Emery School Board President, Superintendent Called to Account by Local Press

From the Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune:

Daniel Borenstein: Six decades after Brown Act passage, elected leaders still hold 

illegal meetings

By Daniel Borenstein dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com © 2015 Bay Area News Group

Emery Unified School District board member Donn Merriman; John Affeldt, president; John Rubio, superintendent; and Melodi Dice, vice president, clockwise from upper left, are photographed during a board meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, in Emeryville, Calif. The board members and superintendent participated in a Nov. 18 that was in violation of California's open meeting law. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

The principle underlying California's local government open-meeting law is simple: The public's business must be conducted in public. Yet 62 years after the passage of the Brown Act, some elected leaders still don't get it.

The most recent example comes from Emeryville, where a majority of school district trustees met privately with the superintendent and construction manager before a board meeting last month. They say they reviewed costs for a joint city-school district project for which the board later that night approved issuance of another $4.5 million of bonds.

It's amazing that elected officials hold such closed-door gatherings more than six decades after Gov. Earl Warren signed legislation outlawing them. Indeed, these are the very sorts of meetings that led to the Brown Act.

For the rest of the story please click HERE.

Scathing Editorial From Contra Costa Times Excoriates Emery School Board: Brown Act Violation

The local press picks up the Tattler story.  From the Bay Area News Group:

Contra Costa Times editorial: Emeryville school board responded childishly when caught in illegal meeting

Contra Costa Times editorial © 2015 Bay Area News Group

POSTED:   11/30/2015 12:35:00 PM PST0 COMMENTS| UPDATED:   35 MIN. AGO

Emery school district board President John Affeldt, who happens to be a public-advocacy attorney, should know better than to hold a closed-door meeting with a majority of trustees. Photo courtesy of The Emeryville Tattler

It's bad enough that Emeryville school board members blatantly violated the state open-meeting law. But the self-righteous indignation after they were caught was embarrassingly childish.

What's more, their ignorance of the law is nothing short of appalling.

To be sure, parts of California's open-meeting law for local government, known as the Brown Act, are complicated. That's why elected officials should read it before attending closed-door gatherings.

But the private meeting of an Emery Unified School District board majority with Superintendent John Rubio and the district's construction manager was not a close call. It was illegal.

Please read the rest of the editorial HERE

Kurt Brinkman Uses Oakland Tribune to Misinform Emeryville Residents

Former Mayor Spreads Misinformation

on Minimum Wage Debate

Obfuscation and Outright Falsehoods 

Former Emeryville mayor and multi-year Chamber of Commerce Board member Kurt Brinkman is using his position as a community leader to misinform the community in an opinion piece in the Oakland Tribune revealed in that newspaper's 'My Word' section this week.  Mr Brinkman, known to misinform and deceive the public while serving his five year term on the City Council in order to help the business community, told Tribune readers Wednesday the City Council is forgoing transparency and businesses are being left out of deliberations regarding a proposal to raise the minimum wage in Emeryville, a false statement.  Additionally, he says the Council's lack of intimate knowledge about small business is corrupting their judgement, rhetorically asking, "who on the Emeryville City Council has ever hired an employee, run a business or made payroll?", a dismissal of one Council member's 25 year proprietorship.

Mr Brinkman says he is concerned about Emeryville's small business and he tells the Tribune readers Emeryville's small businesses will not be given a phase-in period with the proposed wage increase, another patently false statement.  He also disregards the two City Hall public meetings held on this topic so far stating that the Council is turning a "deaf ear" on small business by conducting only one meeting.

Kurt Brinkman
Oakland small business 
owner has met a payroll 
for 18 years.

Also in the Tribune opinion piece, former Mayor Brinkman goes on to say Emeryville and other cities should not institute minimum wage laws on their own but instead defer to the State of California and its minimum wage, now pegged at $9 per hour.  He ventures Emeryville businesses will be "put out of business" or driven out of town, precisely the same charge he made as a Chamber of Commerce Board member in 2005 against the last minimum wage increase for Emeryville's hotel workers.  Mr Brinkman was part of a concerted $140,000 effort by the Chamber of Commerce to stop the wage increase for the hotel workers enacted as a result of the passage of the Emeryville ballot initiative Measure C.  At the time, Mr Brinkman and the Chamber assured residents the four  Emeryville hotels would go bankrupt or flee to Oakland or Berkeley as a result of the wage increase.  In the intervening years, Emeryville has approved the building of hotel number five, all paying their workers the higher wages, hardly the destruction of the hospitality industry Mr Brinkman predicted.   For his remarkable lack of prescience in the Measure C fight, Kurt Brinkman has steadfastly refused to comment.

The Tattler has long chronicled Mr Brinkman's ethical transgressions to further big business interests at the expense of Emeryville's small business on the dais at the Emeryville City Council.   In 2011, Councilman Brinkman joined colleague Nora Davis in an action to stop a citizen led initiative drive to remove Emeryville's infamous business tax cap, a law that makes small business pay a higher rate of taxes than big business in town.  The tax cap, still in place, forces Emeryville's small businesses to subsidize big businesses.

Councilman Scott Donahue
Emeryville small business
owner has met a payroll
for 25 years.

Last year, after voting to move Measures U&V (a pair of 'charter city' and real estate transfer tax initiatives) forward from the dais, Councilman Brinkman joined a failed $100,000 effort by the California Association of Realtors (CAR) to stop the Measures, stating Emeryville will effectively be destroyed if voters pass the Measures.  Mr Brinkman lent a hand to the Sacramento lobbying entity CAR by robo calling every Emeryville voter, a spiel that contained many factual errors and misleading tropes.

Current Councilman Scott Donahue took the opportunity to set the record straight regarding Mr Brinkman's erroneous comment about the Council's lack of business experience, "To answer Kurt's question, I've had a small business in Emeryville since 1990, employing over 20 people intermittently.  I've met my payroll obligations for my employees during all that time and I'm fully aware of the employee costs to small businesses" the Councilman said.

The public will get another chance (number three) to weigh in on this minimum wage proposal on April 7th at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting.

Emeryville Prostitution Ring Broken Up

From the Oakland Tribune:

Four arrested in Emeryville prostitution sting

By Harry Harris Oakland Tribune

POSTED:   12/12/2014 11:46:40 AM PST0 COMMENTS| UPDATED:   44 MIN. AGO

EMERYVILLE -- Four suspects who thought they had successfully bribed an Emeryville police captain to look the other way have been charged for running a sex-trafficking ring at a spa where hundreds of Asian women worked as prostitutes, officials said.

Arrested on Thursday were Rong Liu, 37, of San Francisco, the suspected spa operator and her boyfriend Jimmy Gongyan Lee, 55, of San Francisco, who was co-owner of the spa. Also arrested were Tom Loi, 59, of San Francisco, a business associate of Lee's and Wei Kuang, 55, the on-site doorman who collected a $60 fee so "johns" could choose women for sex.

Authorities said customers paid between $80 and $160 for different sex acts with the women, who in turn paid a portion to Kuang, authorities said. There was no time limit about how long the men could be with the women.

The four face state charges of pimping, pandering, bribery and tax fraud, and Lee and Loi are also facing federal charges, according to a news release from state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The investigation, which started in March 2012, targeted the Acucare Oriental Massage, which was located at 3900 Adeline St. before closing earlier this year.

Emeryville police were approached by agents from the Department of Homeland Security, who suspected that a human trafficking prostitution operation that generated $1 million in annual revenue was being run at the spa.

Over the years, suspected prostitutes had been arrested at the spa but the goal of the investigation was to identify and prosecute the owners and operators, authorities said

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The investigation led by Emeryville police, Homeland Security and the state Department of Justice uncovered an alleged network of human trafficking, drug sales and bribery of a public official.

Women in their 20s to 40s from China, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Korea would enter the United States through New York and Los Angeles. The women would work as prostitutes at a circuit of spas around the U.S. that including Acucare, which was considered a main hub, authorities said.

Police said customers heard about Acucare through word-of-mouth. They would pay Kuang $60 at the door to view women and select one.

Between four and seven women worked at the spa and were rotated every two or three weeks so there would be fresh faces, Emeryville police said.

A few weeks after the probe began, authorities said Loi contacted Emeryville police Capt. Dante Diotalevi, commander of the investigation unit and offered him $2,000 a month to keep police from busting the operation. Diotalevi played along, documenting a total $24,000 in transactions with audio and video recordings.

Emeryville police conducted thousands of hours of investigation and surveillance assisting the other two agencies.

On June 5, the three agencies along with the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office served search warrants at the spa and Lee's San Francisco home and another home linked to Lee in Mariposa.

In addition to evidence corroborating the prostitution operation, authorities recovered $69,000 in cash, guns and numerous marijuana plants from the sites. Authorities believe Lee was selling the marijuana.

Police said that shortly after the search warrants were served in June, the new owners of the property housing the spa had the building demolished. It is currently a pit with the foundation for a new apartment building.

Harris said in the news release: "Human trafficking is one of the world's most profitable criminal enterprises, and it is having a devastating impacting right here in our own backyard. Each year, thousands of women and children of all ages and backgrounds are forced into labor and prostitution. I thank our local, state and federal partners for fighting this serious threat and bringing these perpetrators to justice."

Center of 'Community' Life Press Release Featured in Oakland Tribune

An Emery School District press release posted in today's Oakland Tribune:

Emeryville: $90 million project combines schools, city services By Doug Oakley doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com EMERYVILLE -- This little city wedged between Oakland and Berkeley is combining its school system with city services in a $90 million project that will offer K-12 education, health, and recreation all in one spot. Construction on the city-schools partnership, called Emeryville Center of Community Life, started about a year ago, and when it is completed will include elementary and high schools for 700 students, a public swimming pool, a health clinic, a library, a recreation center and teen and senior centers. "It's a big deal for this little town," said Emeryville City Manager Sabrina Landreth. "The whole idea is to wrap our arms around residents from infants to seniors." Landreth said the project on San Pablo Avenue, between 47th and 53rd streets, has been in the "vision stages" for about 12 years and once carried a $200 million price tag. She said the city, which has about 10,000 residents, had to get a state law passed to allow the school and community centers to be used and financed together. A gymnasium and the swimming pool will be finished next summer, and the high school, called Emery Secondary School, will open in November or December 2015, said Landreth. High school classes currently are held in Oakland's Santa Fe Elementary School on 54th Street. "The priority is to get the high schoolers in as soon as possible," Landreth said. "The elementary school will open in the spring of 2016, and the library, the city's first, will open sometime around summer or fall of 2016." Classes for K-8 grades are currently held at the city's Anna Yates Elementary School on 41st Street. Landreth said the school has entered into a partnership with LifeLong Medical Care to run the health center. "Eventually, that will be a full community wellness center," Landreth said. Emeryville schools Superintendent John Rubio said the school district is putting about $70 million toward construction of the project and the city the remaining $20 million. Emeryville voters in 2010 approved property tax-funded bonds that will cover construction costs, Rubio said. And unlike other school districts who guard their schools from students living outside the area, Emeryville takes all-comers, Rubio said. Sometimes up to 75 percent of the city's students come from Oakland, he said. "They do have to get permission from their home district to come here, because we welcome them if we have the space," Rubio said. "If there are families that believe their children might be more successful at one of our schools, then we're open to it." Contact Doug Oakley at 925-234-1699. Follow him at Twitter.com/douglasoakley.

Guest Commentary: Measures U&V Vital for Emeryville

From the Oakland Tribune:

Guest commentary:  November election will dictate Emeryville's future By Nancy Bickel and Barb Singleton  Oakland Tribune  My Word POSTED:   10/20/2014 11:58:46 AM PDT Emeryville voters face an important choice Nov. 4.  Will they vote to increase their city's taxing authority and raise taxes so that the city can maintain and improve its services? The future of Emeryville as a growing and thriving small city is at stake. In 2011, during the economic downturn, Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature dissolved all the redevelopment agencies in California. Emeryville lost $30 million, half of its annual budget.  Because of Prop. 13 and related laws, Emeryville doesn't have many options to replace the lost income. The city's proposal is to change Emeryville from a "general law" city into a "charter city" for the limited purpose of getting the authority to create a property transfer tax.  This is Measure U on the November ballot.  In addition, the city proposes Measure V, which would create the local property transfer tax itself.  The tax rate would be $12 for each $1,000 of sale value. Right now, Emeryville is a general law city and follows the laws of the state of California. Real property transfer tax rates for general law cities are set by the county and limited by state general law to no more than $1.10 per $1,000 of the sale price.  Emeryville receives half -- or 55 cents. The other half goes to the county. Income from the new property transfer tax would begin to replace the funding lost when the state dissolved all redevelopment programs.  Since the income will depend on the number and value of property sales in future years, the income cannot be predicted accurately. But here's an example. In 2013, Emeryville collected $130,342 in property transfer tax revenue. If Emeryville had been a charter city with a local transfer tax rate of $12 per $1,000, the city would have received $2.843 million.  Eighty-five percent of that income would have come from sales of commercial property.  The proposed Emeryville rate is lower than the $15 per $1,000 property transfer tax rate in the neighboring charter cities, Berkeley and Oakland. The tax would be spent in Emeryville, where residents' homes and buildings are located, and would greatly benefit residents and property owners.  It would help keep essential city services like police, fire and emergency services running well; keep parks, sewers and storm drains in good shape; develop and maintain open space; provide programs for younger children, youth and seniors, and more. Measures U and V would maintain and enhance the value of all the individual homes and commercial properties bought and sold in the city.  An organization called Citizens to Preserve Emeryville, No on Measures U and V, supported by realtors with a Sacramento address, and which has received $60,000 from the National Association of Realtors, is campaigning against U and V.  We assume that the national organization just doesn't like taxes on real property and doesn't want them to go up -- anywhere. Emeryville residents should use their own judgment about what's good for their own city. The League of Women Voters thinks Measures U and V are worth the cost -- to current and future property owners and to all Emeryville residents -- because they will keep Emeryville a vital and healthy city. For more information, visit www.lwvbae.org. Just look for Measure U and Measure V. Read the measures at www.SmartVoter.org. We urge you to vote Nov. 4 and to vote yes on Emeryville's ballot Measures U and V. Nancy Bickel is President and Barb Singleton is Voter Services Team Representative in Emeryville of League of Women Voters Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville.

Measure K School Tax Called "Ridiculous" by Oakland Tribune

From Tuesday's Oakland Tribune:

Oakland Tribune editorial: Emeryville Measure K parcel tax extension for 23 years is ridiculous

Oakland Tribune editorial © 2014 Bay Area News Group

Emeryville voters should reject Measure K, the extension of a school parcel tax until 2037. That's ridiculously long.

The tax, 15 cents per square foot, works out to $300 annually for a 2,000-square-foot building. It applies to residential and commercial properties. The revenues help make the Emery district one of the state's best-funded.

The tax dates back to 2009, when California school financing was bleaker. New state funding formulas are radically reshaping school revenues with uncertain outcomes. This is no time to lock in a 23-year tax.

The current tax expires in 2017. The district should wait until 2016, see how much money it needs then and, if necessary, go back to voters seeking an extension for a reasonable period of time.

Former Emery School Superintendant Tony Smith: Teachers Unions Must Be Destroyed

The Long Shadow Cast By Tony Smith

"We're Doing What's Best for the Children"

Opinion

Remember, I only want what's
best for the children.
(Repeat often)

Recently there's been a national debate begun about public education and while charter schools, most operating at the expense of public schools have proliferated and teachers unions have come under attack on many fronts, public education supporters have begun to push back against this concerted push to privatize the nation's public schools.  At Emery Unified School District however, the course was set years ago and Emery has played its own small role in this conservative attempt to cripple public education, especially where that attempt seeks to destroy teachers unions.  To see this one only needs to look to the legacies of former superintendents of its schools Tony Smith and the recently deposed Debbra Lindo.

Even though they had the same goals in mind, of the two former superintendents, the great mentor and architect-in-chief of Emery's slide into it's current anti-teacher state of affairs is inarguably Tony Smith.  His shadow is long and even though he left Emery years ago to command Oakland Unified and has since left there amid a witness tampering scandal, Tony Smith and his school privatization philosophy continues unabashedly to serve as guiding principles for Emery.  The School Board here is quite clear about their tutelage by Tony Smith, proud even.

Ditto.

While at Oakland, Tony's divisive anti-democratic program of cutting, shutting and chartering schools while taking on the teachers caused a massive grassroots citizen's push back.  He is revered nonetheless by the Emery School Board and they have even picked up some of his affectations: think the oft publicly repeated and ever popular "we're doing what's best for the children" as a way of shutting down those who would disagree, as in; what YOU'RE advocating then must therefore be by definition NOT what's best for the children.

After Tony left Emery, the School Board looked to find a permanent replacement and they ultimately found a near carbon copy in Debbra Lindo (except she lacks Tony's easy going and chipper personality).  Tony's influence was evident as Debbra Lindo and her Board surrogates began their siege against Emery teachers following the release of the Teachers Resolution in 2012.

Mega ditttos.

The Emeryville duo Tony 'n Debbra have now very publicly entered the national debate with their support in the Los Angeles Superior Court's infamous Vergara case.  They tell us that everything will be great if we just tie teacher's pay to high stakes 'bubble' test outcomes, kill due process for teacher's employment and make their jobs teeter on the whims of unelected superintendents.  We'll get the best and the brightest apparently if we de-professionalize teaching: sever their job security, cut pay and make their fates dependent on things beyond their control.


Below is a recent letter to the Oakland Tribune from Tony Smith (filled with right wing memes and dog whistles) that might seem sincere to the uninitiated. To those following the Emery School Board (Tony's begats)  however, it's just part of the continuing attack on and privatize of public education.  Here is Tony Smith, the Great Man to Emery Unified continuing to release his toxic brand of divisive politics even as he has decamped to Chicago, some 2000 miles distant:

Guest commentary:  

Let's start protecting all of our students

By Tony Smith, guest commentary © 2014 Bay Area News Group
POSTED:   03/30/2014 04:00:00 PM
California's education laws are currently designed to almost unconditionally protect a group of adults -- teachers -- at the expense of our children.
And students living in poverty -- those most in need of every opportunity our public schools can offer -- are being disproportionately punished by these laws. The system tells them: sorry, teachers' jobs are more important than your education and your future.
Is that right?
No, it isn't, say the nine students who brought the Vergara v. California case, currently awaiting a ruling in Los Angeles Superior Court. The students are suing the state because five state laws are denying them -- and the other 6.2 million California public school students like them -- their constitutional right to a quality education.
If the court agrees, then the dysfunctional statutes controlling teacher tenure, dismissal and layoffs will be struck down, creating a transformational opportunity to design a new system that puts students' needs first, ensures a high-quality teacher in every classroom and helps all Californians see a better future.
Supporting our teachers really matters. Effective teachers are essential for a well-educated California. Under current laws, though, the system fails to make effective teaching a priority, creating an environment that's bad for both hardworking teachers and students.
The tenure law forces administrators to grant lifetime employment to new teachers after less than 16 months in the classroom. I am aware of no other profession where someone is granted protected status in such a short time and without any real evidentiary basis for the decision.
Once permanent employment is granted, it is nearly impossible to dismiss ineffective teachers for any reason other than criminal activity. The dismissal process is so cumbersome and costly that in the past 10 years, only 19 teachers out of California's 1,052 school districts have been successfully terminated through the dismissal process for reasons including unsatisfactory performance.
When funding reductions instigate layoffs, administrators are not allowed to base staffing decisions on the quality of a teacher's service to children. The primary factor that may be considered is how long he or she has been employed by the district, so every year a district has layoffs, children lose passionate, hardworking, effective teachers -- just because they lack seniority.
As superintendent of Oakland Unified School District, I had to explain why excellent teachers were being let go, while parents pleaded and begged, saying, "Please, please keep this teacher. You don't understand what this year has been like for my child. This is one of the most extraordinary educators I've ever seen in my life."
But under the law, there is nothing we can do to keep that extraordinary educator.
Is the system I just described a system focused on what's best for children?
Not to me.
A system that prioritizes meeting the needs of California's students -- as the state constitution demands -- would focus on enhancing educational quality before protecting seniority.
A system that truly puts students' learning first would evaluate how well our students are doing and how much growth they are making.
We would discuss how to help teachers develop their practice, using growth in student learning as the primary data guiding our efforts.
When teachers demonstrate effective work in service of students, we would do everything in our power to enhance that work and reward those teachers. And when a few adults are consistently failing our children in the classroom, we would hold them accountable.
In a district like the Oakland Unified School District, where I served as superintendent for four years, 70 percent of students come from low-income households. Our students face serious challenges outside of school. For many students, the road leads either to graduation or incarceration. Having caring, attentive, effective teachers along the road makes all the difference.
Let's not lose sight of the goal of our public schools: to ensure that every child in the state has access to a good education, so every child can participate and thrive in our society.
I hope the Vergara student-plaintiffs are victorious in court. I hope the Vergara case marks a turning point in the trajectory of public education in California. Let's make a true commitment to current and future students: educational excellence, starting with an effective teacher in every classroom.

Tony Smith is a former superintendent of Oakland Unified School District.

Emery School Board "Still Refuses" to Say Why Superintendent No Longer Leading

From the Oakland Tribune:

Our Communities in Brief

POSTED:   01/24/2014 06:10:12 PM PST | UPDATED:   ABOUT 19 HOURS AGO

Emeryville

School district leader set to retire early

The Emery Unified School District still refuses to say why Superintendent Debbra Lindo is no longer leading the two-school district, but the school board confirmed Friday that she is officially retiring as of this month -- six months ahead of the schedule she had announced in October.

The board also announced that it has hired not just one, but two former Emeryville superintendents to guide the city's schools until a permanent replacement is chosen. John Quinn and John Sugiyama will work together to serve as interim superintendent through the end of the 2014 school year.

Lindo's unexpectedly early departure followed an unusual series of closed-session school board meetings that began in December. "We wish her all the best in her future endeavors," said a written board statement Friday that also thanked Lindo for her service.

-- Matt O'Brien, Staff

Local Press Picks Up Emery School Superintendent Dismissal Mystery

The Oakland Tribune picks up on the Emery School Superintendent story.  Readers should know however, that the opening sentence is misleading: the School Board has not told parents that Superintendent Debra Lindo is gone.  There has been no word at all from the School District about this except at a sparsely attended School Board meeting.  Parents have heard that Ms Lindo is on leave from the Tattler.   
From the Oakland Tribune:

Emeryville school superintendent on unexplained leave

By Matt O'Brien
Oakland Tribune

POSTED:   01/14/2014 06:13:30 AM PST | UPDATED:   101 MIN. AGO

EMERYVILLE -- School board members told confused Emeryville parents last week that the superintendent is on leave and the board has brought back a former administrator to guide the tiny, two-school district over the coming months.

The superintendent, Debbra Lindo, announced in late October that she would be retiring, but not until June 30 -- allowing eight months for the Emery Unified School District to search for her replacement.

That schedule suddenly changed after elected school board members held an unusual series of closed-session meetings that began on the Saturday morning before Christmas and continued through Thursday night last week. School officials have refused to explain why Lindo is gone, citing the confidentiality of personnel discussions, but announced that John Quinn, who led the district a decade ago, has been hired as an "administrative adviser" until a new superintendent is selected.

The secrecy surrounding Lindo's departure has angered some parents who demanded more information at a public meeting last week.

"We had a superintendent on Monday. We don't have one tonight," said Marie Henry, a parent at Anna Yates Elementary School who spoke out at a Wednesday board meeting, according to video posted online by the Emeryville Property Owners Association.

"We as parents and community members deserve some sort of an explanation," Henry said.

Lindo could not be reached for comment. A vague statement published on the district's website Thursday said that "in the interest of a smooth transition ... the board is exploring options that impact the timing of Superintendent Lindo's retirement."

She took the helm of the troubled district in 2011, just as it was emerging from a decadelong state takeover. School board members stood behind her in 2012 after the Emeryville teachers' union voted "no confidence" in her leadership in a resolution blaming her for low morale and harmful cutbacks.

A longtime educator, Lindo was the chief executive for four years of an Oakland-based nonprofit group, College Track. She has also been a teacher, principal and a high-level administrator in Palo Alto and Oakland.

Lindo made about $180,000 in gross salary as Emeryville's superintendent last year, and the cost for the district to employ her was nearly $221,000, according to annual salary data the school district released Friday.

Beginning on Dec. 21 and continuing on Dec. 23, 27 and 30 and Jan. 3 and 9, the school board held special closed-session meetings, most of which included an agenda item to "discuss employee discipline/dismissal/release," according to a calendar on the district's website. Also discussed was the appointment of someone who could provide interim services as a "coach/mentor/consultant/adviser" to the board.

Quinn, whose interim role begins immediately, was a state-appointed leader of the Emery school district in 2003 and 2004 while the district was trying to steer itself out of bankruptcy. The district fell under the state's financial control when it was granted a $1.3 million emergency loan in 2001. It returned to local control in 2011 and is now in the middle of a major construction project to build the Emeryville Center of Community Life, an education complex along San Pablo Avenue that will encompass the entire K-12 school district.

For now, with their old school being bulldozed, Emeryville high school students are taking classes in Oakland's former Santa Fe Elementary School building, just a block or so from the Emeryville-Oakland border.

Unidentified Man Targets Emery School Child

The following story about a predator targeting Emery school children comes from the Oakland Tribune.  Normally, a school district would have interest in letting parents and other citizens know about this kind of thing to help bolster vigilance and catch pedophile perpetrators.  Emery Unified School District however hasn't said a word about this, so the Tattler now takes up the slack.
From The Oakland Tribune:

Emeryville: Police looking for man who tried to pick up teen girl

By Katie Nelson

Oakland Tribune

POSTED:   11/20/2013 03:35:57 PM PST | UPDATED:   A DAY AGO

EMERYVILLE -- Police are on the lookout for a man who attempted numerous times to pick up a teenager on her way to Emery High School Wednesday.

Around 8 a.m., the girl was walking on the 4100 block of Adeline Street on her way to school when a black male in a newer-model black Mustang drove up to her, according to Emeryville police. The man allegedly asked the teen if she knew how to braid hair, but rather than respond, the girl kept walking, police said.

The man then drove around the block and again slowed down in his car and attempted to speak to the teenager a second time, asking her where she went to school. Again, the girl did not answer him.

The man circled the block once more before once again slowing to talk to the teen. According to police, the girl said the man asked her if she was "a square" and if she smoked.

The girl made it to Emery High School and called police. The man was described as a black male adult, between 35 and 45 years old. His Mustang had a thick, gray stripe on the hood and the inside portion of the tires' rims were red. The girl also said a female child was in the back seat and appeared to be about 5 years old.

Anyone with information on the incident can contact Emeryville police at 510-596-3700.

Governor Brown Signs Law Making Emery School Financing Illegal

Governor Brown signed a bill Wednesday, now law, that forbids school districts across California from abusing taxpayers via capital appreciation school construction bonds (CABs), the same type of bond financing Emery Unified School District recently approved for the Center of Community Life.  The School Board at Emery worked feverishly to get its CAB financing locked in before the new law took effect.  
The Board wished to close the popular Anna Yates Elementary School and move the children over to the new school site on San Pablo Avenue but because Emeryville's Assessed Valuation had sunk during the recession, it was only possible for the School District to borrow $48 million (not including interest) by normal bond financing.  That amount was enough to build a new high school but not a new elementary school as well.  Emery turned to Capital Appreciation financing to build a new elementary school for an extra $70 million paid over 32 years.  
The School Board's CAB financing, if attempted today, would be illegal.  Since the School Board got its CAB sold just under the wire, two generations of Emeryville taxpayers will be paying back this debt at onerous interest.  Emeryville as it turns out, has the dubious distinction of being among the last taxpayers statewide saddled with CAB financing.
From the Oakland Tribune:

Brown signs law prevents schools from incurring huge bond debt

By Sharon Noguchi snoguchi@mercurynews.com

POSTED:   10/02/2013 01:01:46 PM PDT | UPDATED:   ABOUT 4 HOURS AGO

A law signed Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown will prevent school districts from issuing ultra-long-term bonds that saddle taxpayers with huge repayment debt.

AB 182 restricts schools and community college districts in issuing capital appreciation bonds, which can delay repayment for decades and can require huge balloon payments 30 or 40 years later.

The new law, authored by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, limits total debt service to four times the principal, limits the duration to 25 years and requires that deals permit early repayment on bonds that mature after 10 years.

The law also requires schools to disclose terms and costs of capital appreciation bonds, known as CABs; how costs compare to the cost of regular bonds and the repayment ratio.

The Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury has criticized districts for burdening taxpayers with those bonds. The Luther Burbank School District in San Jose, for example, raised $7.5 million through four capital appreciation bonds that will cost more than $40 million to pay off.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the new law "ensures school districts no longer can heap outrageous debt burdens on the backs of future generations of taxpayers."

-- Sharon Noguchi, staff

Shooting on San Pablo Avenue

From the Oakland Tribune:

Emeryville: Man shot on San Pablo Avenue

By Katie Nelson Oakland Tribune

POSTED:   09/07/2013 09:17:33 PM PDT | UPDATED:   25 MIN. AGO

EMERYVILLE -- A man is in stable condition after being shot twice on San Pablo Avenue Saturday afternoon, police said.

Around 3:50 p.m., Emeryville police received several reports of shots fired on San Pablo Avenue.

Once officers were on scene, they found an adult male who had been shot twice. However, police said the man's wounds were not life threatening and on Saturday night, he was in stable condition and recovering at a hospital.

A silver vehicle, possibly a hatchback, was seen leaving the area after the shooting.

Anyone with any information should call the Emeryville Police Department at 510-596-3700.

Contact Katie Nelson at knelson@bayareanewsgroup.com and follow her atTwitter.com/katienelson210