The Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) invites families, students, community and business leaders, and other stakeholders to attend a public hearing that will provide the public an opportunity to provide input on the creation of areas for by-trustee area elections.
MDUSD is moving to a by-trustee area system in alignment with California Voting Rights Act, discouraging district-based elections.
The hearing is part of a statutory process for establishing a by-trustee area elections system.
Under this model, MDUSD will be organized into five individual trustee areas.
Previously, trustees were elected by voters of the entire district. In the new process, trustees will be elected by the voters living within the trustee’s respective area.
Input gathered from the public during this hearing will help determine the criteria used by a demographer in drafting the new trustee area maps.
The hearing will be held during the regularly scheduled meeting of the MDUSD Board of Education:
- Monday, June 24, 2019 – 7:00 p.m.
The meeting will be held at the district offices at 1936 Carlotta Dr., Concord, in the main boardroom.
The first trustee area elections will be held in November of 2020.
I believe this is a good thing; acknowledging there are pro’s and con’s.
this looks bad for all
one person to rule your school and its policies
divide and conquer
you will make great pets
Why waste money on a demographer? Why not just use the current high school feeder pattern boundaries? Too much money coming in?
No Excuses,
I believe district populations are required to be within 5% of each other.
The 2018 Concord City Council Districts resulted in far fewer candidates running compared to the previous At-Large elections.
Concord City Council District 1 – resulted in 3 candidates running for the seat, but only because former Concord City Councilman Ron Leone lost his Contra Costa County Superintendent of Education primary, so he then jumped into the Concord City Council District 1 race, because he didn’t want to be out of office.
Concord City Council District 3 – resulted in 2 candidates running, but that’s only because both of the candidates moved into the district just to run for office.
Concord City Council District 5 – resulted in only 1 candidate running, the candidate was then APPOINTED Concord City Councilman Tim McGallian, who was effectively elected by the members of the Concord City Council when they APPOINTED him to the position.
MDUSD voters will lose 80% of their voting power in a “by-trustee area elections system” and not necessarily receive better representation.
If the 2018 district election in Concord was held as an at large election the winners would be in order Hoffmeister, McGallian, Leone resulting in no change in the Council. It would also have made it impossible for Yamada to run a competitive race city wide due to financial restraints.
District elections enhance the power of incumbency, as incumbents’ larger financial resources can be applied to a much smaller territory, resulting in more $$$ to spend per voter.
It gets more interesting when an incumbent retires without naming a successor. Will have to wait a while to actually see a competitive election again.
Edi Birsan,
Actually, had then Councilman Ron Leone not decided to run for Contra Costa County Superintendent of Education and just run for reelection to the Concord City Council he would’ve been gerrymandered into his own safe district and guaranteed reelection, just as you and the other 3 Concord City Councilmembers were all safely gerrymandered into your present districts.
While I’m glad that Kenji Yamada ran for Concord City Council, even though I didn’t like that he and Dominic Aliano moved into District 3 just to run for the seat, I don’t know that I would call a loss by almost 15% a “competitive race?”
You and the other members of the Concord City Council effectively elected then APPOINTED Councilman Tim McGallian to the Concord City Council when you APPOINTED him to the seat. The Concord City Council should only APPOINT someone to vacancies on the Concord City Council and for City of Concord Treasurer if those individuals agree to not run for the seat. They should have no problem pledging to fill the seat until voters choose someone else for the position at the election when the term is set tp expire.
To help further greater turnover on the Concord City Council and to support more competitive races you can again commit to your 2-term limit pledge by not running for reelection to District 4 in 2020.
Edi Birsan is only interested in those political outcomes which further his master plan of instituting rent control in our city. This effort must be stopped. Vote Edi out of office!