IN A RITUAL just like ones occurring at school districts throughout California, two new board members within the West Contra Costa Unified Faculty District together with a reelected incumbent have been sworn in on the board’s last assembly of the yr — because it braced itself to tackle the quite a few challenges that await it in 2025.
Not in contrast to its bigger neighbors in Oakland and San Francisco, these challenges embrace declining enrollments, price range deficits, and threatened deportation of undocumented immigrants affecting an unknown variety of households within the district.
The district, which incorporates Richmond, El Cerrito, San Pablo and a number of other different East Bay communities, was capable of traverse its most quick problem — discovering college board members to fill the three seats that have been on the November poll. Solely one of many seats was contested, and within the different two, the candidates had no opponent, and didn’t even have to look on the poll.
Guadalupe Enllana, a Richmond native and group advocate, was sworn in on the Dec. 18 board assembly to characterize Space 2, which covers the Richmond space, one of many almost dozen cities within the East Bay communities throughout the district’s boundaries. She beat incumbent Otheree Christian, working for his second time period, with almost 55% of the vote.
Cinthia Hernandez, who ran unopposed, changed eight-year incumbent Mister Phillips in Space 3, which covers the San Pablo space. Incumbent Jamela Smith-Folds, who represents Pinole and Hercules in Space 1, was additionally sworn in for her second time period, after working unopposed for the seat.
The sample of unopposed college board seats is one that’s occurring throughout the state. An EdSource evaluation discovered that out of 1,510 college board races it analyzed, in almost half of them a candidate’s title didn’t seem on final November’s poll, both as a result of nobody was working for the seat or as a result of a single candidate was working unopposed — making that individual an on the spot winner.
Searching for a pacesetter
One of many greatest choices the West Contra Costa board will make is hiring a everlasting superintendent. On the Dec. 18 assembly, longtime district worker Kim Moses attended her first assembly as interim superintendent, after being appointed by the board in October shortly after Superintendent Kenneth “Chris” Hurst introduced he can be retiring in December after greater than three years within the job. Hurst stated he was leaving to handle his mother-in-law, who he stated was dealing with “serious health challenges.”
Moses, a West Contra Costa alumna who graduated from Kennedy Excessive Faculty in Richmond, labored within the district for 18 out of the greater than 30 years she’s been in training, most lately as its superintendent of enterprise providers. She labored for years as a instructor in Oakland, after which as vice principal and principal within the district.
“I welcome our new trustees. I actually really look forward to working with both of you,” stated present board member Demetrio Gonzalez Hoy. “You’re coming in at a time when the board was fairly divided, as you both know. My hope is that with this change of two new board members that it would lead to us working in collaboration.”
One of many greatest rifts this yr was throughout a June assembly when the board didn’t go the district’s Native Management Accountability Plan (LCAP) by the top of the fiscal yr in June. The LCAP is a required doc that describes how funds from the state will likely be spent, particularly on low-income college students and English learners. As a result of the board didn’t approve the LCAP, they may not vote on its annual price range because the accountability plan should go first.
“We have to make sure that every decision that we’re making on the board is student-focused, because if the students aren’t here, then we have no seat at the table. We really need to learn how to communicate with parents, and it’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach.”
Guadalupe Enllana, WCCUSD board trustee
It’s believed to be the primary time {that a} district has didn’t approve its LCAP by the state-imposed deadline. As then-Superintendent Hurst stated on the time, “This is an unprecedented event in the state of California.”
In a frenzy of exercise district, county and state leaders needed to work collectively to determine the subsequent steps, difficult by the truth that the state’s training code doesn’t spell out clearly what occurs when a board doesn’t approve its accountability plan earlier than June 30. After making revisions, the board was capable of approve the up to date plan on Aug. 28, almost two months after the same old deadline.
On the Dec. 18 assembly, the newly constituted board was capable of resolve its first cut up vote, this one for board president. Gonzalez Hoy and one other incumbent board member, Leslie Reckler, have been each nominated for the place, to switch outgoing board President Smith-Folds, whose time period as president had expired. Reckler was elected to the place, voting for herself together with Enllana and Hernandez. She’s going to serve for one yr.
Causes for working
As a mom of 4 kids, first-time board member Enllana stated she had to determine how you can navigate totally different packages within the district and advocate particularly for her youngster who has particular wants. It’s what motivated her to run a second time to be on the board after working unsuccessfully in 2020.
“As parents, we are really left in the dark sometimes about decisions being made on the board that directly affect their children,” she stated in an interview with EdSource. “I was a teen mom and at the time (and my child), having special needs, made it really difficult to navigate the (special education) department, how to advocate, and how to get the information I needed and how to ask for it.”
Enllana stated her high precedence is to rent a superintendent who values transparency, communicates effectively with the board and group, and prioritizes data-driven options.
“We have to make sure that every decision that we’re making on the board is student-focused, because if the students aren’t here, then we have no seat at the table,” Enllana stated. “We really need to learn how to communicate with parents, and it’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach.”
As a daughter of Mexican immigrants, Enllana stated she’s additionally hoping to raised attain the Spanish-speaking group and have interaction them in what’s occurring on the district degree in addition to their kids’s colleges.
On the assembly, newly inducted board member Hernandez stated she grew up going to West Contra Costa colleges and is concentrated on providing extra transparency to households.
“I’m also dedicated to creating more access to our families and creating resources and making sure our families are walking with us every step of the way,” Hernandez stated.
The defeat of Otheree Christian means there may be now just one Black member on the board, in distinction to the three on the earlier board. Of its roughly 30,000 college students, almost 60% are Latino, 14% are Asian, 11.5% are Black, and 9.1% are white. Twenty years in the past, almost 30% of the coed physique was Black.
Louis Freedberg contributed to this story.
This story initially appeared in EdSource.
