Lack of Interest By City & Schools Puts Children's Safety at Risk

What Will It Take to Lock The School Security Gate at ECCL? 

A Bad Guy With a Gun?

Opinion

Rebecca Sermeno
Community Services Director

Emery School District begins the new year with an old reoccurring problem: a security gate off the San Pablo Avenue public sidewalk is constantly wide open during school hours, inviting anybody to stroll right in and access any classroom filled with children.  The Tattler has documented this for years now but so far there has been no fix for this easy to solve and potentially calamitous problem.

The school campus is part of a community center known as the Emeryville Center for Community Life (ECCL) and is a joint City/ School District facility.  As such, both the City of Emeryville and Emery Unified are responsible for keeping the children safe there.  The gate that they can’t seem to ever secure is just off the public lobby for both the Community Services Department and the School District. 

Quiauna Scott
Superintendent of the Schools

Rebecca Sermeno, the head of community services for the City and Dr Quiauna Scott, the superintendent of the schools are the two managers responsible for this ongoing problem and they have repeatedly told the Tattler they will fix it but virtually every time we pass by on San Pablo Avenue, we glance over and see the open gate. When we have time to stop and interact, each time the explanation is the same: “We thank you for bringing this to our attention, we take this seriously and we’re going to fix it.”  Then the next time, sometimes the very next day, it’s, “We thank you for bringing this to our attention, we take this seriously and we’re going to fix it”.

After a couple of years of this, it’s obvious they don’t take the children’s safety seriously.  Is it going to take some kind of violent security breach for the responsible employees, the one’s paid to provide safety, to fix this? We don’t think it’s too much to ask that the government keep our children in their care, safe.  Locking a security gate should be the simplest thing to do to provide a basic minimum of security for the children.  It’s sad the Tattler has to report on this.

 Here is a small sampling over the last few months:

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”.  

Guest Column: Former City Councilman John Fricke on the Privatization of Emeryville

The Privatization of Emeryville

By John Fricke

Guest Columnist

Back in high school, I learned about the concept, the tragedy of the commons, which holds that unregulated access to public land will inevitably lead to its degradation.  I’m happy to report that we in Emeryville are not at risk of suffering the tragedy of the commons because our public spaces are being safeguarded for private users, to the exclusion of members of the public.

Dean and John on the smaller
play structure in 2019, now
off-limits to the public.

As a parent of a three-year-old, I am again a frequent visitor to Emeryville’s parks and playgrounds.  My son, Dean, my wife, Andrea, and I often visit the public schoolyard next to our house that is owned by Emeryville’s school district.  The schoolyard includes a large play structure for big kids, and a smaller one for kids closer to Dean’s age.  (When my daughters were Dean’s age, we used to enjoy having access to the schoolyard on the weekends.)  But this site is no longer used by the school district as a public elementary school, and the weekend public access is being curtailed by a private school that occupies the site.  

In 2017, the public elementary school was relocated to the high school site, and the school district struck a deal to lease the original elementary school site to a private school that conducts classes in German.  Rest assured, the school district said, public access to the schoolyard would continue.  Indeed, this promise was memorialized in the lease agreement.  

But ever since the German school occupied the site, the public access has been spotty at best.  Most recently, the German school installed a gate and padlock, preventing public access to the smaller playground, sandlot, and community garden.  

Contrary to the lease, access to the public
is denied.

When I brought this to the attention of the school district’s superintendent, Quiauna Scott, Ed.D., a week went by with no response.  After following up with email and voicemail messages, Dr. Scott responded that she would forward my email message the school district’s facilities person, Jody Clarke; and, to the head of the German school, Rufus Pichler.  This latter action struck me as odd given that my message to Dr. Scott included my many unanswered email messages to Mr. Pichler complaining about the German school’s weekly leaf blower noise on Saturdays.  

Apparently, Mr. Pichler felt no need to respond to repeated messages from a member of the public until the superintendent directed him to do so.  His response?  Threaten a lawsuit.  

“It is unlawful to interfere with our contractual relations in this manner. We hereby give you notice and ask that you cease your unlawful interference.”  -- Rufus Pichler.

As it happens, not only does the lease with the German school require that weekend public access be maintained, it also requires the German school not to engage in annoying behavior, such as hours-long leaf blower noise on Saturdays (often coinciding with Dean’s naptime and his parents’ only quiet time during the day).  

Let me pause here to state the obvious:  there is no need to use a leaf blower at all.  The state of the schoolyard grounds before the leaf-blowing is generally fine, except for small areas that can be taken care of with a broom.  Just because there is a tool that can remove every speck of dust from the ground doesn’t mean that it must be used.  Schools somehow managed to operate quite well before the advent of the leaf-blower.  

Why does the school create this noise pollution on Saturdays?  In an unattributed message I received the German school stated that “this work can only be done on weekends when the school is not in session.”  In other words, the noise pollution is not acceptable when the private school is in session, but it is fine to create noise pollution on the weekends when the public has access to the schoolyard.  Mr. Pichler would have us believe that this creates no deterrent to the neighbors’ use of the schoolyard.  By sheer coincidence, whenever the private school parents and students gather for a weekend activity in the schoolyard, the leaf blower noise does not occur.  

What can we expect from Superintendent Scott?  Will she exercise her authority over the private German school, a tenant of the school district?  

The lease revenue from the private German school (close to half a million dollars for this school year) represents a significant portion of the school district’s budget.  Any school district would jealously guard this revenue stream since it comes with few reporting requirements (unlike the money from the state).  

Dr. Scott’s most recent email message reported that she met with Mr. Pichler.  Dr. Scott provided assurances that the small play structure and garden area will remain accessible to the public on the weekends, subject to the area being assessed.  As for the weekend noise pollution, Dr. Scott assured me that the German school “will make a concerted effort with the landscaper to reduce the amount of time the leafblower is used as practicable.”  (Read:  the German school can continue its leaf-blower noise pollution on the weekends when the public is present, so that noise pollution can be avoided when the private school is in session.)  Did Dr. Scott ask Mr. Pichler the obvious question:  why is the leaf blower necessary?  Inquiring minds want to know.  

Any email message assurances from Mr. Pichler directly?  No.  Will my “unlawful interference” on behalf of the public lead to a lawsuit against me or the school district?  Stay tuned to this bat channel.  

Until public access is restored, I will tell Dean that he can only play on the schoolyard’s play structure designed for older children.  As for the leaf blower noise on the weekends, let’s all bring our ear plugs to the schoolyard.  The tragedy of the commons in Emeryville is not overuse, but denial of public access in favor of private use.  

John Fricke is a longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, and former member of the Emeryville City Council.

March 5th, 47th Street to Transition to Steve Dain Drive

 City Honors Fired Transgender Teacher After Emery School District Balks 

Introducing Steve Dain Drive

School Board Digs In Its Heels Against Honoring Its Fired Teacher

The City of Emeryville has announced it will officially change the name of 47th Street to Steve Dain Drive on March 5th when employees from the public works department add the new signs to the existing street sign posts.  Both the old street name and the new name will be posted for a period of 18 months the City reports but they will start calling the street by its new name in March.  Only the portion of 47th Street West of San Pablo Avenue will get the name change.  

In an announcement made last May, the City took on the task of honoring the late Steve Dain, a teacher at Emery Unified School District who was fired by the district in 1976 after he surgically transitioned from a woman to a man.  City Council members expressed anguish that Emery School Board members had stopped a grassroots drive last year to honor the teacher the district had fired for “immorality” and it was suggested the City could act on its own by renaming the street, correcting the historic wrong. 

The district’s high school is located on the future Steve Dain Drive, the same school where Mr Dain taught 45 years ago.  The AC Transit bus yard is the only other entity that will have a Steve Dain Drive address.

School Board President
Brynnda Collins
Refuses to comment regarding
the district's role in the
firing of its transgender teacher
for "immorality".

The City Council took over the job of acknowledging Mr Dain after the School Board reversed themselves upon having made an initial move towards naming their newly remodeled gym for the fired teacher.  Since then the Board has reneged on a plan to pass an official resolution apologizing for firing the teacher who had once been awarded the title of teacher of the year at Emery.  Notably, the Board’s refusal to acknowledge the wrong done against Mr Dain by the district comes at the same time they have been honing their public message of "inclusionary equity".

The City has not announced plans for any official March celebration associated with the name change but there is talk of a street closing block party perhaps in the fall of 2021, depending on the status of the COVID pandemic by then.

Both AC Transit and Emery Unified School District have been notified of the impending renaming of the street City officials said.

School Board president Brynnda Collins and Superintendent of the Schools Quiauna Scott were both contacted to comment on the refusal of the district to account for the firing of Steve Dain and its failure to apologize but both leaders refused to respond.  

Emery School Board Majority Violates Brown Act (Again)

Again With the Brown Act Violation:

School Board Can't Seem to Get It Right

New Superintendent's Baptism By Fire

Board Member Donn Merriam
Violates the Brown Act routinely,
but at least he's sanctimonious 
about it.

The Emery Unified School District's Board of Trustees, known for their ongoing problems with transparency, especially violations of the government accountability sunshine law known as the Brown Act, again violated central quorum provisions of the Act at a special July 13th emergency meeting, the first meeting attended by Emery's new Superintendent of the Schools.  The District, despite having been repeatedly caught violating the Brown Act over the years and having responded with stepped up training sessions administered by their attorney, has had great difficulty staying within the provisions of the law.  The July 13th meeting, conducted without a proper quorum, is technically void and any decisions made at the meeting are consequently not lawful.  It is unclear if the District will acknowledge the encumbrance such an illegal meeting engenders and calls to the District went unanswered.

In their usual vacation month, in what should have been a simple housekeeping event to cross 'T's and dot 'I's, the Brown Act challenged Emery School Board once again managed to bungle it.

Board Vice President Bailey Langner
She's an attorney who doesn't know
about the Brown Act.

The emergency meeting, a one item meeting, was set to clear up an undisputed procedural exigency regarding election order; an item the previous Superintendent John Rubio likely missed at the last regularly scheduled meeting, incidentally his last at Emery.  The problem stemmed from the fact that two Board members, President Brynnda Collins and Barbara Inch were both out of town and unavailable, however member Baily Langner, also out of town, phoned in to the meeting via telephone conference call from her employer's law firm office in San Francisco.  Only members Donn Merriam and Cruz Vargas were present in the room.  The three Board members conducted the meeting in that configuration but the Brown Act, very clear on such meetings, delineates that it is expressly not legal to have one member calling in (with two members not in attendance) from outside the District's boundaries.

Member Donn Merriam has been on the Board for almost four years and has been present at three different Brown Act trainings and Board Vice President Bailey Langner, the Chair of the July 13th meeting, is an attorney and one would expect her to know about the Brown Act.  Member Cruz Vargas, recently ousted from his position as Board President by his colleagues, read the school bylaws around meeting agenda items and claimed that the other Board members didn't understand them yet he was silent during this meeting.  Mr Merriam, it should be noted, was quite sanctimonious in his denials of his previous violations of the Brown Act even in the face of the Superintendent acknowledging the Board's culpability, as was the case in a particularly egregious event reported on by the Tattler and the East Bay Times in 2015.

Ousted Board President 
Cruz Vargas
Clueless.

This latest bungling of the Brown Act by the Board majority could have reverberations in the upcoming election season.  Both Donn Merriam, who was elected to the School Board in 2014 and Bailey Langner who was appointed to the Board but who's term is up, could be seeking election to their seats this November.  Mr Merriam, who has shown a fondness for developers and who has opposed transparency and audits seems especially vulnerable.  Ms Lagner, in addition to showing a laissez-faire view of the Brown Act and transparency in general has been criticized by parents and teachers for being detached from District concerns.

The July 13th meeting, the first Board meeting attended by Emery's new Superintendent Quiauna Scott represents a veritable baptism by fire for the new Schools Chief, a quick introduction to the lackadaisical view the Board has on transparency and legal mandates.

GOVERNMENT CODE 54953 (3) If the legislative body of a local agency elects to use teleconferencing, it shall post agendas at all teleconference locations and conduct teleconference meetings in a manner that protects the statutory and constitutional rights of the parties or the public appearing before the legislative body of a local agency. Each teleconference location shall be identified in the notice and agenda of the meeting or proceeding, and each teleconference location shall be accessible to the public. During the teleconference, at least a quorum of the members of the legislative body shall participate from locations within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, except as provided in subdivision (d which only applies only to Health Agencies). The agenda shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative body directly pursuant to Section 54954.3 at each teleconference location.