Oct 20 2018

OPINION: Vote Julie Caskey: Lawyer and Child Advocate

As her other letters of support have already emphasized, Julie Caskey has an extensive volunteer record and an incredible commitment to the Piedmont schools and community. But I write to encourage Piedmont residents to vote for Julie because the Piedmont School Board needs her expertise in two specific areas: her legal expertise and the expertise she brings as a current parent of elementary, middle, and high school children.
First, Julie will be the only lawyer on the Piedmont School Board.     I met Julie in New York City over twenty years ago, when she was working as an attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division, and also waiting tables to make ends meet. As a Columbia Law School graduate, Julie could have made triple her legal aid salary at a big law firm, but Julie’s commitment was to advancing the public interest. Throughout her legal career as a children’s advocate, as an immigration lawyer, and as a staff attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Julie has served the public and advocated on behalf of those less fortunate. As a lawyer, Julie will bring to the Piedmont School Board a special set of analytical and problem-solving skills. She is singularly qualified to identify potential risk and liability, understand process, review policy, and navigate the legal issues that will inevitably arise.
In addition, as a parent of three children under the age of five, I am especially aware of the importance of a current elementary and middle school parent being on the Piedmont School Board. No existing school board members — and no 2018 school board candidates — are parents to elementary or middle school children. By contrast, Julie is a parent to four Piedmont schoolchildren: one at Beach, two at PMS, and one at PHS. Julie’s children will be in the Piedmont schools for her entire four-year term. She understands the issues facing her elementary and middle school children and their teachers, as well as the larger policy needs facing the district. With evolving and challenging issues that have significance to me as a parent of very young children — like Chromebook and social media policies in middle school, and art/library/music hours in the elementary years — Piedmont needs someone on its School Board who is in the parenting trenches with younger children. Julie is the only candidate who can meet that need.
For these reasons, Julie has my firmest support, and I encourage Piedmont voters to support Julie as well.
Annie Reding, Piedmont Resident
Oct 20 2018

OPINION: Student Support for Megan Pillsbury on School Board

 I am a PHS senior writing in support of Megan Pillsbury candidacy for the Piedmont School Board. I have known Mrs. Pillsbury since I had her as my first grade teacher at Wildwood Elementary School and have kept in touch with her over the years. As a teacher, she fully understood the needs of the students and met that need with both care for individual students and the class as a whole. Because of her experience as an elementary school teacher and commitment to professional development and continued training, she has extensive knowledge of how to best support student learning. Mrs. Pillsbury is the only candidate with actual experience as a teacher, which gives her valuable insight into what happens in the classroom and how decisions made by the Board might affect students, families and teachers.
The most important role of a school board member is to facilitate communication between students, parents, teachers, and the administration, so they can work cohesively to create the best possible learning environment. Mrs. Pillsbury is an excellent communicator, especially because she doesn’t just talk–she listens. This has not changed from my days in elementary school.
Listening to all the stakeholders in the community and understanding the different perspectives will be crucial to getting everyone to work together. As a Piedmont School Board member, I know Mrs. Pillsbury will always look out for students, families and teachers.
Ella Lee, Piedmont High School Student
Oct 20 2018

Free Breakfast to Encourage Student Test Takers ?

On Wednesday, October 10th, I attended a School Board Meeting at City Hall to discuss California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, CAASPP, testing. At the front of the room sat student representative, Myles Smith, School Board Members – Ms. Smegal, Mr. Ireland, Ms. Pearson, Ms. Smith, and Ms  Swenson – Ms. Wozniak, and Superintendent Mr. Booker.

The meeting began with student representative Myles Smith discussing past and upcoming Piedmont and Millennium High School events. He touched on many topics including: the Consent assembly, the new physics teacher, an ASB Halloween event, etc. His inside view of everything happening right now really seemed to intrigue the board members.

Next, Mr. Booker discussed the Education, Equity, and Inclusion plan that centers on supporting students and helping them develop into mature young adults. This plan prioritizes students feeling both physically and emotionally supported, as well as the motto “all means all”. He presented a large poster filled with trees and roots, which depicted this all- inclusive plan.

My peers as well as all the school board members found this visual very interesting. This plan seems like a very nice and ideal goal for the Piedmont Unified School District, I just wondered what steps and specific actions they would take to achieve this goal.

As the meeting progressed, I became increasingly nervous, as I knew my time to talk was coming soon. The cards with our names on them and what we were going to discuss, lay right in front of the hands of the School Board President, Ms. Pearson.

Ms. Stephanie Griffin, Director of Instructional Technology, was the next to speak. Her very thorough and statistically oriented presentation showed how Piedmont really excelled in the CAASPP testing, a fact that shocked every student sitting in the audience. She explained how we ranked 2nd in the state with 87% of students exceeding state standards for ELA and 84% exceeding state standards for math.

Once Griffin finished her detailed presentation, Ms. Pearson picked up our cards and called us up to the podium to discuss our views on the CAASPP testing. I focused my short presentation on 5 main points: 1. How surprised I was with the results, 2. Students are not aware how this test impacts us and our school, 3. We were never informed that sometimes CSUs look at these scores (Ms. Griffin explained this) and that if we had known that our effort level would have increased drastically, 4. Students are not motivated to try on this test, and 5. Students don’t try because there is no apparent effect on us.

After we spoke, the fun part of the meeting began with an almost heated debate between Mr. Ireland and Ms. Smith, over the points we brought up about motivation. The three of us awkwardly stood at the podium while this debate happened, unsure of when we were supposed to sit down.

After several minutes of back and forth between the two, we finally took our seats, and Vivian Hung went up in an attempt to resolve this debate. She presented an interesting alternative which she believes will motivate people to try harder: free breakfast. The whole board began to laugh and Mr. Ireland proclaimed, half joking half serious, that he would single-handedly buy hundreds of bagels if that is all it would take to motivate students.

After the tangent of Mr. Ireland buying the whole high school bagels ended, the meeting continued and discussed the California Dashboard with local indicators and the United Against Hate Movement. These topics did not interest me as much as the CAASPP testing, but it was really interesting to see how board members voted with seconding by saying “I” and raising their hands.

Overall, despite how long the meeting was, I found this experience very interesting. I enjoyed speaking to the school board and especially enjoyed what happened afterward with the heated discussion. Also, now CAASPP testing will be a little less brutal with help from Mr. Ireland and his free bagels.

After the meeting I conducted an interview with Stephanie Griffon, the Director of Instructional Technology.

Why they are there? What difficulties and problems brought them there?
– “Here to publically share the results of the District’s CAASPP testing. I also had to, required by the state, to report on our local indicators that we are going to report on the new accountability structure called the California Dashboard.”

What next step will they take to get their particular concern addressed?
– “We are going to be leading two more meetings in the L-cap, which will be digging more into the CAASPP results. This allows us to look more closely as opposed to overall, answer more questions, and discuss how those are going to affect our ranking and accountability measures by the state. Those sort of discussions inform possible changes to structures, courses, actions, and services to improve student learning. Feedback comes from students, teachers, and parents who have new ideas to help serve students better.”

 by Moxy Moss, Piedmont High School Senior

~~~~~~~~

On October 10th, I attended a Piedmont Unified School District board meeting. The Board of Education meets every two weeks in the City Council Chambers. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the CAASPP test results and the California Dashboard. The CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress), which replaced the STAR test, are computer based assessments in English, Math, and Science.

The School Board was presented with the 2017-18 test results by Stephanie Griffin. The California Dashboard is a tool that helps districts and schools identify strengths and weaknesses in order to find student groups that may be struggling. The results are not just based on test results however, but multiple aspects to determine performance and growth.The California Dashboard was discussed to see Piedmont’s strengths and weaknesses. An info-graphic was presented to show where officials would like to see growth.

Superintendent Randall Booker said that PUSD raises up future leaders, therefore should be a student centered ecosystem. At the roots of the tree was the institution’s partnership with the community. Students come first, and the District wants to develop healthy, happy children that are proud of their identity. The big goal is for every graduate to be a leader of change.

Griffin also showed strengths of Piedmont. About 97% of PHS graduates had completed the A-G requirements. All students are equipped with textbooks, both virtual and physical. Students with disabilities met the requirements for the CAASPP test at about 50%, which was higher than the overall percentage achieved by all students across the state of California. Booker said that this shows how exceptional our teaching faculty are.

Stephanie Griffin, the Director of Instructional Technology, presented the CAASPP test results. In our 2017-18 results, Piedmont scored the second highest for K-12th grade in English Language, Arts and Mathematics. 87% of students met or exceeded the rigorous state standards. 84% met or exceeded in Mathematics, which was the same as the previous year. This may be an argument of stratification. It has been Piedmont’s fourth consecutive year as #1 in Northern California. We are currently the third school district in the state.

Some action items were:  continue the current instructional strategies, as that has clearly been shown to be beneficial; to have a case study on math outcomes in 11th grade, and to hold intervention programs at primary grades to ensure a good high school foundation.

A problem discussed during the meeting was that many students have felt unmotivated to achieve high scores and even to attend the CAASPP tests. A reason for this lack of motivation could be that many juniors have SAT, ACT and AP testing.

Roxy Moss, Dominic Arrabit, and Paige Ellis, all high school seniors, spoke on this problem. They said that many students were surprised at the results, they did not really make an effort. They felt that they were not given proper notification that these results would be very important.

Although Mr. Mapes was supposed to have told each class about the significance of their performance, Moss said she was not given any announcement by the former vice principal.

Sarah Pearson, the school board president, asked what the penalty would be if Piedmont had opted out of taking the test. If our school opted out, a penalty percentage would be applied to our percentage distance from standard, which is a measurement of how far a school is from grade standard.

Amal Smith, Vice President of the School Board, suggested that we focus on the message the test gives to students. Around this time of the school year, many students are focused on other testing that can make them extremely stressed out, which means that on top of the fact that they have used their energy for other important things, and if they don’t get the proper message from school officials, they will not be able to give their full attention to the CAASPP tests.

Doug Ireland, a School Board member, opposed that idea, stating that test taking is a student’s job.

Vivian Hung, a high school senior, proposed a solution. She suggested that the school offer free food, such as bagels for everyone, as an incentive. Many students will wait half of their lunch period just to get free food from ASB, which signifies how free food can be a big motivation.

Ireland was very interested in that solution, declaring that he would buy everyone bagels if it meant they would come to testing.

Griffin said that she will be leading two more meetings on the LCAP to dig more deeply on the CAASPP results. She stated, “those will effect Piedmont’s ranking and accountability measures by the state.” Additionally, Griffin says these discussions may “change structures, courses, actions, and services we offer to improve student learning everywhere.” The feedback she receives is from students, parents, and teachers.

In my opinion, I think the CAASPP tests are a waste of time. With not understanding the ramifications and not being particularly motivated, it is hard to try if you don’t need to, especially if you have better things to study for. Many students were clicking through the test not to sit around and do nothing, but to finish homework or study for tests. I even knew a girl who opted out of the testing so she could study for an AP Biology test. Because of the AP Bio test, I wanted to use as much time as I could get to study, so I didn’t try very hard on the math sections and clicked through some.

With all the stress, especially being a junior, I think the school should make teachers keep the workload of their classes low, at least for the week where CAASPP testing. This would take away some of the stress from the testing and could increase the effort put into student performance.

The purpose of this school board is to discuss upcoming goals for the district, approve and/or adopt any resolutions, and listen to any comments made by the public.

by Angela Huang, Piedmont High School Senior

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piedmont Board of Education Meeting on October 10th, 2018

The Piedmont Board of Education is a five-member group that discusses the education system and environment as a whole and makes decisions based on what they think is best for our community. They generally meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall. At this particular meeting on October 10th, 2018, the board discussed a couple of issues, including the Piedmont Education Foundation, the new CAASPP testing, and the indicators for our schools.

On the topic of the Piedmont Education Foundation, a staff member of the Foundation addressed the need for more funds from the Giving Campaign in order to fund both the Spring Fling and their other events. The Board seemed to support these requests and agreed to continue to work with the Education Foundation.

Then, a student representative from Piedmont High School’s Student Body talked about the current events at the school and possible upcoming changes. Afterwards, Superintendent Booker discussed the newly hired teachers in the Spanish and Physics departments and also touched on the future STEAM building plans.

After the student and Mr. Booker finished their announcements, they then moved to the discussion of the CAASPP testing.

Ms. Griffin, Piedmont High School’s Director of Instructional Technology, made a slideshow presentation of the background, results, and comparisons of this new form of testing where the board commented and asked questions about the results they saw and hoped to see. They discussed whether the testing was good for students so close to other testing.

There was some disagreement among board members. One argued that students already have enough pressure with finals coming up and standardized testing as well. However, another reminded them that this test was essential to the profile of our school and that ultimately, would benefit students when applying to college.

Students from the audience then brought up how they did not feel an incentive to try on the CAASPP testing because they did not understand the importance of it and were too busy worrying about other tests and commitments.

Another student suggested that free breakfast be provided to give that incentive for students to come and actually try on the test. Personally, I liked the idea of providing a real incentive for students, food being a really good one, since it is an important test for our school and will benefit us in the long run.

After interviewing Ms. Griffin, she said that they would have two more meetings that would be “digging more into the CAASPP results” and “talk about how those [results] are going to affect our ranking and our accountability measures by the state.” They will also discuss how they would take student, parent, and teacher feedback to possibly change structures or courses to improve student learning.

Next, was another presentation by Ms. Griffin regarding indicators for our school showing if it met all the education standards, including faculty and facilities. These measures could help determine the areas our schools could improve in and those that we are doing well in.

This was the conclusion of the Presentation portion and the board moved onto the Review in Action segment of the meeting. Dr. Wozniak, the assistant superintendent, brought forth the items to be agreed on. The first one was about sufficient textbooks and resources for each student regarding their courses and all members were in favor of the measure.

The second was on the “United Against Hate Week”, where they asked for the board’s support in this and all gladly approved this action as well. After these decisions were made, Ms. Cavenaugh announced her appreciation for the board’s acceptance and emphasis on unity, which is making our community a better place. Finally, the board members shared what they had done prior to the meeting, for example, some toured the elementary schools.

by Ashley Gao, Piedmont High  School Senior

 

Oct 17 2018

OPINION: Vote NO on BB

Who are the Politicians in Piedmont?

BB seeks to prevent the “recycling” of politicians which leads to the question – who are these politicians in Piedmont? Measure BB defines politicians as termed-out councilmembers running for office again 4 years after stepping down. By that definition there are only two at the moment in Piedmont – myself and John Chiang, both termed-out from Council in 2014. Over the past 50 years in Piedmont, only one termed-out councilman has run again after 4 years and he lost. So BB is a red herring – termed-out councilmembers rarely if ever run again in Piedmont.

A look at candidates over the past 20 years in Piedmont (see table) shows that incumbency and campaign contributions are likely the biggest impediment to first-time candidates. Two trends are evident – candidates with established volunteer records win and first-time candidates with no or nominal volunteer experience have to raise from $12,000 – $20,000 to run and in some cases, that was not enough to win. First-time candidates face the greatest hurdles from sitting councilmembers, not termed-out councilmembers. Limiting that incumbency and campaign spending would be the best way to encourage first-time candidates but BB does neither.

Election

Candidate

Campaign Contributions

Election

Candidate

Campaign Contributions

Election

Candidate

Campaign Contributions

2000

Matzger

4589

2006

Allen

2349

2012

Fujioka

22,336

Labadie

4838

Chiang

10,333

McBain

10,773

Friedman

9000

Rood

18,553

Keating

2959

Bostrom

ND

2002

Friedman

12335

2008

Fujioka

19,334

2014

King

11,741

Wieler

9461

Gilbert

28,275

Rood

4872

Bruck

1701

Barbieri

13,957

Wieler

950

Rapson

4134

2010

Wieler

7065

2016

McBain

8651

Chiang

8415

Cavenaugh

16,115

2004

Barbieri

ND

Keating

3154

Levine

6256

Watters

8608

Bostrom

ND

If there are politicians in Piedmont, they are not returning to run again so BB is unnecessary. In fact, one could say that wanting to serve again is the sign of a volunteer – most politicians move on. Another sign of politicians is that they show their true colors once elected – why weaken voter choice by limiting who can run against such candidates?

BB is not needed and in fact will strengthen incumbency, making it harder for first-time candidates. BB does not “modernize” Piedmont’s charter – only one other city in California was found to have this 8-year rule.

Vote in favor of Piedmont volunteers and vote NO on BB.

Garrett Keating, Former Piedmont City Council Member

Oct 17 2018

OPINION: Titan Fliers Are Overblown and Incorrect

Hari Titan is running again this year for a school board seat. I admire his tenacity and his continued interest in the issues with the schools. But Hari is making claims on fliers he is distributing that are overblown and saying things about me that are patently not true.

He claims he “spearheaded” the transition to extended day kindergarten, “lobbied” for supplemental STEM curriculum, “exposed” interest penalties on CAB bonds and “saved” the citizens millions in interest payments. To claim each of these as accomplishments is to argue that having an opinion gets things done. The truth is we’ve had teachers clamoring for extended day kindergarten for years, students, parents and teachers all want more STEM emphasis and the board has been closely monitoring the structure of our bond portfolio. So while these initiatives are being implemented, his influence has been minimal.

Hari has indicated that I profited from the issuance of the District’s CABS for my personal investment portfolio and am somehow conflicted by the decisions we’ve undertaken regarding them. That is simply not true. To me, distributing this information is beneath the standard held by our community and should disqualify any candidate stooping to such a tactic.

While the self-proclaimed “citizen watchdog” has been lobing criticism and claiming influence, he has not exhibited the true community leadership required of a school board position. I encourage you to go elsewhere with your votes.

Doug Ireland, Member of the Piedmont School Board

Editors Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Oct 17 2018

OPINION: Facts About School Seismic Bond Financing and Refinancing

The ongoing School Board election campaign has resulted in misrepresentations about the District’s sale of Capital Appreciation Bonds during the seismic bond program, and the refinancing of those bonds.

I served on the School Board during the seismic program, but anyone can review the meeting agendas and materials to understand the facts. A good place to start is the 2014 Seismic Safety Bond Program Financial Summary, http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/bond/SSBP_Finance_Summary.pdf. Below are some relevant facts:

First, the District and the School Board clearly understood the difference between Current Interest Bonds (CIBs) and Capital Appreciation Bonds (CABs), as well as Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCBs) and Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs). These financing mechanisms, their pros and cons, were discussed in public meetings back to 2006. Very roughly speaking, CIBs reduce total interest payments by levying taxes at a higher rate to pay down the debt starting immediately, while CABs reduce the immediate tax rate at the cost of greater total interest payments by deferring repayment of the debt. Board carefully considered which options were feasible and prudent under the circumstances, and made financing decisions following public discussion.

Second, the Board authorized the sale of CABs (Series E) to allow seismic renovation work at Wildwood and Beach Schools to proceed, rather than defer such work for years until older bonds were paid off, which would have left our children in seismically unsound buildings, increased construction costs, and lost access to the “replacement school” in Emeryville. (If you want more detail, the CABs were sold to repay the BANs that were sold to allow the District to obtain QSCBs—see SSBP Financial Summary. QSCBs were near-zero interest bonds that must be repaid in 15 years and saved the District about $40 million, http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/aboutpusd/agenda.minutes/QSCB_012511_presentation.pdf ). Pursuant to statute, anticipated tax rates to repay bonds issued under Measure E were limited to $60 per $100,000 in assessed value. The District could not have sold CIBs to fund this work as the tax rate to repay the bonds would have exceeded the limit. Selling CABs deferred the repayment, and the taxes to make repayment, until other bonds were paid down and thus complied with the limit. See, e.g.,

http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/aboutpusd/agenda.minutes/2011_12/050813packet.pdf at pp 2-3.

I do not recall anyone, including current School Board candidates, appearing before the School Board at the time to argue that Wildwood and Beach work should be deferred for years to reduce total interest payments. Wildwood and Beach parents vocally supported proceeding with the work.

Third, refinancing bonds to save money is not a new concept. Even before the CABs were sold, the Board and District anticipated re-financing them as soon as it was possible to do so (call dates were set as soon as feasible given market requirements). See May 8, 2013 Minutes at 3-4, http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/aboutpusd/agenda.minutes/2011_12/050813minutes.pdf. The District and Board had a history of refinancing older bonds when interest rates come down, and had done so in 2009 and 2014. See http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/aboutpusd/agenda.minutes/2014_15/10-22-14_Packet.pdf. The Board refinanced Series B CABs in 2015. http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/aboutpusd/agenda.minutes/2-11-15_Agenda.pdf.

In Fall 2017, the Board and District identified options for refunding the 2013 Series E CABs and held two public meetings to obtain input.

http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017-CAB-Refunding-Options-Summary.pdf

http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Background-Refunding-of-Outstanding-CABs-or-NOT.pdf

http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/blog/2017/12/15/district-saves-taxpayers-more-than-26-1-million-with-bond-refinancing/

The Board elected to refinance the 2013 CABs with CIBs, saving Piedmont taxpayers $26.1 million.

http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/blog/2017/12/15/district-saves-taxpayers-more-than-26-1-million- with-bond-refinancing/. According to Minutes of the Nov. 8, 2017 meeting, however, “Hari Titan encouraged the Board to wait for at least a year on CAB refinancing.” https://agendaonline.net/public/Meeting.aspx?AgencyID=1241&MeetingID=12755&AgencyTypeID=1&I sArchived=True. Fortunately, the Board correctly chose to proceed with the refinancing in December 2017 as interest rates have continued to climb.

Fourth, the School Board, well aware that CABs keep current tax rates lower only by increasing total interest payments, has chosen CIBs over CABs when available. In 2014, when proposing a bond measure to fix Alan Harvey Theater, the Board ruled out using CABs as the feasible tax rate supported the CIB option. No one on the Board was advocating CABs. See January 8, 2014 Minutes at 7-9, http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/aboutpusd/agenda.minutes/2012_13/1-8-14_approved_minutes.pdf.

In short, claims about misuse of CABs in the past do not reflect the facts. This School Board election should focus on solving real challenges to maintaining Piedmont’s high quality educational system.

Rick Raushenbush, Former Piedmont School Board Member

Oct 16 2018

OPINION: Vote NO on Piedmont CC – The Hire But Not Fire Charter Proposal

Alice Creason, former Piedmont Mayor, Councilmember, and Planning Commissioner asks Piedmonters to vote NO on Piedmont Measure CC.

CC has been called the “hire but cannot fire” proposal, because the Council is required to hire key-employees (Fire Chief, Police Chief, Finance Director, Recreation Director, etc.), but under Measure CC, the Council would be  forbidden by Charter under all circumstances from evaluating, directing or firing the key-employees they recruit and hire. Only the City Administrator would be entitled to fire Council-hired key-employees. 

Ballot Measure CC pretends to merely clarify reporting, but it is not a clarification.  It is a dramatic change in Piedmont governance taking  authority from the Council and placing it overwhelmingly with the City Administrator.

Piedmont, as a public entity, cannot be run like a corporate board.  Piedmont has an elected City Council accountable to Piedmonters. The public has a right by law to influence the Council, but not a City Administrator.

The following was stated publicly:

“Paul [Piedmont’s current City Administrator Paul Benoit] commented that he would certainly confer with the Council in the managing and firing of City employees.”

This statement illustrates one of the problems.   If the Council intends for the City Administrator to consult with them prior to “managing or firing” City employees, this language should have been written into the Charter, which it was not. This leaves a large gap in the Council’s oversight role.

The Piedmont City Charter, basis of Piedmont governance, is written for all – the Council, City Administrator, City Attorney, Police Chief, Fire Chief, candidates for office, residents, etc.; it cannot be based on individuals personality.

Measure CC proposes that Council-hired key-employees will serve at “the pleasure of ” the enhanced City Administrator rather than “at the pleasure” of the elected City Council thus initiating potential employment problems for the Council-hired key-employees – Police Chief, Fire Chief, Recreation Director, Finance Director, etc.

Piedmont without a directly elected mayor  has a “strong 5 member” City Council form of government. All Council members are equal in their voting and consideration of issues. Forfeiting responsibility and authority to the proposed strong and enhanced City Administrator form of government takes matters away from public view with a loss of accountability.

The City Council has never “managed” the administration of the City. This is not allowed by the City Charter.  Readers of the current City > Charter will note clear roles assigned to the City Council and Administrator. Councils work with the City Administrator to assure their public policies are implemented.  No change is needed to clarify reporting authority, for it is already written into the Charter and changing it as proposed makes no sense, creates conflict and new issues not addressed in the proposed update.

Take a look at cities around us.  Most recently, the City of Alameda reached a City Administrator/ Council disagreement regarding a Fire Chief. The Council ended up terminating the City Administrator with a costly severance package of approximately a million dollars.  Piedmont has avoided this kind of unheval under our current form of government.  The proposed hybrid enhanced City Administrator form of government will likely increase costs.

Piedmont has been successfully managed for well over 75 years with the current system of checks and balances stated in the City Charter.

Updating the City Charter should not result in a change of Piedmont’s governance. Unfortunately, the faulty sections proposed cannot be separated from the entire proposal, thus the entire measure should be rejected. 

With over 22 years of public office experience and careful review of Measure CC, I recommend that voters reject Measure CC and vote NO.

Voters should await an appropriate revision to the City Charter by voting NO on Measure CC at the end of your ballot.

Alice Creason, Former Piedmont Mayor, Councilmember, Planning Commissioner, AC Transit President and Board Member, Trustee Piedmont Beautification Foundation
Oct 16 2018

OPINION: Julie Caskey Parent for School Board

Julie Caskey and I met at a Girls Leadership parent-daughter workshop in Piedmont.  I have also worked alongside Julie as a volunteer and an advocate when she was the President of the Advanced Learners Program Support (ALPS) parent group, promoting diversity and differentiated learning.

I felt compelled to announce my endorsement of Julie when I found out only two of the existing five board members have children in Piedmont schools now, those being in high school.  As a 25-year government executive and business owner, it makes sense to me that our community would want balanced viewpoints on our school board.  What it lacks right now is a current parent of the elementary and middle schools.  Our social environment and digital landscape have changed greatly in the past decade, so it is only wise that we have someone who understands the needs of young children today.

Here is why I support Julie Caskey for Piedmont School Board:

  1. I have seen first hand how passionate she is about our children’s education.  Julie has volunteered at our schools full-time for the past seven years.  Her dedication is clearly unwavering.  She is also exceedingly capable.
  2. Julie will be the ONLY school board member who has children in elementary, middle, and high school.  She is a fellow parent in three different schools in Piedmont and can represent the interests of a wide spectrum of parents.  She can help PUSD stay relevant and make sound decisions while improving accountability and transparency.
  3. Julie’s qualifications speak for themselves.  After graduating from Columbia Law School, she dedicated herself to public service for 25 years when she could have worked anywhere else.  As a defense lawyer who advocated for children and minorities, she is simultaneously compassionate and tough.  When one of the school board’s main responsibilities is personnel management for the school district, it makes sense that we have someone who brings negotiation and legal skills to the table.

Join me in voting for Julie Caskey for Piedmont School Board on November 6th.

Michele Kwok,   Havens Parent

Oct 16 2018

Piedmont Joins Cities to Appeal Wireless Communication Rules

Press Release:

City of Piedmont Joins Coalition to Appeal FCC Orders

On Monday, October 15, 2018, the City Council decided to join dozens of cities across the U.S. that are appealing new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules governing wireless communication antennas on city-owned structures, roads, sidewalks, planting strips, and other parts of the public right- of-way. Previously, on September 17, 2018, before FCC approval, Mayor McBain signed a letter, along with hundreds of cities across the U.S., strongly opposing the rules. The City Council decided to join a coalition of cities across the nation to appeal orders approved by the FCC on September 26, 2018.

The new FCC rules drastically change the City of Piedmont’s ability to manage and regulate wireless communication facilities on structures in pubic roadways within Piedmont. Unless a court-ordered injunction delays the new rules, they would become effective on January 14, 2019. These orders are intended to limit local control over the placement of small wireless facilities (small cells).

For the first time, these orders set a definition for what is considered a small cell. The order defines small cells wireless facilities where each antenna is no larger than 3 cubic feet per antenna (no limit is specified as to the number of antennas); where other equipment occupies not more than 28 cubic feet total; and where the facility is mounted on a new, existing or replacement structure as high as 50 feet (and in some cases, even higher). The size limit for equipment of 28 cubic feet is approximately the size of a large kitchen refrigerator.

In addition, the order shortens the timeline in which a city must make a decision regarding wireless applications to sixty days for installations on an existing structure and ninety days for installations on a new structure. This shortened timeframe significantly reduces the time cities have to review applications as well as changing the rules about which types of applications fall under which timeline. The FCC also adopted new remedies to make it more likely that courts will immediately require issuance of permits and other authorizations if a deadline is missed.

The orders also changed the standards by which cities can reject applications, only requiring the wireless carrier to declare that the application provides or improves an existing personal wireless service or offers a new wireless service to justify approval. Previously, many cities in California required carriers to show that there was a significant gap in service and that a proposed facility was the least intrusive means of closing that gap in order for a project to be approved.

Communities around the country are joining in the appeal, including Anne Arbor, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milpitas, Marin, New Orleans, Palos Verdes Estates, Philadelphia, Pleasant Hill, and Santa Ana.

For more information, please visit the Wireless Communication Facilities page on the City of Piedmont’s web site at http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/publicworks/wireless.shtml

Contact: Pierce Macdonald-Powell       October 16, 2018 (510) 420-3050    pmacdonald@piedmont.ca.gov

Oct 16 2018

OPINION: Amal Smith Strong and Relevant Skills for School Board

We are writing to endorse Amal Smith for school board. Amal has deep roots in this community and demonstrated service. Before being elected to the board in 2014, she volunteered in small and big ways from Beach to PHS to the Piedmont Education Foundation. Her experience from a career in higher education financial management and administration together with her volunteer work mean Piedmont will be served by someone with strong and relevant skills.

Amal is smart and thoughtful, dedicated to public service and our children and their families. She is committed to stakeholder engagement and knows how to make reasoned decisions when there are differing opinions. Please join us in voting for Amal for school board!

Matt & Margaret Heafey, Piedmont Residents

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