Measure H1 Campaign Co-Chairs Claire Arno and Chad Olcott invite you to
Thursday, October 27
4:00 p.m. – Information and Q&A5:00 p.m. – Campus TourMeet at the Piedmont High School Student Center800 Magnolia AvenueNo RSVP necessary
I am writing in support of Measure H1, the local bond measure to repair, renovate, and upgrade Piedmont’s schools.
My husband Mark and I are longtime Piedmont residents and empty-nesters. Our three sons graduated from Piedmont High School in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and their Piedmont educations have served them well. Our District’s reputation for academic excellence is well-known; we were not surprised to learn that Piedmont once again ranked among the top in the State, based on last year’s standardized test scores.
However, our town’s reputation for good schools will be at risk if we do not modernize our aging school buildings. Mark and I have seen firsthand how the physical structure of the middle and high schools has deteriorated over time. Not only are the roofs, windows, plumbing and other infrastructure failing, the classrooms simply are not on par with neighboring public and private schools, nor were they built to accommodate the cross-disciplinary approach to learning that is the norm today.
The state of our schools shapes the quality of life in our community, and is a major factor in determining our property values. Our District has a history of completing large construction projects on time and on budget; we have confidence that a “yes” vote on H1 is a smart investment.
Cathy Michelotti Glazier, Piedmont Resident
There are 4 candidates seeking election to 2 seats on the Piedmont City Council and 5 candidates running for 3 seats on the Piedmont Unified School District Board of Education.
To compare the candidates in each race, readers can click the link* beside each candidate name to learn more about the candidate. Endorsers and issues are listed on many of the candidate websites. * Information is updated as candidate websites are updated. All information has been submitted by the candidates.
For those interested in viewing the video recording of the Piedmont League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, go to the end of this article and click on the link provided.
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Watch the Piedmont League of Women Voters forum by clicking here.
Editors Note: The Piedmont Civic Association does not support or oppose candidates for public office or ballot measures. PCA remains neutral on ballot measures and is not a partisan either for or against ballot measures. Further, PCA has no affiliation with political parties or politically associated organizations. Information provided on this website is for the benefit and engagement of Piedmont residents.
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
Revenue trends combined with savings from departments resulted in FY 2015-16 unexpected net income of approximately $2.42 million (unaudited) in the General Fund.
Specific revenue categories that exceeded the budget projections include:
- “This proposal for transfer of General Fund net income over $100,000 is consistent with past practice. In FY 2014-15, we ended the year with net income of $2.4 million in the General Fund. The City Council took a similar action in June 2015 to distribute net income in excess of $100,000 equally amongst four funds – OPEB Fund, the Equipment Replacement Fund, the Facilities Maintenance Fund, and the Workers Compensation Fund, which amounted to $2.3 million in one-time General Fund revenues, with $575,647 in each of four funds.” Staff report
Read the full staff report here.
The City Council will consider the allocation of funds at their October 3, 2016 meeting starting at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall. The meeting will be broadcast live on Channel 27 and from the City website.
Also, on the agenda are:
Statement:
I’m a member of the Havens Dads Club and recent board member of the Piedmont Makers group. I’ve also been a member of the Piedmont Neighbors and Newcomers group since we first moved to Piedmont.
I love the Piedmont community and enjoy connecting with fellow parents and showing my out of town friends the beauty of living in the Bay Area.
Both my parents were educators. My father was a high school math and science teacher and my mother was an elementary school teacher. However my parents insisted I did my own homework and made sure it was done. If I got questions wrong I had to understand why it was wrong. I think my parent’s focus on education led me to go for higher education myself. I was the first person in my extended family to get a PhD in any subject.
I earned a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo in Canada in 1993. While finishing my degree, I volunteered to join a search committee for selecting the Vice President of Academics at the University of Waterloo. Being a public university, that process had to be very rigorous and transparent. I learned the importance of a paper trail to accompany decision making. I see the same level of rigor in hiring for Fin-Tech and other Internet startups over the past 20 years of my career. These include a thorough job description with job requirements that materially impact on the job performance.
In 1993 I taught college level Computer Science courses at a small liberal arts school and experienced first hand the difficulties of teaching students with a wide variety of skills, interests and levels of commitment. I found most students unprepared to learn programming and were in the class because it will lead to a career. This is likely an artifact of teaching at a smaller college and should not be the case for good schools.
I spent most of my career working in California as a “Big Data Scientist”. This field is vital to financial firms and high tech companies. Huge volumes of customer data like from credit card and banking transactions or to online activies are analyzed to help firms predict risks and opportunities at an enterprise level. I also have a U.S. patent on using and explaining the behavior of advanced computer programs that are used to identify highly suspicious fraudulent activity on credit cards.
My wife, Roopal, and I moved to Piedmont in November 2008. We moved here because we loved the beauty of Piedmont, the feeling of a safe community, a very high performance school district and the comparative value we got for the home price we paid for at the time. My son briefly went to Piedmont High School and we have a daughter who is now in 5th grade at Havens Elementary.
I am still amazed at the performance of PUSD students on scholastic tests. This remained generally true during the 2008-2011 recession and is still true post-transition to common core (CAASPP) testing. I built an online app to view CAASSP test results(link is external) for all school districts in any county in CA. I believe student performance has a lot to do with being raised by high performing parents, good teaching methods in school and dedicated caregivers and tutors who provide abundant extra curricular support and learning opportunities.
In late 2013 I was at a Haven’s Club meeting where a presenter talked about renovating the Alan Harvey theater that would require no incremental taxation. I found this to be mathematically suspect and decided to investigate prior PUSD bond offerings. It felt like I was in uncharted waters. Most of the school board thought process was outsourced to bond consultants who had a hard time correctly explaining the details of what they were doing. Taxpayers were paying fees to these consultants for work that was not being done by salaried district staff. Like math, finance works in favor of whomever is crunching the numbers. If the district is not doing the math to maximize the benefit for the students and taxpayers, outside consultants were not going to do that for us unless the board knew exactly what to ask for. This is a general problem with any kind of outsourcing.
I was also questioning why performing arts was being emphasized over other fields of study that lead to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs. At first I was told most STEM jobs were off-shored and therefore not important to emphasize. This was troubling to me because I knew that scientific thinking and good critical thinking skills pay off in finance, healthcare and legal jobs that on the surface appear to have nothing to do with STEM. Later the Piedmont Makers group championed adding Arts to the list as a counter balance, leading to STEAM with an emphasis on shared facilities and shared maker spaces.
I also found that renovations were getting more expensive as building codes were being revised with increased regulation. I helped compare the Alan Harvey theater renovation (+ expansion) plan to nearby new theater construction, which the district did not do. I found that you could get greater design flexibility and functionality from new construction at almost the same cost as a renovation. This may be counter-intuitive at first until you look at the actual costs paid by nearby school districts.
Many of you might have seen one of my periodic surveys. I do this to take a pulse on what other parents are thinking and see if my ideas resonate. This helps me fight for things the public actually agrees with. The School Board should engage in more public opinion surveys to get ideas (with open questions) and gauge priorities before holding formal elections.
You’ll find a lot more details on my ideas on the “Campaign of Ideas” tab.
Click the “Contact Hari” link on my website to send me your thoughts. Website link is below.
HariTitan.com
Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee member and community volunteer is challenging incumbents for a seat on the Piedmont City Council.
Jen Cavenaugh’s statement:
I am running for Piedmont City Council in November because I love our city, I have a passion for community service, and I believe my background in finance and management will be an asset to the council.
I’ve been a dedicated community volunteer and leader in our community since my husband Dan and I moved here with our family in 2003. As a mother of three children, I began my volunteer career at Beach School 13 years ago; today I remain involved on the parents clubs at both the middle and high schools. My volunteering evolved into working on budget and program projects for the city. I have been able to make a positive impact in the classroom, on recreation planning, and on municipal fiscal strategy. I want to help preserve everything that makes Piedmont special, while preparing our community for the future.
I have several objectives if elected to the city council. My primary goal is to advocate for fiscal responsibility. Managing the city’s budget is a top priority and requires balanced leadership to deliver quality results with limited resources. My professional background as a consultant and manager at Accenture and Clorox has provided valuable experience mastering the technical side of fiscal management. At the same time, my ongoing role on the Budget Advisory Committee has given me a deep and realistic understanding of our city’s financial needs, resources and limitations.
In addition to working to ensure fiscal discipline and effective use of city funds, I will emphasize the importance of transparency in the council’s decision-making. This means more than maximizing openness by the council; it also means maximizing community engagement by the people of Piedmont.
A robust public process is integral to making sound municipal decisions. My connections within our community, my willingness to listen and be flexible, and my commitment to understand all sides of an issue will promote a healthy public dialogue. That approach informed a recent project for the city — leading the comprehensive effort to gather broad-based community input on Recreation Department services — and generated nearly 1,000 responses that helped guide new department programming and service improvements.
My most fundamental objective is to keep Piedmont safe. As a community, we take pride in the responsiveness, quality, and professionalism of our Police and Fire Departments. I am committed to the safety of our residents, and would work to ensure we can continue to provide quality day-to-day service while being prepared in the event of an emergency.
I want to thank the over 90 volunteers who are helping on my campaign and the almost 500 community leaders, friends and neighbors who have endorsed my candidacy. I have the time, commitment, and energy to make this my top priority.
I hope to count on your vote on November 8.
Sincerely,
Jen Cavenaugh
To learn more about me and my campaign, get involved, and share your feedback about your priorities for our city at:
www.Jen4Piedmont.com.
For photos and endorsers click above.
The Piedmont Board of Education will meet in Piedmont City Hall on Sept. 28, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. Read the full agenda here.
All attachments must be downloaded to your computer to be read.
Background on Measure H1 H1 Tax Rate Information Fact Sheet
VII.A. Accept The Piedmont Education Foundation Tier I and Tier II Grants Check – Speaker: Randall Booker, Superintendent
Attachments: Background – PEF Donation
VII.B. Conduct Public Hearing and Adopt Resolution 06-2016-17, “Resolution on Sufficiency of Textbooks and Instructional Materials” Speaker: Randall Booker, Superintendent
Education Code Section 60119 requires a school district to conduct a public hearing determining whether text books and instructional materials, including lab equipment for science lab classes, were provided to all students, including English learners. The Board will be requested to adopt the resolution.
Attachments: Resolution 06-2016-17 – Sufficiency of Textbooks
VII.C. Adopt Resolution 07-2016-17, Authorizing “Temporary Borrowing from Alameda County Treasury per Education Code 42620.
Speaker: Song Chin-Bendib, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services
The Board will be asked to approve the Resolution to allow the District to borrow from the Alameda County Treasury on an as-needed basis to meet cash flow needs throughout the year due to the State’s deferral of apportionments to K-12 schools. The funds are borrowed on a temporary basis and no loan amount crosses fiscal years. Borrowing between District funds and the County Treasurer allows the District to meet monthly financial obligations is a cost savings to the alternative of issuing a Tax Revenue Anticipation Note (TRAN).
Attachments: Resolution 07-2016-17 – Temporary Borrowing from the Alameda County Treasurer
VIII.A.1. Next Generation Science Standards
Speaker: Dr. Cheryl Wozniak and Sati Shah
Attachments: Background on NGSS
Click on the attachments and download them to your computer to be able to read them.
Cory Smegal — Candidate for Piedmont Board of Education
I am happy to announce my candidacy for the Piedmont Board of Education. Like many of you, we moved to Piedmont so our children could attend the public schools. My husband grew up here and we wanted our two children to have the same high-quality education and opportunities fostered by generations of hard-working teachers, parents and community members.
For the last 11 years, I have supported our schools as an involved parent and tireless volunteer. I served as president of the Wildwood Parent Club the year that we need to plan for the school relocation to Emeryville. The next year, I was a member of the Seismic Oversight Committee to monitor and review the seismic work for Wildwood.
I worked on the Giving Campaign Committee for six years, two as co-chair. During my tenure as co-chair, we raised over $3.4 million for our schools. As a member of the Math Task Force, I worked with administrators, teachers and other parents on recommendations for implementation of the new math curriculum. I recently finished a two year term on the PMS Site Council and currently serve as co-treasurer for the Piedmont Education Foundation.
I’ve had a breadth of volunteer opportunities that have allowed me to see how things work in the District and what areas can be improved. As a School Board member, I will focus on communication, fiscal responsibility, and decision-making transparency in our District. I have an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and 16 years of experience as a business consultant with KPMG and a marketing executive with AT&T. My education and experience in business and volunteering for Piedmont schools allows me to ask the right questions, understand the financial issues facing the district and scrutinize the district’s economic priorities.
I support Measure H1 to invest in the physical infrastructure of our aging schools. If it is passed, I will be a leader in ensuring the district makes effective use of our tax dollars to create lasting improvements for students and teachers.
On a more personal note, my daughter is a sophomore at PHS and my son is an 8th grader at PMS. I am committed to making sure that the District provides the highest quality education not only for them, but for all of its current and future students. On November 8th, I would be honored to have your support for Piedmont Board of Education.
Sincerely,
Cory Smegal
If you’d like to learn more about me, please visit my website,www.voteforcorysmegal.com.
If you’d like to watch the recent League of Women Voters Election Forum, you can stream it at: http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/video/index.shtml (Select “Other Public Meetings”)
Available funds to go toward developing plans for Linda Beach and Coaches Field are on Council agenda for Sept. 19, 2016. The Coaches Field Feasibility Plan will investigate expansion of the playfield area. The Linda Beach Master Plan would include a new layout for the tot lot.
Agenda here.
Read about the appropriations for the Linda Beach Master Plan and Coaches Field Feasibility Plan here.
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