Lance James

Dec 042015
 
Drawing by 10 yo Camila of the curriculum committee meeting. Camila was one of two kids not allowed to tell her views on the program.

Drawing by 10 yo Camila of the curriculum committee meeting. Camila was one of two kids not allowed to tell her views on the program.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a lesson on how the school-to-prison pipeline works, explained by the two School Resource Officers (SROs) that are assigned to San Leandro schools.  Just this week,  I had another big lesson on how institutionalized racism and even sexism by School Board members combine with the surveillance state not only to make sure the school to prison pipeline runs as smoothly as possible, but to disempower anyone that would question it.

Sounds boring so far? Bear with me, we’ll get to the drama quickly enough.

Last Tuesday night the San Leandro School Board curriculum committee met to hear a presentation by San Leandro Police Department (SLPD) officers on a proposed program that will put police officers on elementary school campuses to teach a “gang prevention” curriculum during class hours, thus taking away time from actual academic teaching.  If approved, police officers will be treated as faculty members, have complete run of campus, be allowed to stop and interrogate children about any matters and attend parent and faculty meetings.  While on campus, police officers can overhear private conversations and gather evidence that they can use against the parents and family members of school children.  The police officers, moreover, are not vetted for a history of misconduct, abuse of authority or anything else.  They receive 10 hours of training on how to teach the specified curriculum, and no training at all on how to relate to children and communities of color.

The presentation on the program by the SLPD was very brief and did not describe the program, curriculum, objectives and conditions to any extent.  No teachers, psychologists, elementary school administrators, social science or education researcher or students, for that matter, had been invited to give their perspective.  The questions asked by School Board members seemed rehearsed, with a canned (and often incorrect if not outright false) answer following a leading question.

It was pretty much a given that the curriculum committee would support this program and it is pretty much a given that the School Board will as well. In a city where 75% of the population are people of color and in a school district with over 90% minority students, six out of seven School Board members are white.  The sole African American board member was appointed by the rest of the Board (her competition was another African American woman, albeit one with a history of working for racial justice) and is an employee of the Alameda County Office of Education, and thus has serious conflicts of interest on any matters that involve that agency or its leadership.  The School Board cannot even pretend to represent the views or interests of the wider community.  Only two of the seven members have actually been elected to their office, only one of them, Evelyn Gonzalez,  in a competitive race.

Police Misconduct Starts with the Chief

While the lack of interest on local school politics means that School Board members are immunized from political consequences for their actions, they are not free from other sources of pressure.  The San Leandro police, for example.

Much to the chagrin of SLPD​ Chief Sandra Spagnoli, last year the district Superintendent came to his senses and decided that it might not be a good idea to use the money they had saved from decreasing school counselors, plus get rid of additional programs, in order to pay for the salaries of four SRO’s.  This principled decision by the Superintendent was particularly fortunate because the School Board made it clear that they would have had no problem in putting cops before students.  But the Police Chief has not forgiven the Superintendent for his sin of putting kids first.  In San Leandro, the Police Chief runs City Hall (the reasons for this will be explored in a future article) so it’s not surprising that after that decision the City has shown less willingness to collaborate with the School District.  Though the City Manager‘s office is literally a only few feet away from the Superintendent’s, the City Manager seldom seems to find the time to hear about the needs and concerns of the schools.  City officials and police officers, however, found plenty of time to call the Superintendent to complain about the “Peace on the Streets” community forum put out by students at San Leandro High School’s Social Justice Academy last fall.  Students at the forum spoke of victims of racial profiling, experiencing lack of respect from adults in positions of power and being terrified by the prospect of the SLPD getting a counter-attack vehicle.  The City and Police officials who contacted the Superintendent and the School Board went as far as to suggest that the Social Justice Academy be eliminated – a proposal which the District is currently considering as part of wider reforms.

And this is what happens publicly.  We can only guess what else takes place in private.  Though during my interactions with police officers after the curriculum meeting, I got a pretty good idea of how Police officers act when they are trying to get their way.

Back to the Curriculum Meeting

As popular as the GREAT program seems to be with School Board members and police officers, parents and students felt much differently.  There were a total of 11 public speakers that night – probably a record for a curriculum committee meeting in San Leandro.  All of the parents, grandparents, students and community members who spoke were clear: “we don’t want this program in our schools”.  It’s not necessary; we have tried and true programs that work and are administered by trained professionals, not police officers with 10 hours of training.   The program will take time away from academic studies.  Its inflexible curriculum does not allow for customization to the specific needs of each classroom.  Studies show that the program is ineffective.  Putting uniformed police officers in the classroom will constitute a constant threat for children who live in communities already brutalized by police.

The only person who spoke in favor of the program, a Bancroft Middle School teacher, seemed confused as to what program she was supporting. The one she described bore no relationship to the one under discussion that evening.

While the Committee at least pretended to listen to parents, they made it clear that they would not listen to the opinions of the children.  “We make the decisions, not them” said trustee Ron Carey, surprised at the notion that an adult might ever want to take the opinions of a child into consideration on matters that affect them personally and deeply.  If there was a lesson the children present drew that night, it’s that School Board members do not respect them.

A School Board member so racist that he even surprised me

I will say it from the onset, I don’t like Lance James.  He was the only candidate that the Teachers Union was able to find to run for his district so I supported him when he first ran in 2010.  However, I became weary of him when he expressed his profound dislike for the then-principal of the school my daughters had just started.  He accused the principal of hating men and discriminating against fathers.  While I didn’t know the principal well at that time, I did ask my husband and other school fathers if they shared that impression. They were all baffled.  There is nothing wrong, of course, with profoundly disliking a certain teacher or principal – I profoundly dislike Lance James and he is teacher in Hayward -, but his accusations against this principal, a gay woman, were troubling.  Since then, I have noticed other misogynistic or plainly creepy behavior by James – like when at a Policy Committee meeting on the dress code, he described how distracting a young girl’s shoulders could be in such a disturbing way that I actually interrupted him to ask him whether he felt distracted by his students.  In any case, his solution to boys’ interests in girls, was to have the girls cover up completely.

So I was not too surprised that Lance James completely ignored and even vilified the comments made by the mothers who had spoken out that night.  I was not prepared, however, for the level of outright racism that drooled from his mouth as he praised the police and indicted those who would not support them.    James first pontificated on how the parents and community members who saw a problem with police in the classroom were wrong.   He went on to explain how we should not blame police for the massive human rights violations committed by them which are at the basis of community distrust for police – he compared police officers to soldiers returning from war -, and rather, people in San Leandro should seek community with police officers.

James may not have used the “n”  word, as an elderly politician did not too long ago, but his analysis of what is needed in our schools, more police officers, is no less racist.  The system that James is upholding with such passion is one that disciplines children of color at several times the rate of their white counterparts, that has black students being arrested far more often, incarcerated at much higher rates and for longer than their white classmates. It’s a system that leads to one third of black men being incarcerated at some point in their lives and half of black men being unable to find jobs.

Let me be clear, both our educational and justice systems are racist to their very core, and combined, they are condemning millions of African American and Latino children to lives of virtual slavery.  The school-to-prison pipeline is set up to destroy whole communities and annihilate the dreams of possibilities of generations of people of color.  It would not take much legal creativity to draft an argument that its application constitutes a crime against humanity.  Any expression of support for this system, and in particular its law enforcement component, cannot be understood as anything but racist  The only way you can think it’s alright for children and people of color to suffer such treatment is if you think they deserve it – because they are not as worthy as you are.

When James tries to silence criticism of this system and calls for victims of police violence and discrimination to accept moral guidance from the same institution that brutalizes them and their communities, he shows the sort of contempt for the other that you would expect in someone wearing a white robe.

Black Lives Matter

I wanted to throw up.  Instead I yelled from the audience “black lives matter.”  He stopped, looked at me with fury, and went on on his deification of police, without even paying lip service to the fact that blacks lives do matter.

By the end, James was actually quasi-comical.  He tried to make the point that kids don’t feel threatened by police because he sees them flocking to the SROs at his school.  I wonder if, as a teacher, he ever heard of how Europeans brought shiny beads to present to Native Americans as they conspired to rob them of their lands.  SROs today use stickers, souvenirs and offers of photos on their shiny motorcycles to achieve the same effect.   There is a reason, after all, why we need to teach our kids to not take candy from strangers.

arrestedkidBut I didn’t laugh at James,  I snapped.   Because there, in front of me, was the personification of everything that is wrong not just with our schools, but with our society.  Teachers and people with authority who don’t see children as humans, who have absolutely no understanding, no respect and no compassion for them.  Politicians who have no knowledge of the social issues involving the communities around them, and who simply don’t care.  Men who believe they know better, just because they are born with the privilege of a penis and white skin.

So I expressed my anger in the way of those who know this battle is lost, so it’s time to change the terms of the war: I yelled. Loudly. Passionately.

I called Lance James a racist pig (maybe I didn’t use the word pig, but I definitely meant it).  I might have used other names, but my vocabulary on these matters is a bit limited.  I told him he should be ashamed of himself.  I accused him of being a lackey of the police, paying them back for past favors.  He spat back some of his own insults. He left.

More than drunk driving?

My accusation of James was not arbitrary.  Three years ago, a rumor started circulating around City Hall that a School Board member had been arrested for drunk driving.  The rumor did not come with a name and I first heard about it when people started calling my husband – who at the time was in the School Board – and asking him whether it was him who’d been arrested.  It took some tracking down, but finally and through a process of elimination it came out that the trustee in question was Lance James.

Back when this took place, the San Leandro Police Department was putting out press releases with gusto.  Someone steals a cell phone? Press release.  A street sweeper recovers an urn with ashes dropped by fleeing burglar? Yep, it’s a press release.  Police chase two men because one of them is holding to his waistband and then arrest them for resisting arrest? You got it, press release. So it is quite strange that this particular arrest was not followed by a press release announcing it.  Call me paranoid, but if it had been Mike who was arrested, I’m sure it would have gone out in 14 point font.

The lack of a press release meant that James could tell the story on his own terms – though it did take some convincing to get him to apologize publicly and to not seek the nomination for School Board President, as he was meaning to.  I originally suspected that James’ rabid pro-police public stance was payback for police not issuing a press released and this is what I accused him of after the Curriculum Committee meeting.  His response was to ask Police why they didn’t issue the press release, the police officers smiled but otherwise remained quiet on that.

But I think I was wrong.  It’s not gratitude that is motivating James.  When talking about his drunk driving arrest, he expresses bitterness both against police for having arrested him and against the world at large.  Indeed, his private attitude towards police seems quite different from the one he officially proclaims.  Perhaps, I’m left to speculate, James’ public obsequiousness towards police is not repayment for their not issuing a press release on his drunk driving arrest back in 2012.    The average driver has driven drunk 80 times before his first arrest, and around 1/4th of people arrested for drunk driving, will be arrested a second time within five years.  If James was stopped for drunk driving again, we haven’t heard about it.

Caught on Video, Oh My!

But of course, it could be something else altogether. We all have secrets and the police have many tools for finding secrets.  From license plate cameras that photograph cars in places they should not be in, to red light cameras that photograph drivers with passengers they shouldn’t be with, to surveillance cameras that record conversations thought to be private to cellphone interception devices that allow them to listen to private conversations, Police are entrusted with incredible amounts of private information that they can use, at the very least, to intimidate people into doing what they want them to do.

As we say in Spanish, a buen entendedor, pocas palabras.  You don’t need many words with someone who understands what you are getting at.  I thought of this phrase when a police officer asked me for the third time, after that night’s curriculum committee meeting, how I felt about having my outburst against Lance James recorded by their  body cameras.

I’ll be honest, at first I was just perplexed by the question. I didn’t know they had their body cameras on, as that didn’t seem to comply with the protocol for using the cameras I had read when they first got them, but I didn’t understand why they thought I would care.  This was a public meeting and anyone had the right to record it.  Indeed, my husband had been recording it until his battery ran out.  But it became apparent that the police thought I should be embarrassed about my outburst and would be doubly embarrassed if the video got out.  I tried to reassure them that I wouldn’t, but I think they may have to do a whole college course on women’s studies before they could figure out why this is the case.

Had the question been asked just once during our conversation, I would probably had concluded they had been taunting me in good faith.  But by the second or third time that Police asked me about my feelings on the recording, I was starting to suspect it wasn’t a question after all.   After all, if they followed proper procedures, the video would be destroyed and it would be immaterial whether it had ever existed.

With this realization in mind, I can now answer their question:

I feel informed. If the police officers had their cameras on during that meeting, chances are they will have them on whenever they are in school property.  They’ll not only be eavesdropping in private conversations, they’ll be recording them.  Until the law on this is settled, they may very well be able to use anything they find this way against children, their parents or whoever these were talking about.

I feel curious.  Just how potent are the microphones in those body cameras? Can they record private conversations that would otherwise not be audible to the human ear? Should we assume that every time there is a policeman in the room, our private whispered conversations will be recorded?  This, at least, should be fairly easy to find out.

I feel justified.  For a long time, I’ve spoken about the dangers of mass surveillance as a tool for political intimidation.  It is rather poetic that what I expected to happen, happened to me.

I feel hopeful.  If they release that video, does it mean I get all the other body camera videos we’ve requested of police shootings?  Only time and courts will say.

I feel insulted.  Seriously? Do they think so little of me that they believe I can be so easily intimidated?  I don’t want to put any ideas on their heads, but one of my colleagues had a death squad visit her house, many others spent years in jail or “disappeared”.  To be honest, I don’t think they actually stopped to think to ask whether this would intimidate me.  Rather, police use intimidation so systematically, that they are not aware of what they are doing or who they are doing it to.

I feel amused.  Because the only way to deal with the perversity of all this is amusement.

– And I feel disgusted, and I would hope I don’t need to explain why that is.

Final Words

Are they really necessary? We know that race relations and community relations in this country are at their lowest point in generations.  We know we need to fix this.  I think my experiences above explain why we are where we are.  I’m pretty sure that doing more of the same will only make matters worse.  And I’m pretty sure that the powers that be, whose privilege comes from keeping the status quo, will fight any change tooth and nail.  So we’ll have to fight harder

Note: This article has been and will be edited for typos, grammar mistakes and for purposes of clarification.

Oct 222014
 

policeschoolThe following are tweets from last night’s San Leandro School Board meeting, made by parent Mia Ousley  (@Mia4Council), who is currently running for City Council District 5. The SLPD applied for a $500K COPS grant to put four resource officers in San Leandro schools. In return, the district would have to pay $1.7 million dollars, and cut programs accordingly. In addition to the people quoted below, several other parents and several teachers/counselors/nurses also spoke out against accepting the grant. The student trustee – who does not get a vote – did so as well. Only Board members Diana Prola and Ron Carey spoke in favor (but see comment below). 

Any parent who is concerned about using education money to fund police officers and/or has an opinion on what educational programs should be cut/not restored in order to pay for them, should speak out at the Nov. 18th School Board meeting and e-mail the Board.

For more information please e-mail School Board member Mike Katz-Lacabe: mkatz@slusd.us

Tweets from the School Board meeting

Evelyn Gonzalez approves of School Resource Officers, just asks for city to foot most of the bill.

Jessica Sievert – Mom of kindergardener, our work is to help change trajectory of at-risk youth so we don’t need police in schools.
Feels district is being forced to pay, district’s hand is being twisted. Feels politically inappropriate way to allocate money.
Any funding for students should not be pulled from other education resources to fund this.

Cynthia Chandler — Letter from district said Bancroft so deficient that parents have right to transfer out of district, so why spend money on police rather than on getting resources needed in classrooms and for teachers.

Liz Torres – 3 kids in 3rd, 6th, and 12th grade. We need safety and resources in schools, not more police.
$1.69 million should go to programs that uplift and inspire our children and prevent violence, not react to it.
Policing campuses is wrong direction and is misuse of our funds. After-school programs are what we need more of, what helps kids.

[School Board Trustee] Mike Katz-Lacabe – We have 1.8 nurses for 8800 students, this will prevent us from restoring cuts made in the past.
Doesn’t want to establish a precedent for the district funding SROs, outstanding Cathy Pickard notwithstanding.
Yet to see data showing SROs increase safety. Anecdotes are not evidence.
How many of our students get arrested instead of receiving school discipline  and what is their racial make-up? We (the school board) should NOT approve this grant.

[Mia Ousley‘s]  own statement — do not accept this grant because: (1) $$ needed for counselors, after-school programs, supplies, etc. – not police
(2) Hiring police to do job of counselors is harmful to students, and expensive to district.
(3) $1.7 million over 4 years is $106,250/year/officer . . . seems we’re paying MOST of their cost, not just some.
(4) Police shouldn’t help run student groups or after school programs, as the grant requires.
(5) Adding police to schools sends message that we expect kids to get into trouble.
(6) District should instead be teaching non-violent communication, implementing restorative justice, and hiring trained counselors.
And finally (7) It’s shameful this issue didn’t come before parents BEFORE SLPD applied for grant & BEFORE City Council voted on it.

Motion tabled ’til Nov. 18 meeting. Board President [Lance James] wants to give supporters a chance for public input to counter tonight’s public speakers.
Trustee Diana Prola only one to vote NO on tabling, saying “We need to have the cojones to vote the way we think.”
My opponent for City Council [Corina Lopez] was the only Trustee not to speak on the issue at all; perhaps she didn’t want to say anything controversial?

Aug 132014
 

These are the candidates that will be vying for elected office representing San Leandrans.  The candidate’s ballot designations are in parenthesis. Candidate statements, when available, follow the description of each candidate. Remember, all San Leandro voters get to vote for all members of the San Leandro City Council and School Board, regardless of the district/area they represent.

San Leandro Mayor

Pauline Cutter

Pauline Cutter

Pauline Cutter (City Councilmember/Teacher) is the clear favorite to win this race. She served for many years on the San Leandro School Board, and was elected Board president three times, so she has experience as the executive officer of a deliberative body. She won her seat on the City Council four years ago in a competitive race, and has experience campaigning both for herself and others. She has a good relationship with labor – teachers’ union excluded – and is likely to win the Democratic endorsement. As the clear favorite, she’s also likely to be able to fundraise the money she needs to win this race. Politically, Pauline hugs the center. She’s a workhorse and very detail-oriented. She is probably the most independent voice in the council, there have been at least a couple of 6-1 votes, where she’s the 1. If elected, she promises to be a full-time Mayor. Candidate Statement. More on Pauline

Dan Dillman

Dan Dillman

Dan Dillman (Businessman), the owner of the Bal Theater, is an amazing man. He has worked incredibly hard to renovate the theater and bring options for entertainment to San Leandro (much to the opposition of City Hall), as well as to revitalize the south area of town. He is also someone who is not afraid to speak his mind and who brings a level of love and laughter to San Leandro that make this City great. He is not a serious candidate; in the past he has failed to do what it takes to win a campaign: raise money and walk, but he will bring issues to the debate: privacy, civil liberties, freedom, that the other candidates rather ignore.  Candidate Statement. More on Dan

Diana Souza

Diana Souza

Diana Souza (San Leandro Councilmember/Businesswoman) is running for Mayor because she has termed out from City Council. Her tenure on the Council has been uneventful. She got elected with the single goal of getting a competition swimming pool built in the Manor, and when that couldn’t happen, she basically became a second vote for Joyce Starosciak first and, after Joyce left, the City Manager. Her true puppeteer is the San Leandro Police. Diana, however, has a record of not accomplishing anything beyond trying to get the Chinese flag to be flown over San Leandro City Hall. Given that her name recognition is either negative or poor, she is unlikely to present a real threat to Cutter. Candidate Statement. More on Diana

San Leandro City Council, District 1

This is for the Bay-O-Vista/Estudillo Estates/Downtown seat that Michael Gregory is being termed out of.

Mike Katz-Lacabe

Mike Katz-Lacabe

Mike Katz-Lacabe (Trustee, San Leandro School District Board of Education) starts off as the favorite in this race. He was elected to the San Leandro School Board after a competitive race, and has been elected School Board President twice. He has been endorsed by the Alameda Labor Council. Mike has high-name recognition also due to his involvement in the community. He blogs at San Leandro Bytes, is a frequent speaker at City Council meetings and is often quoted in the paper. He is perhaps best known for his work on behalf of privacy rights, but his real strengths come from his vision for the City – he’s the main proponent of turning the 9th grade campus into a High Tech High School -, his thorough understanding of how the city is run and his common sense. Mike is my husband. Candidate Statement. More on Mike

David Anderson

David Anderson

David L. Anderson Sr. (Retired Sheetmetal Worker) is a retired sheetmetal worker and former Oakland School Board member. He gained notoriety in Oakland after he tried to bribe then OUSD laywer Dan Siegel. Siegel recorded the bribe offer, and while no charges were filed, Anderson lost his re-election. Anderson ran for the District 1 seat against incumbent Michael Gregory in 2010 and lost. Candidate Statement. More on David

kenpon

Kenneth Pon

Cheery accountant Kenneth Pon (Certified Public Accountant) is the comic relief candidate for this race. Pon, who served a term in the San Leandro School Board before being ousted by now-Mayor Stephen Cassidy, is known for his bon vivant predisposition, humor and sociability. He’s very involved in the downtown business association, Rotary and other organizations. When he previously ran for office, he proved to be a very lazy campaigner. He’s likely to play the “Sara Mestas”, “Justin Hutchinson” wannabe spoiler role on this race and – he hopes – pick up votes from conservatives who don’t like Cox. Like Cox, he doesn’t speak at City Council matters much, but he did in support of Walmart coming to San Leandro. Candidate Statement. More on Kenneth

deborahcox

Deborah Cox

Deborah Cox  (Public Policy Analyst) is a fundraising dynamo. She is in the boards of many organizations and has helped raise money for schools and the now defunct conservatory theater group.  Her crowning achievement as the head of the Estudillo Estates association was to get a marker for the neighborhood.  She’s also in the Human Services Commission.  Deborah is rarely seen at City Council meetings, but she’s gone to speak against medical marijuana dispensaries and in favor of selling the former Albertson’s property for 1/3 of what the City paid for it, in order to build Village Marketplace (the new location for CVS). What Deborah is not is a public policy analyst, she works as a field representative for Assemblyman Quirk on education matters – which is a very different thing.  Candidate Statement. More on Deborah

 

San Leandro City Council, District 3

This is for the seat that Diana Souza currently occupies.

Lee Thomas

Lee Thomas

BZA member Lee Thomas (Family Services Manager) has been running for a year, so I think we can assume he’s on the lead. Thomas is a nice and jovial guy, it’s hard not to like him, but he is unwilling to commit himself to positions. For example, he was at the meeting where the Council voted to raise the Chinese flag over City Hall, but he wouldn’t speak publicly on it. He belongs to an extreme right fundamentalist church, which opposes medical marijuana. Candidate Statement. More on Lee

Victor Aguilar

Victor Aguilar

Victor Aguilar Jr. (Accounts Manager) is a young account manager at a legal discovery firm. He studied political science in college, worked as a field rep for a City Council member in LA, and is now putting roots in San Leandro. Victor is very active with LGBT rights organizations. Candidate Statement. More on Victor

Allen Schoenfeld (Salesperson) graduated from San Leandro High in 1971. He keeps a very low profile online. No candidate statement filed. More on Allen

San Leandro City Council, District 5

With Pauline Cutter running for Mayor, her seat in the City Council is now open.  This district includes the north-eastern part of San Leandro.

Mia Ousley

Mia Ousley

Mia Ousley (Financial Analyst) is the co-founder of the successful Coalition to Save San Leandro Hospital, as well as the editor of the newsletter of the Broadmoor Neighborhood Association and active MoveOn.org organizer, among other things.  She is a go-getter and has worked on behalf of issues as diverse as getting the City Council to legalize urban farming, expanding entertainment options and developing community-centric public safety initiatives.  Mia is currently a member of the Rent Review Board.  She has worked in campaigns for Obama, Pete Stark, Mayor Stephen Cassidy, Morgan Mack-Rose, Hermy Almonte  and Ursula Reed, among others.  Mia actually likes campaigning, which gives her a leg up on this race.  Full disclosure, Mia is my friend and I’m helping her with her race. Candidate Statement. More on Mia

Corina Lopez

Corina Lopez

Corina Lopez (Trustee, San Leandro School District Board of Education) is currently on the San Leandro School Board, after running unopposed in 2012. Previously, she ran against Pauline Cutter for District 5 and lost.  Before that she was in the City’s Human Services commission.  Corina serves in the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee with me and I consider her a friend.  Corina grew up in Soledad as the daughter of farm workers, made her way to Princeton and now runs an IT company with her husband.  She has been endorsed by the Alameda County Labor Council. Candidate Statement. More on Corina

Leah Hall

Leah Hall

Leah Hall (Community Organizer) is, well, one of those characters that make San Leandro such an amusing town. She’s very active online, a member of the Human Services Commission and a big lover of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Unfortunately, she’s nowhere as funny as her Comedy Central role models, so while her role in the race is that of comedic relief, she’ll probably leave more people puzzled than laughing. Candidate Statement. More on Leah

San Leandro School Board, At Large

Jason Toro resigned from the School Board to apply for a job as director of the new student health clinic (a job he got).  That means that his seat is open and anyone in San Leandro can run to finish his 2-year term.

Evelyn Gonzalez

Evelyn Gonzalez

Evelyn Gonzalez (Community Volunteer) is a mother of three kids that have been making their way through San Leandro Schools.  She has always been extremely involved with the schools, serving in PTAs and school councils, and helping with fundraising.  When McKinley Elementary needed a new computer lab, Mike Katz-Lacabe contacted Evelyn.  Even though her kids weren’t there, she was able to put in a fundraising plan and in no time we had the computers we needed.  Evelyn, a theologian by training, is very involved in the social justice work in her local Parish. Candidate Statement.

Monique Tate (Parent/Administrative Assistant) is an SLUSD parent who is in the LCAP Design Team.  She seems to work as an administrative assistant in the Alameda County Office of Education – which might bring conflict of interest issues.

Peter Oshinski (Child Nutrition Administrator) has lived with his partner in the Broadmoor for the last four years. They don’t have children.  Peter is a former instructor at the California Culinary Academy and now works in food services for a school district.   He does not have a history of involvement with San Leandro schools. Candidate Statement.

Elsie “Jeanne” Kinkella (Retired School Teacher) graduated from San Leandro High in 1962.  She worked for the New Haven Unified School District.

San Leandro School Board, Area 4

Several candidates are vying to replace Mike Katz-Lacabe, who is running for City Council. None of the candidates have been attending School Board meetings until recently.

Latrina Dumas  (Property Manager/Landlord) is a parent at San Leandro High.   She ran against Mike Katz-Lacabe in 2008, because of Katz-Lacabe’s vote to fire superintendent Chris Lim.  Dumas was an ardent Lim supporter.

Leo Sheridan

Leo Sheridan

Leo Sheridan (Businessman/Parent) is parent at Monroe Elementary.  He’s in the Dad’s Club and LCAP team. He works for a paint distribution company. He has refused to meet with me to answer questions as to his qualifications and plans if he’s elected. Candidate Statement.

Chike C. Udemezue (Financial Analyst/Parent) has to have the coolest candidate name in San Leandro. He seems to be a government worker.  He shares his name with a a writer of self-published Nigerian accounting books, and I can only hope they are one and the same. I have learned that he is the brother of Uche Udemezue, the Engineering & Transporation director for the City.

San Lorenzo School Board

Several candidates, including the incumbents, have filed for the two at-large seats on the Board.

Isabel Polvorosa

Isabel Polvorosa

Isabel Polvorosa (Incumbent) has been in the San Lorenzo School Board since 2002, this would be her fourth term in office.  She is a spunky lady, but as I have not followed the doings of the San Lorenzo School Board I know very little about how she’s done there.

At 89-years-old (you read right) incumbent Helen T. Randall  (San Lorenzo Unified School District Governing Board Member) is the second oldest candidate running for office in San Leandro.  She has been in the San Lorenzo School Board for 20 years.  Before that, she was a secretary at the San Lorenzo School district.

Steven Kirk

Steven Kirk

Steve Kirk (Banker/Financial Adviser) is secretary/treasurer at the San Lorenzo Village Homes Association, where he’s live since 1997.  He works in the financial services industry.  He was very involved in the campaign to re-elect Barak Obama as President. He has been endorsed by the San Lorenzo teachers union. Candidate Statement.

Ronald Joseph Pereira II (Retired Teacher)

Janet Zamudio

Janet Zamudio

Janet Zamudio (Family Program Administrator), she seems like an obvious choice for voters.  She is Director of Parent Services at Children’s Council of San Francisco, and has a BA in Social Welfare/Education from Berkeley, and and MA and EdD in Education, Leadership in Early Childhood from Mills College.  She is the mother of three kids attending San Lorenzo public schools. She has been endorsed by the San Lorenzo teachers union. Candidate Statement.

Guillermo Nevárez (Substitute Teacher) is an activity director for the city of Newark and a substitute teacher for Hayward Unified.  He is a new father and was Mark Salina’s campaign manager.

isobel Dvorsky

Isobel Dvorsky

Chabot-Las Positas Community College District – Area 2

Isobel Dvorsky (Educator), the incumbent, has been representing San Leandro in the Chabot board since 1985

Gene Judson (Higher Education Consultant).  He’s a former San Lorenzo School Board member.  A Republican Mormon, Judson lost his seat after one term in 2008.

 

Oro Loma Sanitary District Board of Directors

The Oro Loma Sanitary District board consists of five old white men, four of whom have served for at least 20 years.  Three seats are open, but only two incumbents are running. Board members receive about $1500 of compensation a month plus medical/dental insurance.

Timothy P. Becker (Director, Oro Loma Sanitary District) is the newest director . He was appointed in 2007, and then elected in 2008.   He works in environmental services.

At 91-years-old, incumbent Howard Kerr (Director, Oro Loma Sanitary District) has the honor of being the oldest candidate for office in San Leandro. He has been on the Oro Loma board for 28 years, before that he served on the San Leandro City Council.  Kerr is an “old San Leandro” guy, representing the values of what was “lily white” San Leandro.

Shelia Young

Shelia Young

This will be former San Leandro Mayor Shelia Young‘s (Business/Environmental Consultant) third attempt to get onto the Oro Loma board.  She has high name recognition, which will help her as one of the incumbents is not running. Candidate Statement.

Chike C. Udemezue (Financial Analyst) is Nigerian and the brother of Uche Udemezue, the Engineering & Transporation director for the City of San Leandro.  He’s also running for San Leandro School Board.

Dan Walters (Engineer/Business Owner) is a San Leandro resident who runs a chemical company in town.  He is quite involved with the Chamber and the Boy Scouts, and leans Republican/libertarian on his politics. Candidate Statement.

AC Transit Director At Large

Joel Young

Joel Young

Joel Young (AC Transit District Director, At Large), the incumbent,was censured by the AC Board last year for reviewing confidential AC transit legal files, to help him with a case he was handling for the private law firm for which he works.  He had descended into ignominy earlier, after allegations of domestic violence against an ex-girlfriend.  Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Young tried to blame the young woman.  He ran for Assembly in 2012, and lost  in the primaries.  Still, this is a county-wide race with several candidates, and being the incumbent makes him the favorite.

Dollene Jones (Retired Bus Driver), a retired AC-transit driver who went on to fund a casino-bus service, ran for AC Transit board against Elsa Ortiz in 2012 and lost, she’s now making a run for the at-large seat.  Here is a video of her answering questions in 2012.

Adrienne Andrews (Paralegal/Student)

Murphy

Murphy McCalley

AC Transit, Ward 4

Covers another part of San Leandro

Mark Williams (AC Transit District Director, Ward 4) is the incumbent

Murphy McCalley (Retired Transportation Consultant)  has “served as Chief Financial Officer for two major California transit systems, and as a Consultant/Advisor to various transit systems throughout the United States.” Candidate Statement.

Karen Monroe

Karen Monroe

Alameda County Superintendent of Schools

This is the runoff from the June election, in which none of the 5 candidates was able to garner 50% of the votes. The two candidate now are:

Karen Monroe (Associate Superintendent/Educator) The current Superintendent, Shelia Jordan, designated Monroe as her successor and appointed her Associate Superintendent of Schools so she could run with that title.  Monroe is a young and dynamic African-American woman.  While her relationship with Jordan worry some, she is the favorite to win this race. Candidate Statement.

Helen Foster (Teacher/School Principal) is currently an administrator at the Hayward Unified School District and a San Lorenzo School Trustee.  Candidate Statement.

 

Races NOT on the ballot

San Leandro School Board, Area 2

Lance James

Lance James

Incumbent Lance James is a teacher in Hayward and active in the teacher’s union there. He has two children who’ve gone to San Leandro schools. He doesn’t have any competition, and therefore this race will not be in the ballot. Mr. James will be considered to be an appointed School Board member by the Education Code.

San Leandro School Board, Area 6

Appointed incumbent Ron Carey is unopposed.

Eden Township Healthcare District Board of Directors

There are 3 positions open.

Lester Friedman (Incumbent)

Roxann Lewis (Appointed Incumbent), a nurse who was very active in the campaign to Save San Leandro Hospital, was appointed to the board this month to fill a vacancy.

Thomas E. Lorentzen (Health Care Consultant) served in the Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. administrations, including as Regional Director of the US Department of Health and Human Services.  He later worked as a private health services counselor.  He lives in Castro Valley.

AC Transit, Ward 3

Covers part of San Leandro

Elsa Ortiz, the incumbent, is running unopposed.

EBMUD, Ward 3

Frank Mellon, the incumbent, is unopposed.

Jun 302013
 

politicianThe 2014 elections are just around the corner, and I can’t believe how dismal the candidate field is in San Leandro.  Actually, “dismal” is putting it lightly.

Mayor
Mayor Stephen Cassidy will be seeking re-election. His pitch of  “I’m not as incompetent as Tony Santos” narrowly won him the seat in 2010, but he now will have to run on a record that is only marginally better than his predecessor’s.  He did balance the budget – but only because voters passed Measure Z -, and he ended up getting the police union to agree to pay into their pensions, but only in exchange for raises.    His biggest accomplishment so far was giving the green light to the Lit San Leandro project, but he handicapped it by making zoning code changes incompatible with the “live-work-play” concept he now realizes the city needs to spouse.  Even then, there is nothing scarier to anyone seeking to invest in a town than a capricious regulatory system.  Still, Lit San Leandro has potential and if it can hook in a couple of big companies into town, his chances at re-election look good.

Councilmember Diana Souza, who is being termed out in 2014, and former councilmember Surlene Grant are giddily waiting on the sidelines preparing to jump in if something handicaps Cassidy – or, more likely, if he decides he doesn’t want to go through the rigors of a second campaign in which he will have to defend himself and his record.  While neither Souza nor Grant is particularly well positioned for defeating him by herself, rank choice voting opens up the possibility that they will both run, team up, and attack Cassidy from two different angles.

Neither Souza nor Grant, however, seem likely to be much of an improvement over Cassidy.  Neither can point to many accomplishments while in office, and neither has a history of leadership while in the Council.  I was not very active in politics while Grant was in office, so I cannot totally dismiss her yet – but Souza has proven herself unable to do anything but follow directions in the 7 years she’s been in office.

I am hoping that someone else will jump into the race, but I don’t know who it could be.   Councilmember Jim Prola seems unlikely to do it at this point and nobody else in the City Council has much to offer.  The School Board is mostly made up by new members without the experience to take on the reigns of the City.  The only exception is my husband, Mike Katz-Lacabe, but he has pulled papers to run for City Council District 1.  Former School Board President Morgan Mack-Rose was just narrowly defeated on her bid for the District 2 City Council seat, so she is likely to be out of the political picture for a while.    It’s possible, however, that someone will rise up from the community – though I haven’t seen much noise from anyone who might become a serious candidate.  Dan Dillman, of course, may decide to run again and this time do it seriously.  Depending on how badly Cassidy falters in the upcoming year, he might actually have a shot.

If no one else pans out, however, I might actually consider running myself.  I’ve never had political ambitions of my own, and this would really be a last-ditch solution; I hope it does not come to that.  But I do believe that this city needs to have someone at its helm that takes the responsibilities of the Mayor and its duties towards the community seriously.  Our Police Department needs to be audited and brought under civilian control – it is unconscionable that we have narcotic officers selling drugs of dubious origins, officers with a record of brutality killing unarmed civilians without any repercussions, false child porn charges filed against established members of our community, persecution of gay men and a Chief that lies to the community and the Council and tries to manipulate the political process, without any consequences whatsoever and, of course, turning San Leandro into a surveillance state.  This needs to be a campaign issue.  There are, unfortunately, many others.

Districts 1 , 3 & 5

San Leandro has a hybrid type of district elections.  Council members must live in a particular area of town, but they are voted on by residents of the whole city.

Michael Gregory is terming out from District 1 .  So far the only person I have heard that might be running for that seat is my own husband, Mike Katz-Lacabe.  He pulled papers last November.

Diana Souza is terming out from District 3 herself, so that will also be an open seat.  Board of Zoning Adjustments member Lee Thomas has already indicated that he will run for that seat.  I tried to meet with Thomas to get an idea of his political philosophy, only to find out that he doesn’t have any.  I give him credit for his honesty in refusing to engage on policy discussions before he has spent the time to learn about the issues and figure out what he thinks (though he might have considered putting off running, until he becomes acquainted with these little matters).  But if someone is unwilling to answer the question: “on a scale from one to ten, how progressive are you? “, then I can only conclude that he either has no political views at all or that he is unwilling to stand up for them.  In either case, that’s not what I want in a City Council member.  I much rather have someone who is conservative, but who is clear and honest about his political philosophy, than someone who will decide on issues as the wind blows or his pockets are filled.

This means that I am actively looking for someone to run for that seat.  In my view, the requirements for office are intelligence, integrity and a real commitment to the public good and the democratic process.  A tall order, any day.

Finally, Pauline Cutter seems likely to seek re-election for District 5, and I haven’t heard of anyone poised to challenge her.

School Board

Just like with the City Council, School Board members run for a district but are elected at large. The School Board has 7 members, only 2 of whom faced a contested election – the other 5 just walked into the office.  Katz-Lacabe has been trying to reduce the number of members from 7 to 5, to make it more likely that those serving are actually elected, but he has gotten little traction.

Three seats will be up for election in 2014.  Lance James, who represents the north-eastern area of town will be running for re-election.  Ron Carey, who represents the area south of Davis St., east of 880 up to the first railroad tracks, has said he’s not running.  He had been appointed to that seat.  If Mike Katz-Lacabe runs for City Council, then his School Board seat (adjacent on the east side to Carey’s, extending up to East 14th.) will be open.  So far I haven’t heard of anyone interested in running for either.

If you know more political gossip, if you’re interested in running for office and want to announce here or seek my help, or if you just want to gossip, please comment here or in Facebook.