective Board member be open to public discussion and debate, supported by the evidence, about merging Emery with a neighboring school district if that's shown to be the best course for the students?
• Will all parents be treated equally?  How about law abiding but unpopular and critical parents?  Will they be treated the same as popular and flattering parents by the Board member?
• Will the Board member generally support teachers over administrators?
• Will they own up to failures on their own?
• Will they be available to parents, the citizens and the press?  Even a critical but law abiding press?
• Do they think it's possible to measure the job performance of a schools superintendent?  How?

Three out of four current Emery School Board members would fail every bar above.  If a majority of School Board members passed the above bars, the end result would be better educational prospects for Emeryville's children.
We need to leverage this new Superintendent's skills with a normal, not dysfunctional School Board.  A normal school board.  That's something Emeryville hasn't had for more than a generation so it's easy to see how naysayers will spin this.  Our normal IS dysfunction.  But it really doesn't have to be that way.
This opportunity may not come this way again for another generation.  We can't squander this: We need to elect three new School Board members that have a progressive vision of public education.  That's Emeryville by the way: progressive.  All we need to do is keep out the ego driven charlatans, poseurs and con men.  We only have to elect the same kind of people we've been electing for the City Council: not necessarily great, just competent and reflective of our values.  That should be an easy lift.  Remember, we recently elected Donn Merriam to the School Board and he rallied against Measure C, the affordable housing for families bond initiative that passed by 72% of Emeryville voters.  Donn would never have passed our litmus test.  We could have stopped the sociopathic Donn Merriam.  Let's make sure we don't elect another sociopath to the Board.

Let's use a litmus test this time.

Emeryville voters: Imagine a school district that's not in the news....a school district quietly doing its job.

Donn Merriam: Tattler Takes Back School Board Endorsment

The Tattler Takes a Mulligan:

Donn Merriam's Skewed Worldview:
Loyalty to President Affeldt is What's Most Important 


Lack of Comity at School Board:
Instead of Apologies We Get Total Silence

Opinion

Donn Merriam
 A bit dickish and a
John Affeldt 'yes man'.
who supplanted...

Emeryville's right wing and the sycophants of the power elite in town have long called on the Tattler to take back what it has said and to that we've always responded; show us where we're wrong and the Tattler will post a retraction and an apology.  Well, consider this a retraction and an apology: we endorsed Donn Merriam for the Emery School Board in 2014 and we were wrong and we apologize.
Donn Merriam sucks on the School Board...we're the first to admit it.  He's served as a bump on a log and a 'yes man' to the current board president's dark and community disempowering vision since he got there.  Before the last election, we thought Donn would be a breath of fresh air, likely better than the guy he beat out, Miguel Dwin; the former yes man for then School Board President Josh Simon.  Now we can't qualify how he's been any better than Mr Dwin, indeed, he's shown to be actually worse in some regards.

In our defense, if you read the Tattler endorsement of Donn Merriam from October 2014, you'll note it was not our fondness for Mr Merriam as much as our realization of the need to get rid of Miguel Dwin that drove the endorsement.  Mr Merriam was a new face and we went with that; a low bar that we admitted at the time.  We now realize, some 13 months later, just how low we set the bar... too low.

...Miguel Dwin
a nice guy but ultimately just
a yes man for Josh Simon.

Donn Meriam on the Emery School Board has been a warm body taking up a seat until Board President John Affeldt needs a second to some wrong-headed policy...then the sleepy Donn Merriam springs into action.  He's part of the 'yes person' culture at the Emery School Board.  It's how the Center of 'Community' Life has been railroaded past dissenters; a strongman in charge on the Board with a bevy of yes people to support him.  We should have known better when we did our inadequate vetting of Donn Merriam last year.

Donn has delivered consistent and unwavering support to President Affeldt's program of shutting out residents as they have sought a forum on the closing of Anna Yates Elementary School just like Mr Dwinn provided for Mr Simon but Mr Merriam has gone a step further than Mr Dwin ever did by also buttressing a program to torpedo comity among colleagues on the Board (brought by Mr Affeldt).  In the unseemly Brown Act debacle still unfolding, Donn has happily joined President Affeldt in attacking fellow Board member Christian Patz after Mr Patz cried foul when he saw three Board members leaving a secret meeting in the Superintendent's office, a Brown Act violation.  Donn Merriam gushed sanctimonious outrage that Mr Patz said the meeting he witnessed was improper.  Later when President Affeldt and Superintendent Rubio admitted the meeting was illegal (under intense media pressure), and it was time for apologies to Mr Patz and the people of Emeryville,  Mr Merriam offered up a big serving of total silence.
We blew it when we endorsed you Donn Merriam and we join the rest of Emeryville in our waiting for the apologies.

Secrecy Reigns at Emeryville's Dysfunctional School Board/District

We Can Trust School Board President Affeldt to Conduct Secret Meetings Ethically 

(Says President Affeldt)

Never Mind What the Law Says, 

It's Better if the Public is Left Out He Says 

Opinion

Hi, I'm John.
Trust me.

Last night, the Emery School Board voted John Affeldt as President for another term (3-1 Patz dissenting, Affeldt voting for himself).  That's believable for this district; between the guy that conducts illegal secret meetings and the one that thinks the law should be obeyed and the public included, Emeryville gets the school board president that conducts illegal secret meetings.  That's our school district in all its glory, its 'bless your heart' flag flying high.

Which brings us again to the antics of Emery School Board President John Affeldt (and Superintendent of the Schools John Rubio) and the still unfolding secret meeting Brown Act scandal and its attendant coverup.  The Board's lack of contrition after the guilty players (they themselves) were exposed by their colleague, whistleblower Christian Patz, has been a deafening silence.

Why All The Secrecy?
A month into the scandal, after the tepid admissions of guilt from these two (a technical violation of the Brown Act and 'mistakes were made' you understand), we're left facing the 800 pound gorilla in the room: why does this school district feel the need to operate in secrecy to begin with?  Why is it these 'superintendent committees', the same ones the editorial board of the Bay Area News Group calls illegal, why is it that the District is compelled to leave the public out of these meetings?  What are they discussing in these meetings behind closed door that they need to keep hidden from us?

Superintendent Rubio
Secret meetings are wonderful!
It's rare that we do them
but when we do,
they're done professionally,
 & for the children.

Part of the storm of condemnation from the guilty Board raining down on the non-guilty whistleblower member Patz is the outrage expressed by President Affeldt as he self righteously denies doing anything untoward at the November 18 secret meeting with an illegal quorum of Board members.  Seeking to assure Emeryville residents, Mr Affeldt has strenuously and didactically asserted nothing substantial was discussed or voted on at that now infamous illegal meeting or indeed any of the closed door superintendent committee meetings where no records are kept and the public may not go.  But of course, this begs the question: how do we know that, John? 

Are we just to take your word for it?  Your word?  The man who is so narcissistic that he can't bring himself to apologize to the public for his wrong doing on their behalf?  Is it to be: everything will be OK if we just let you conduct School District policy in secret?  And stop criticizing you or looking into your culture of secrecy you've promulgated at Emery Unified School District?

Back Bencher Christian Patz
'Public meetings should be public'.
Yeah, right.

Without throwing out a few tawdry "for the children" platitudes this Board and school district so often uses when their wrongheaded policies are exposed to the light of day (or when their backs are against the wall, their culpability in illegal activity is exposed), let's just say, NO, we're not going to just trust you.  You have to stop conducting the people's business behind closed doors; we're paying for it and we have a right to know. 

School Board Member Christian Patz: Willing to Agitate for Emery's Students

Member Patz Tells the City Council to Hold Out For a Family Friendly project

Emery School District Not Interested in Bringing Families to Emeryville Despite Claims to the Contrary

Opinion
For years now, the Emery Unified School District has decried the existential threat posed by falling student attendance and the critical need to bring more families to town to help with that.  Followers of the District know however that this kind of talk is just so much hot air because never have any District employees or School Board members ever actually done what it takes, impolitic though it may be seen by some, to facilitate that; none have summoned the courage to appear before the City Council to challenge a non-family friendly residential development project on the docket to press the District's interests.  For more than 20 years as the Emeryville City Council continued to approve residential projects, one after another, all built to attract singles or childless couples, never once did anyone from the School District press its case for holding out for building housing for families.  Not as the Center of 'Community' Life was being planned and built, not ever.  Not until the Tuesday before last.

Emery School Board Member
Christian Patz
Courageous agitator for the
students and the District. 

The Emeryville City Council meeting that Tuesday July 21st was historic in two ways: first the City Council said NO to a developer pushing a flawed project and second a School Board member came and testified for the need to build family friendly housing and to reject a residential development proposal, the Market Place project, for not being family friendly.  The City Council as it turned out, agreed with the School Board member and rejected the project, also something that's never happened before in Emeryville.

So who is this heroic and courageous School Board member?  None other than Christian Patz...the dissenting voice on the School Board...the voice for the citizens, students and parents; the same Board member that voted NO to the disastrous hiring of the now infamous Russom Mesfun, a vote incidentally that stands now as an archetype for political courage at the Emery School Board analogous to Senator Barack Obama's 2003's vote, so deeply unpopular at the time, against the Bush invasion of Iraq.

We applaud Mr Patz for his principled stand at the dais before the City Council on the 21st but we are chagrined it's taken this long for anyone from this District to have the cajones to get involved, for this is how democracy works and how change can happen. And so with a School District filled with administrators and politicians making political calculations all while the District fails for lack of revenue increased attendance would alleviate,  we are relieved finally someone has shown he will put his ass on the line and speak out for the students even though it may embarrass some entrenched aging politicians.

Emery School Superintendent John Rubio
Not willing to stand up for family friendly housing to
help the schools.  Not courageous. 

Emery School Board President
John Affeldt
Like the Superintendent, not courageous...
another 'C' word comes to mind:
rhymes with 'showered'.

To School Superintendent John Rubio and School Board president John Affeldt, both of whom have never had the temerity to so challenge the City Council in the District's interest, we say you two have just been humiliated.  Your colleague Christian Patz, the same one you routinely vote down 4-1 when important decisions come before the Board, has shown us all what principled courage looks like...done at your expense (even though he didn't intend for that to be the case probably).  Because where were you on the 21st when it was time to testify for family friendly housing?  We've heard your oft repeated but empty family friendly rhetoric, why though we ask, have you never followed through?
We're sad it's newsworthy when an Emery School Board member gets up before the City Council and tells it like it is because that's what's in the student's and the District's best interests.  This should happen every time a residential project appears before the City Council, not once in...well, once ever.

Crisis in the Schools: Emery Unified On Track to Be Insolvent in Two Years

Shocked Audience Learns-

School Board Must Make Drastic Changes to Avoid Receivership

$1 Million Annual Deficit Looms

Board to Close Elementary School,

A Possible Source of Increased Revenue

Emery Unified School Board Meeting-April 22, 2015

Emeryville's schools are in deep financial trouble and ready to slide back into State receivership said Dora Siu, the School District's Fiscal Services Director before a crowded house at a School Board meeting Wednesday night. The crowd of parents, citizens and teachers, there coincidently to make a case to save Anna Yates Elementary School and a possible source of increased revenue for the District, was jarred by the announcement of looming bankruptcy.

Ms Siu's budget projections showed that if the District changes nothing about its revenues and spending from how they are right now, then within two years the District would be operating at nearly a $1 million annual deficit and, by not having the state-mandated minimum 4% in reserves, would not be certified as solvent and would likely face a return to receivership.  Ms Siu added that 4% would actually only cover one month's expenses for the District and 10% reserve would be advisable.  
Emery crawled out of a state takeover in 2011 after ten grueling years of Sacramento control after the District was bilked by a former Superintendent.

The Board seemed to take this dire warning in stride and they indicated they will consider budget adjustments at future meetings.  However, those in attendance later learned that one possible solution the Board could not see its way clear to consider was to keep Anna Yates Elementary School open in order to enroll more students than ECCL can accommodate and to, thereby, increase revenue sufficiently to cover the projected shortfall.  Instead the Board dug in its heels and said they could not change course on a plan (allegedly) set in stone over ten years ago.

Not one parent or community member had a positive thing to say about closing Anna Yates Wednesday night, but the Board was unmoved.  The Teachers Union also sent a representative to report that the teachers had met in an emergency meeting Tuesday to address this issue and that an overwhelming majority of the teachers did not want to see Anna Yates closed.

The School District is partners with the City of Emeryville in the ECCL project and two City Council members were witness to the spectacle; Dianne Martinez and Scott Donahue.

Parents Erupt in Outrage
The testy crowd Wednesday night was rallying around a proposal by Board member Christian Patz, to keep Anna Yates open as an elementary school and use the yet to be constructed ECCL site on San Pablo Avenue for a middle school (as well as a high school).  The idea is the middle school children would use the building originally meant for the new elementary school after Anna Yates is closed.
But newly elected Board Member Donn Merriam, an architect, indicated he was not capable of fathoming how one could use a 1200 square foot space intended for Kindergartners in any other way.  He warned that this proposal would raise construction costs and postpone the ECCL for at least a full year.  The crowd, not inclined to the normal decorum, erupted at Board member Merriam's  intransigence and began shouting out alternative uses for the space from their chairs.

Board President John Affeldt announced his unwillingness to be persuaded about keeping Anna Yates open before even hearing public comment, a statement that especially riled up the crowd.  His remarks so enraged some parents who had, by then waited for several hours to speak, that they stormed out of the room in disgust without speaking.  Many others who had come to speak had given up by this time and had returned home to their waiting babysitters or had left to put their children to bed.  Board President Affeldt had also refused a request to move the item up on the agenda so that these parents could be heard.

Many attendees expressed exasperation to the Tattler after the meeting.  It seems to the parents among them the District's overall message is clear; they are closing Anna Yates, like it or not.  One parent wishing to remain anonymous said of the Board, "They are driving this District straight into a financial ditch and they're not willing to consider the most logical way to avoid it [keeping Anna Yates open].  On the contrary, they'd like to press on the gas further.  Parents should get ready now for either an incredible number of cuts to close a $1 million gap or two, the State or the County will be in charge of our District's finances again in a couple of years.  They're telling us to move our children to another District as soon as we can".

School districts gain revenue from enrolled students and the looming financial disaster for Emery Unified offers no palatable choices if the number of students is not increased.  Essentially, cuts and the selling off of assets are really the only options available.  Keeping the elementary school as a way to increase enrollment for the District in the cramped ECCL site is the best option parents and teachers said.  This plea was made in many ways by many speakers Wednesday night but the Board seemed unmoved, save Board member Patz.

The following budget projection reveals the disturbing slide Emery Unified School District is facing:

EUSD Multi Year Projection 2015-04-22

Merriam Increases Spread Over Dwin; Is Count Over?

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters did not release updated vote counts around 5 PM yesterday, as had been their practice, and instead apparently worked late into the night in order to release new totals after 1:30 AM this morning. One candidate that spoke to the County was told that the count is now over, but the Tattler has not been able to confirm this and the County website does not yet indicate that the results are official. If this does represent the final count, Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE) endorsed candidate Donn Lee Merriam has increased his 8 vote lead from yesterday to a 23 vote lead over incumbent Miguel Dwin. It thus appears that the School Board election will be a RULE sweep with John Affeldt, Christian Patz, and Donn Lee Merriam.

8 Votes Continue To Separate School Board Hopefuls

There is apparently no rest for the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, who even works on Sundays during election season, and provided updated vote totals again this afternoon. All School Board Candidates increased their totals, but the margin between newcomer Donn Lee Merriam and incumbent Miguel Dwin remains a mere eight votes. The latest:

Emery School Board Race Remains Tight

Alameda County's Registrar of Voters updated the vote count late Friday afternoon, showing incumbent Miguel Dwin leading Donn Lee Merriam by two votes, and then updated again late Saturday afternoon shifting the lead to Merriam by eight votes. The Tattler will keep a close eye on this see-saw battle!

Big Brother Comes to Emery Unified

Is Your Child's Biometric Data Safe?

Opinion

The Tattler has learned that dozens of Anna Yates Elementary students were rounded up today by school officials and fingerprinted in order to have their biometric data stored in a government database. What crimes were these nine year olds convicted of? accused of? suspected of?  None.  Instead, this is the price our children must pay for access to Emery Unified's School Lunch Pogrom Program.

Emery knows what
its doing, right?
What could possibly
go wrong?

The new system was "announced" to some parents via a letter sent home during the last week of school last school year, in June of 2014.  Parents that are new to the District this year may not have heard anything about this program or been given any advance notice of the District's intentions (one Anna Yates parent told us he did not receive the letter at the end of last year either and only learned of the letter from other parents).

Parents have the ability to "opt out" of the biometric scanning of their children, but must request the opt out form from the District.

Parents nationwide have objected to similar programs, some bringing lawsuits to prevent the practice, and the ACLU has often gotten involved. The concerns expressed include:

• Given the prevalence these days of data breaches, what guarantees do we have that our children's biometric data will not fall into the hands of malicious third parties?
• What sort of message does it send to our children when we tell them that they have to submit to a government-initiated data collection procedure about their own unique biological markers?
• Doesn't the entire procedure of fingerprinting, especially in a largely minority school District, evoke images of assumed criminality that our District has pledged to oppose and prevent?
• How much money is the District spending on this technology parents don't want when the District is not spending money on other technologies that would actually assist in student learning?
• Were less intrusive alternatives considered? Student ID cards? Anonymous value cards?
• What happens when a student leaves the District? What guarantees do we have that the stored biometric data will be destroyed?
• Why weren't parents given much more explicit notification about this?
• Districts and companies that produce the biometric technologies often argue that "fingerprints" per se are not stored by their systems, merely unique points within the fingerprint represented digitally.  These responses seem to ignore that a unique identifier is a unique identifier.  If the system works at all, then it contains personal, private, biological data about our children.  Data that should not be collected or stored without much more explicit notification.  Data that the District should never have proposed to gather to begin with.

Alameda County Fire Department Rescues Emery Schools With Donations

The Alameda County Fire Department Union, Local 55 responded to Emery school teacher's pleas for requisitions for the start of the new school year with a massive school supply drive culminating with a big school site presentation on Tuesday.
Individual fire fighters stood in front of Office Max, Toys R Us and other such stores for weeks collecting donations for the drive.
The huge haul presented to the Emery schools by the Fire Department this year stood in contrast to the supplies donated from the Emery Education Fund, the organization tasked with the yearly school supply drives.  Teachers noted in recent years the hauls from the Ed Fund have been lacking prompting the Fire Fighters Union Local 55 to step in this year.
An anonymous teacher opined the Ed Fund donation drive had come up short again this year, "It's pretty pathetic"the teacher said of the meager offerings, "It's less than $100 worth."
Any thoughts of disappointment in the performance by the Emery Ed Fund however were quickly forgotten after the big red antique fire truck arrived bearing the proceeds from Local 55.

Thanks to the Alameda County Fire Department Union Local 55 and Anna Yates Elementary School teacher Tiffany Johnson for coordinating the supply drive.

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John Gooding: A Serious Person Presents a Serious Idea for the Emery School District

What Ideas Get Taken Seriously at 

Emery School District? 

Busting the Teacher's Union

Closing Schools

Quashing Citizen Dissent

And Now, 

Preparing Students to be Good Worker Bees

Opinion
The School District here in Emeryville has to play the role of editor.  With all the various sundry and disparate ideas floating around for how best to teach our children, their job is to edit out the ideas not worthy of consideration and implement the good ones.  This is Step One in public education policy.  Unfortunately they've never publicly explained what they think constitutes a good idea but they've shown they know good ideas come from 'serious people' (with apologies to the economist Paul Krugman)....  people like Emery Education Fund president John Gooding, a man they've put their stock in over the years.  The School Board listens to John Gooding.

John Gooding: Serious Person (on left).
Serious people do things like present awards
to those who help disseminate serious ideas.

The Board again showed this dynamic when they invited Mr Gooding to impart his wisdom about the proper role of a school district in public education at their April retreat.  The Board and District officials sat enraptured nodding their heads up and down in agreement and back and forth in awe as Mr Gooding alerted them to an education crisis at Emery; the District is dropping the ball, falling short of their charge to produce competent worker bees for the private sector he told them.  Corporations need "workers that can add up a column of figures"  Mr Gooding repeatedly said, warning the assembled Emery power players that graduating seniors are not making the cut.  He went on and on reminding the Board their job is to transform students into workers for the corporate hegemony (to drive down wages).  He spiced up his presentation with a few always popular "for the children" cliches for dramatic effect, a perennial favorite of serious people.

Governor Pete Wilson:
Another Serious Person
Illegal children should
not receive benefit of 
a public education.

John Gooding is a businessman who knows business, he knows what businesses want.  He's a member of the Board of the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce and he lobbies for corporations through his political consulting firm the Quadric Group.  Whether fighting against Measure C, the 2005 initiative providing for a living wage for Emeryville hotel workers or bundling donations for business friendly candidates for Emeryville City Council elections through EmPac, the Chamber of Commerce's political action committee, Mr Gooding has for years devoted himself to making sure Emeryville City Hall works for business.
As the president of Emery Education Fund (EEF), John serves as the intermediary between the schools and the business community, accepting donations and after skimming off some for EEF expenses, doling out the remainder to the schools.  He's thus has made himself invaluable to the schools in Emeryville.
John's created a nice little eco system with this formula (even as high level corporations have not been co-operating recently as they've scaled back their donations to the Ed Fund).

This serious man with his serious policy proscriptions for Emery is the same John Gooding who donated money to California Republican Governor Pete Wilson to help fight for Prop 187, the 1994 initiative that would have denied public education to the children of undocumented immigrants.  It's the same serious man who brought his lofty position of Emeryville power broker to bear against the workers at Emeryville hotels by attempting to keep wages low and workloads harsh.  He warned us at the time that if Measure C passed, if the hospitality corporations had to pay higher wages, Emeryville hotels would leave our town en masse, a prediction that has not come true...in fact a new hotel is opening in 2015.
Regardless of the Measure C loss (loss for the corporate forces, win for the workers), John Gooding has been a good lobbyist for his business clients.  He's continuing to represent their interests now as he uses his powers of persuasion on the Emery School Board.

Another serious person as seen by this School District is the former Superintendent Tony Smith.  Mr Smith, revered by the Board is a well known practitioner of an Oakland pogrom of "cut, shut and charter", a public school disempowerment vision popular at Emery.  Also seen as serious by this Board of course is former Superintendent Debbra Lindo, who believes school teachers are the problem with education and their union must be destroyed (a sentiment shared by Tony Smith).  Non-serious people here would include citizen dissenters and teachers.


John Gooding is serious but he's wrong.  The School Board is wrong.  We'll risk a lawsuit from Mr Gooding (he's threatened us before) to argue for the real reason why we educate our children.  Public school is meant not to produce compliant workers for corporations.  Rather the proper role of public school is to create good citizens; adults who can think critically and who value the joy of learning.  
These are ideas not associated with money, they're not forwarded by the corporate sector, they're not delivered by a serious man, rather they're embraced by what the Emery School District would characterize as the non-serious among us.  But these are ideas we'd like to see taken seriously at Emery Unified School District.

Council Raises Red Flags: Unexpected $1.1 Million Contract for Center of 'Community' Life

Center of 'Community' Life Project Oversight Contract "Awful Expensive" 

Doubts Raised About Whole Project

The Emeryville City Council balked at a recent request for recommending the Emery School District sign a two year contract with a building firm for $1.1 million to oversee the Center of 'Community' Life (ECCL) construction project, a request that drew the ire of the Council members in general and venom from Councilman Kurt Brinkman.  The School District is partnering with the City on the controversial San Pablo Avenue school/community center project and the request at the April 22nd meeting was meant to provide backing for the selection of San Francisco based Swinerton Builders to serve as "owner's representative" for two years overseeing the work performed by chief ECCL builder Turner Construction.  With the January resignation of former District architect and ECCL project director Roy Miller, there is no one left to manage the multi million dollar project, necessitating the hiring of a construction oversight firm to represent the public's interests according to the School District.

The School District request seemed to confuse the Council at first, "We have not received enough information" Nora Davis said upon hearing the request as presented by City Manager Sabrina Landreth but after the $1.1 million price tag was revealed Councilman Brinkman was angered.  He noted he is in the construction trade in his personal life and the request was tantamount to "buying the accessories of a car without knowing what the car is going to cost".  Mr Brinkman was incredulous, "I thought Turner was going to carry the costs of oversight of this [ECCL] project" and "there's not enough teeth to make sure the taxpayers get what they want out of this project".  He added, "At a million dollars, [the Swinerton contract] seems awful expensive to me."

In May, the City of Emeryville is poised to throw in $21 million for its share of the ECCL project, but the $1.1 million Swinerton contract caused the formally supportive Councilman Brinkman to express doubts about the entire ECCL project, "I'm concerned and I don't fully understand what we're getting for our $21 million" he said.

The Council ultimately refused to resolve recommending the Swinerton contract.

Video courtesy of the Emeryville Property Owners Association

Report Finds Soil at Community Center School Site a Toxic Stew

Center of 'Community' Life Site of 
Toxic Waste Dump

Report: $1.7 Million Clean-Up Indicted

A recently released 1,062 page report on the soils at the Emeryville Center of 'Community' Life (ECCL) site reveals that the ground there is highly contaminated with numerous toxins that will need to be removed at a cost estimated as high as $1,733,467 before construction can proceed.  The report and clean-up plans, prepared by BASELINE Environmental Consulting and Millennium Consulting Associates, explains that prior industrial uses at the San Pablo Avenue site, the future home of a new high school, elementary school and community center, include a gas service station, an auto repair shop, a rubber material manufacturing plant, a plastic molding works, a spray painting facility, clothes press and cleaners, an auto wrecking yard and a motor coach facility, and that these prior users of the site have left behind numerous toxic substances in the soil that constitute a health hazard.

Identified toxins in the soil include carcinogens such as metallic lead, arsenic, volatile organic compounds (VOC's), high levels of pesticides and enough flammable methane to pose an "explosion hazard".  A more complete list is included at the bottom of this story.   

Some of the toxic material permeating the site is especially hazardous for young children BASELINE noted, raising the concern about the Emery School District moving the elementary school children to the toxic site after the planned closing of the existing Anna Yates Elementary School on 41st Street, a location that has no record of any industrial uses in it's history.  Records indicate the existing Anna Yates site has had a school on it continuously since 1886, before Emeryville was even incorporated as a town.

The majority of the toxic waste on the ECCL site is centered on the north east corner near 53rd Street and San Pablo Avenue where the most of the previous industrial activity took place, the same location of the future community center and elementary school part of the ECCL project it should be noted.

The District has indicated they will pay to dig up and truck the toxic waste off the site as the report suggests but they haven't yet committed to a specific plan in the BASELINE report.  There is an alternate less costly solution the report notes, that would leave behind large quantities of toxic material entombing it under a plastic "vapor barrier" beneath the school and community center.  

The City of Emeryville it should be noted, set a precedent for leaving toxic waste at development sites in town when the City Council majority selected a similar solution for the 'Transit' Center on Horton Street in January approving a less costly clean-up allowing Wareham Development to save money by leaving behind copious quantities of toxic waste on the site under the proposed building also beneath a vapor barrier.  That solution will require a much more rigorous on-going monitoring regimen than would have been required with a full clean-up.  Also at the ECCL site, if the School District chooses the less costly solution, the District will be on the hook for implementing a monitoring program in perpetuity.  The less costly plan is estimated to cost the District some $1.3 million. 

A School District official told the Tattler anonymously there is money set aside for contingencies that will go towards the toxic soil remediation on the site but he refused to say how much for the record.

Public Comment Period

There is a public comment period on this removal plan currently running until April 20, 2014.  Citizens are urged to contact the School Board or attend a Board meeting to make their views on this matter known.  For those wishing to encourage the Board to pursue the full clean-up alternative recommended in this report, that plan is referred to as "Alternative 3." "Alternative 2" is the less costly solution (at least initially) that would leave toxins on the school and community center site at a savings of some $400,000.

         .                .                .                .

Hazardous Toxins at the ECCL Site

The specific substances found include lead, arsenic, petroleum hydrocarbons, organochlorine pesticides (“OCPs”), volatile organic compounds ("VOCs"), and methane. The report details the potentially harmful health effects of these substances:

Lead
Metallic lead is particularly hazardous for young children. It causes brain damage leading to permanent learning difficulties and loss of cognitive function especially for those of elementary school age.  From the report:
"Lead is a toxic metal and a suspected carcinogen... Lead can impair the nervous system, affecting hearing, vision, and muscle control.  It is toxic to lungs, kidneys, blood, and heart... Exposure in children can cause irreversible learning deficits, mental retardation, weight loss, weakness, anemia, cognitive dysfunction, and delayed neurological and physical development." pp. 35-36.

"Lead was detected in 35 soil samples at concentrations above the DTSC’s action level of 80 mg/kg (DTSC, 2009).  The highest concentration of lead detected on‐Site was 2,700 mg/kg... Therefore, soil on‐Site that contains concentrations of lead above 80 mg/kg poses a potential health risk for Site occupants." p. 41. (That's right. One soil sample contained nearly 34 times as much lead as is allowed by California's Department of Toxic Substances Control ("DTSC").)

Arsenic
"Arsenic is one of the most toxic elements that can be found.  Humans may be exposed to arsenic through food, water, and air.  Exposure may also occur through skin contact with soil or water that contains arsenic.  Exposure to inorganic arsenic can cause various health effects, such as irritation of the stomach and intestines, decreased production of red and white blood cells, skin changes and lung irritation. It is suggested that the uptake of significant amounts of inorganic arsenic can intensify the chances of cancer development, especially the chances of development of skin cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, and lymphatic cancer. A very high exposure to inorganic arsenic can cause infertility and miscarriages with women, and it can cause skin disturbances, declined resistance to infections, heart disruptions, and brain damage with both men and women. Inorganic arsenic is regulated as a carcinogen." p. 36.

"Arsenic was detected in two soil samples collected... at concentrations above the Site‐specific background level of 15 mg/kg.  Therefore, soil on‐Site that contains arsenic above background levels poses a potential health risk for Site occupants." p. 41.

Pesticides - Dieldrin
"Dieldrin was used extensively as an insecticide on crops such as corn and cotton from the 1950s until 1970. The U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled all uses of dieldrin, as well as aldrin (a structurally similar pesticide) in 1970. In 1972, however, U.S. EPA approved aldrin and dieldrin for killing termites. Use of aldrin and dieldrin to control termites continued until 1987 when the manufacturer voluntarily canceled the registration for use in controlling termites.

People exposed to large amounts of dieldrin experienced convulsions, some had kidney damage, and some died.  Exposure to moderate levels of dieldrin led to headaches, dizziness, irritability, vomiting, or uncontrollable muscle movements. Some sensitive people seemed to have developed an autoimmunity in which dieldrin caused the body to destroy its own blood cells. Results from animal studies showed that dieldrin caused similar effects on the nervous system and on the kidneys to those seen in people. Additional effects on the liver and immune system were also observed in animal studies. More recent data suggest that children may differ from adults in their susceptibility to health effects from dieldrin exposure and may increase children’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The U.S. EPA has classified dieldrin as probable human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in animals." p. 36.

Pesticides - Heptachlor Epoxide 
"Heptachlor epoxide is created when a substance called heptachlor is released to the environment and mixes with oxygen.  Between the 1960s and 1970s heptachlor was used to kill termites found in the home and farmers used it to kill insects found on farm crops, especially corn crops.  In the late 1970s, the use of heptachlor was phased out.  By 1988, the commercial sale of heptachlor was banned in the United States.  The use of heptachlor is restricted to controlling fire ants in power transformers.  There is very little information available about the short‐term exposure to high doses of heptachlor epoxide to humans.  But animal studies show that heptachlor epoxide is very toxic to humans and animals.  Animals that were fed high levels of heptachlor during a short period of time experienced tremors and convulsions.  Not much information is available about the health effects on humans from long‐term exposure to heptachlor epoxide.  But animal studies suggest that long‐term exposure can affect the liver. The U.S. EPA has classified heptachlor as probable human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in animals." p. 37.

"The total excess lifetime cancer risk from dermal contact and soil ingestion" due to chemicals such as dieldrin an heptachlor epoxide at the ECCL site was determined to be five times the acceptable risk level. p. 47.

Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons ("TPH")
"Total petroleum hydrocarbons is a term used to describe a large family of several hundred chemical compounds that originally come from crude oil... some of the more well‐known constituents of TPH‐mo polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons are naphthalene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(a) anthracene, and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene. Some of the TPH compounds can affect the human central nervous system or cause headaches and dizziness at high concentrations in the air. Other TPH compounds can cause effects on the blood, immune system, lungs, skin, and eyes. Animal studies have shown effects on the lungs, central nervous system, liver, and kidney from exposure to TPH compounds. Some TPH compounds have also been shown to affect reproduction and the developing fetus in animals.  Other TPH compounds, such as benzo[a]pyrene, could possibly be carcinogenic to humans." p. 37.

"The health hazards from dermal contact and soil ingestion posed by the" TPH compound levels found on site "indicates that the presence of contamination may pose a significant non‐cancer threat to human health." p. 48.

Volatile Organic Compounds ("VOCs") - Benzene
"Benzene, a volatile organic chemical, is a clear, colorless aromatic liquid.  It is highly flammable... Acute (short‐term) inhalation exposure of humans to benzene may cause drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, as well as eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation, and, at high levels, unconsciousness.  Chronic (long‐term) inhalation exposure has caused various disorders in the blood, including reduced numbers of red blood cells and aplastic anemia, in occupational settings.  Reproductive effects have been reported for women exposed by inhalation to high levels, and adverse effects on the developing fetus have been observed in animal tests.  Increased incidences of leukemia (cancer of the tissues that form white blood cells) have been observed in humans occupationally exposed to benzene.  The U.S. EPA has classified benzene as known human carcinogen for all routes of exposure." pp. 37-38.

Volatile Organic Compounds ("VOCs") - Vinyl Chloride
"Most vinyl chloride is used to make polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) plastic and vinyl products... Acute (short‐term) exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride in air has resulted in central nervous system effects (“CNS”), such as dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches in humans.  Chronic (long‐term) exposure to vinyl chloride through inhalation and oral exposure in humans has resulted in liver damage.  Cancer is a major concern from exposure to vinyl chloride via inhalation, as vinyl chloride exposure has been shown to increase the risk of a rare form of liver cancer in humans. EPA has classified vinyl chloride as a human carcinogen." p. 38.

"The total excess lifetime cancer risk from exposure to VOCs in indoor air posed by" chemicals such as benzene and vinyl chloride was determined to be 4.5 times the acceptable risk level. p. 47.

Methane
"Methane is non‐toxic but may represent a health risk from explosion or asphyxiation if allowed to accumulate in enclosed spaces.  Methane is explosive between the LEL of 5 percent by volume and the Upper Explosive Limit (“UEL”) of 15 percent by volume.  If potentially explosive gas levels are detected, an imminent and substantial danger may exist.  If the concentration of methane becomes extremely high, the oxygen content of the air may become oxygen deprived. Asphyxia may result if the oxygen concentration is reduced to below about 16 percent by displacement..." p. 38.

"Elevated methane levels were detected in the subsurface within the northeastern corner of the Site... The lower explosion limit for methane is 53,000 ppmv or 5 percent. The maximum methane concentration detected in the soil gas at the Site was 83,000 ppmv... indicating the methane may represent a health risk." p. 48. (That's right. Methane was found at levels nearly twice as high as is necessary for it to EXPLODE.)