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Piedmont resident John Roberts explains why he wants to be on the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) Board of Directors:

I, John Roberts, am a candidate for the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) – Ward 2.

My ‘CAT’ platform stands for Community, Accessibility, and Transparency. Community involvement makes for the best parks, and helps the essence of democracy flourish.  Accessability provides park visitors fair treatment despite socioeconomic, race, handicap, or recreational diversity.  Transparency means the public should be informed of all park decisions because we all fund its function through our tax dollars.  In essence, if my platform were implemented, the structural updates would ensure the community was being heard, park visitors were greatly served and treated equally, and our taxes were being used efficiently.  For more information, please see the tabs above covering different topics, or for a one-page summary, please see my Candidate Statement.

I am married to Amie Garcia and we have three children, Yanela (13), Andres (11), and Emilio (5).  We enjoy visiting our nearby parks, as well as camping in the Sierras.  We also love various types of recreation.  My father served in the U.S. Navy aboard a ship during WWII, my mother is Mexican, and I was born and raised on the border in Baja California, Mexico.  I am fluent in Spanish and also have a working knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese.  I have a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at San Diego, a Master of Finance degree from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, and hold the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designations.  I work for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as a Senior Complex Financial Institution Specialist.   I conduct continuous bank monitoring, participate in examinations, and cover risk areas such as operations, audit, and regulatory reporting.  I earn a fixed salary yet make recommendations that can adversely affect the salary prospects of bankers who make millions; I do this to protect our deposits from bankers taking undue risks. This experience will help me advocate at EBRPD for the little guy, the visitors of our parks.

Ward 2 represents most of Oakland, Piedmont, Canyon, Moraga, Orinda, Orinda Village, Rheem Valley, Lafayette, Rossmoor, and part of Walnut Creek.  Parks in this ward include: portion of Briones, Anthony Chabot (north of Keller Avene if extended east), Claremont Canyon, Huckleberry, Leona Open Space, a small portion of Las Trampas, Redwood, Roberts, Sibley, and Temescal.

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I am running because the East Bay Regional Park District has only about 24 miles of tight singletrack for mountain bikes and almost half of that is in one park, Crockett Hills Regional Park, even though the EBRPD reports to have 65 parks, and over one thousand miles of trails.  I, of course, am an avid mountain biker after I hurt my knee and can no longer hike.  I often ride with my kids, one of which rides with a middle school mountain bike team.

John Roberts, EBRPD Candidate and Piedmont Resident

Go to the link below for photos and campaign information.

www.JohnRobertsDemocracy.com.

Editors Note: PCA does not support or oppose candidates for public office. 

Campaign information –

To view Levine’s endorsers click here. 

To view Levine’s website click here.

Editors Note:  PCA does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

We have known Sarah Pearson, an incumbent running for Piedmont School Board re-election, as a friend and fellow community volunteer for most of the decade we have lived in Piedmont.  The qualities we most value in Sarah as a school board member are:  her deep connections in the community which allow her to readily gather input and feedback; her collaborative and transparent approach to problem-solving; her commitment to thoughtful and thorough decision-making; her openness to new ideas and willingness to ask questions; her tireless energy, wit, compassion and intelligence.  In her first school board term, we believe Sarah has been an effective and constructive leader during a time of enormous change in the district in terms of budgetary challenges, leadership transitions and curriculum change, to the benefit of our students in terms of performance and wellness.  We hope you’ll join us in casting a vote for Sarah Pearson for School Board on November 8.

Susan Miller-Davis and Jonathan Davis, Piedmont Residents

Editors Note: Opinions expressed are those of the authors.  PCA does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

 November 8, 2016 General Election

Alameda County Registrar of Voters

  On September 14, 2016, I attended the bi-weekly Board of Education meeting at the City Hall Council Chambers in hopes of both listening and discussing the progress of the Piedmont Unified School District.

The meeting started with Millennium High School’s ASB vice-president Max Miller briefing the board members about the recent and future events that had taken place in both MHS and PHS, such as the success of back to school night and “Club Day” at Piedmont High on September 23.

Before proceeding with other items on the agenda, the Board Members opened up the floor to anyone who wanted to speak out about their concerns. Many of my fellow classmates took advantage of this opportunity, like Cole Bloomfield, who encouraged the Board to consider the excessive workload given to students over the summer, despite the fact that this material is not thoroughly covered upon the return to school. While it is illegal for the government officials to speak to any issues not directly outlined in the agenda, they listened to the opinions of each student respectfully and openly, nodding heads and smiling politely.

Next, Superintendent Randall Booker briefly outlined various activities to occur in the Piedmont community, then handed over the mic to Stephanie Griffin and Dr. Cheryl Wozniak, who spoke about the results of CAASPP testing in the 2015-16 school year. Amazingly, Piedmont High School scored well above the state average, with eighty-seven percent of students meeting state standards- in fact, many of them exceeding. While the presenters were sure to tell the board members that we deserved to “toot our horn,” they also got down into the nitty-gritty.

Piedmont students scored particularly low in the listening portion of English Language Arts and the communicating reasoning section of Math. Additionally, there were still students scoring below standards. The board members wondered why this was the case, and what could be done to help these particular students. Eventually, President Andrea Swenson asked for any public comments and many of the attending students jumped at the chance to voice their opinion. Senior Sam Wen described the popular belief at our school that the CAASPP test was merely an easy graduation requirement, and that it did not bear much weight in the minds of the student body. However, he also spoke to the fact that there was recently more concern surrounding the test, when students were told by PHS administration that without high student participation in the testing, the school faced many negative consequences.

I, too, took my part in addressing this issue. At the podium, I commented my opinion that many students are so focused on personal scores from the ACT, SAT, and AP tests that they do not care much about the CAASPP, which seems to affect the school system more than it does themselves. I then contended that it is actually very important to realize that colleges not only care about these scores, but about the strength of the community we come from. If the school system could stir more conversation around this truth, then perhaps it would promote a more serious culture around the CAASPP test. On a side note, I also noted the District’s poor listening score, and the fact that I had rarely been tested on listening in any of my classes besides Spanish. If the Board of Education was concerned with raising these scores, then maybe they should consider incorporating it in more of the school’s english courses.

After the CAASPP presentation, the Board moved to the next task on the agenda- budgets. Admittedly, it was harder to concentrate on economics than it was on the state tests I had personally taken a year before, but I did pick up some important information. It seemed that many of the board members, especially Doug Ireland and Superintendent Randall Booker, were expressing concern over the lack of funding in PUSD’s facilities budget.

Booker mentioned that many upgrades were far overdue, including the replacement of a boiler from the 1960s in PHS’s 30s building, and the poor conditions of the buildings overall. The Board considered taking money out of the General Fund for these facilities, but they also felt that it was most important to propose a bond measure and re-engage the community about these urgent issues.

I personally believe that while it is necessary for Piedmont to ensure safety in its schools (ie. earthquake-proof buildings, stable roofs, etc.), cosmetic features should not taking priority in spending over teachers’ salaries or necessary school supplies that we currently lack.

Once the meeting ended and all the students gathered to collect signatures, I encountered Board Member Doug Ireland and asked to interview him about his biggest concerns and objectives for PUSD. He told me that he was most preoccupied with the budget’s shortcomings of about $800,000, and was hoping that Superintendent Randall Booker would propose a budget to solve this issue by either raising funds or, unfortunately, making cuts.

Secondly, Ireland told me that recently the Board had been facing what they perceived to be “unfair treatment” by the local newspaper. Ireland did not give me much greater detail on the topic, but it is certainly one worth investigating.

The night ended on a very cheerful note as the Board Members thanked the students for attending their meeting, and the students reciprocated the gratitude for being allowed to speak out and also learn about significant matters concerning our educations.

By Elisa Glauber, Piedmont High School Senior

Editors Note:  Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Hari Titan is running for Piedmont School Board and Hari Titan is badly needed on our Board.

Hari’s assessment of the overly expensive failed Theater bond measure has done our community great service. His call for universal involvement and transparency is best exemplified in his push for an on-line open forum site.

Often the School Board process is created behind the scenes, nurtured by staff, and then put before the Board for the usual 5-0 vote. The ill-conceived Allen Harvey Theater Bond Measure is fresh in voter’s minds. Other critical issues such as deceptive parcel tax procedures go unanswered. Hari’s critical thinking, thoughtful financial analysis and factual investigation are badly needed. All these essential qualities guarantees that Hari will bring an independent voice to our School Board, a voice that is willing to speak out when the out of control consensus train is careening down the tracks aimed squarely at taxpayers wallets and to the detriment of the career path of our children.

I urge Piedmont voters to support our School District in the most meaningful way possible and in a manner that will guarantee a thoughtful, transparent process going forward:

Vote for Hari Titan for School Board on Nov. 8.

Rick Schiller, Piedmont Resident

Editors Note:  Opinions expressed are those of the author.  The Piedmont Civic Association does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Announcement:

The League of Women Voters of Piedmont has voted to endorse Measure H1, the Piedmont School Improvement/Modernization Bond.

The endorsement is based on presentations to the LWVP board as well as the League sponsored General Election Voter Forum on September 20, 2016.

Don’t forget to vote on November 8.

Last day to register is October 24, 2016.

Submitted by Piedmont League of Women Voters

Editors Note:  The Piedmont Civic Association does not support or oppose specific ballot measures.