November 5, 2024 Board Elections

The Castro Valley Unified School District is governed by five members of the Board of Education who serve staggered four-year terms. School board members are locally elected public officials entrusted with governing our community’s public schools.

The Statewide General Election is on November 5, 2024. Three seats on the Board of Education will be up for election, Trustee Areas 1, 2, and 5. Only voters residing in their residential Trustee Area on the new trustee-area map will vote for the open seats and during Area elections.

The incumbents, whose terms expire December 13, 2024 are as follows:

Dolly Adams, Trustee Area 1, who has served since December 2020. 
Lavender Lee Whitaker, Trustee Area 2, who has served since December 2016.

Michael J. Kusiak, Trustee Area 5, who has served since December 2020.

 

To be eligible for election, Board candidates must be 18 years of age or older; a citizen of the state; a resident of the school district residing within Trustee Areas 1, 2, or 5; a registered voter; and not disqualified by the constitution or laws of the State from holding a civil office.

 

It is important that school board candidates understand the depth of commitment required to effectively fulfill the school board role. 

The following information is now available on the Alameda County Registrar of Voters website:

 

The Board of Education represents the community in the conduct of public education within the Castro Valley Unified School District. The Board’s specific responsibilities include establishing a vision for the schools, setting policy and allocating resources to realize that vision, monitoring progress towards that vision, and reporting to the community.  Authority for these responsibilities is granted to the board as a whole, not each member individually.

The board establishes the district’s vision and, therefore, its direction. It represents all of the various constituencies within the district, and therefore, it is the one entity within the district that must see the big picture and align all of its parts.  

 

The board allocates resources to support the vision and strategic plan to best facilitate student achievement.  The Board is the first and last step in determining funding for the district. In consultation with the superintendent and district staff, it first gives guidance for priorities for the budget, and the board approves the final budget. 
It also establishes policies for the distribution of all other resources, such as personnel and facilities.  Frequent monitoring of these policies happens throughout the year at Board meetings.

It is the obligation of the board to hold all parts of the district, including itself, accountable for the adherence to the vision, mission and strategic plan of the district.  The board is responsible for frequent self-evaluations and reviews on direction with the LCAP, LCFF and other measures.  These occur regularly at meetings with updates and data provided by staff.

 

The board has a responsibility to communicate fully and often with the community. The community should be included and involved in understanding the workings and procedures within CVUSD to understand board actions.  

 

The board’s role in community leadership begins with efforts to provide a quality educational program and create a positive climate in the district.  Community leadership is based on long-term thinking about the needs of schools and the direction set forth in the district’s vision. 

Effective community leadership also requires paying attention to the demeanor in the boardroom and the community.  Board members must recognize that they are “always board members” and cannot separate their private and public images.  The behavior of board members affects the board’s credibility, which affects the support the community has for the district’s schools.

The Board strongly supports the right of its employees to collective bargaining and recognizing  its own responsibility to ensure the financial stability of the district. The Board’s overarching interests in collective-bargaining are to:

• Provide high- quality education for all students
• Make progress toward achieving the district’s vision
• Fulfill all legal requirements concerning the education of the students
• Represent the community
• Recruit and retain a high-quality staff
• Oversee financial and human resources
• Garner and maintain the goodwill and support of the community.

The Board of Education’s role is to enhance the academic achievement of the students.  To this end, they must function at a high level of effectiveness and efficiency.  This requires that the board maintain a focus on students and weigh the impact on students with each and every decision.  

The decision-making process must be marked by respectful conversation and input of relevant data and information.  Board members will engage in civil discourse and allow all perspectives to be heard from the community and the governance team.  Differing ideas will be shared prior to the vote so that all members of the team are knowledgeable with the same information.  Once a majority decision is reached, it will be supported by all members of the team.

The Board works with the superintendent as a governance team. It is also important that the members of the governance team understand and adhere to their specific roles. The board sets policy but does not play a role implementing that policy. In turn, the superintendent implements the policies and ensures that questions involving policy are referred to the board for consideration. The superintendent also handles all communications and contacts involving personnel.