The City Charter has not been revised in more than 30 years.  It is out of date and contains inconsistencies.  The City Council had several meetings over a two year period to consider changes to the Charter, and actively sought and considered citizen input.  For a detailed analysis of these measures, I recommend the Piedmont League of Voters website, at https://my.lwv.org/california/piedmont/lwvp-pros-cons-city-piedmont-measures-bb-and-cc.

I believe there are two “hot buttons” regarding Measure BB.  The first “hot button” concerns competitive bidding.  Measure BB would remove language that says Piedmont will follow state law on competitive bidding.  As a Charter City, Piedmont has the authority to set its own thresholds for competitive bidding.  By removing that language, Piedmont makes clear that it is exercising its Charter City authority.  It is my understanding that Piedmont does a full competitive bid for any projects exceeding $75,000, and has had trouble getting contractors to bid for low dollar projects.  In my opinion, a $75,000 threshold sufficiently balances the need to wisely spend public funds against the administrative burden on the City and bidders.  The second concerns how long a termed-out Council member would need to wait to run again for the Council.  Measure BB would change the four year waiting period, to an eight year waiting period.  While I don’t agree with this change, I still support Measure BB because this situation hardly ever arises, and I believe that the other changes in Measure BB are desirable and necessary.

Measure CC addresses personnel issues, and it clarifies ambiguous and outdated language in the City Charter.  If Measure CC passed, the City Council would be responsible for hiring all department heads and managing and firing the City Administrator and City Attorney.  The City Administrator would be responsible for managing and firing all City employees except the City Attorney. It is not unusual for a board of directors to hire a CEO of its organization, and to give the CEO the authority and responsibility for hiring, managing and firing all of the organization’s employees.  We cannot expect our City Council, a group of five volunteers, to manage the City’s department heads.  With these changes to the City Charter, we should expect that the City Administrator would confer with the Council in exercising his/her authority, and the Council holding the City Administrator responsible for how that authority was exercised.

Kathleen Quineville, Piedmont Resident

Megan Pillsbury and I worked together on the School Site Council at Havens more than a decade ago.  I am excited to hear she is running for School Board. We’d be lucky to have her as a trustee of our school system!  She will bring a unique viewpoint to the board, since she combines classroom teaching experience with the understanding of a parent, as well as taking a systemic perspective of education.

Though we didn’t know one another at the time, we volunteered to work together to research the impact and benefits of homework for elementary school students. She was not only interested in thoroughly researching the topic so our work would be grounded in facts, but also attentive to gathering input from all those invested in the topic – from students, to parents to teachers to administrators and other staff.  She worked extremely hard to understand people’s interests, and to think through how we might design a comprehensive and flexible program at Havens to meet as many people’s needs as possible, in the context of the evidence of what works best for students.  Then she worked to document and implement a system for homework at Havens – so that parents knew what to expect and why, so that teachers had supports in place and didn’t have to reinvent, so there was consistency from classroom to classroom from an administrative perspective, and so that students would have homework that made a difference in their learning.  I was impressed at every stage of this project: by Megan’s commitment and dedication, by her thoroughness, by her systems thinking, by her focus on meeting interests and needs.  Based on these, we delivered an excellent and comprehensive homework program at Havens.

Megan Pillsbury has the experience, talent and perspective to serve us well on the Piedmont School Board.

Dana Serleth, Piedmont Resident

I am writing to ask my fellow Piedmonters to re-elect Amal Smith to the Piedmont School Board. First, Amal has demonstrated here commitment to Piedmont’s children for over 18 years. Beginning as a room parent volunteer when her children went to Beach, Amal’s commitment continued as she served in leadership positions on the Beach Parents Organization, the Piedmont Education Foundation, as member of the District Budget Advisory Committee, and as a member of the PUSD Wellness Center Advisory Board.

With over twenty eight years of experience in the field of higher education, currently as the Associate Dean of Financial Affairs at the School of Medicine at UCSF, Amal brings a wealth of financial management experience to the school board. More importantly, over the last four years as a school board member, Amal has demonstrated her strong leadership skills as she has navigated a variety of issues including our district’s financial challenges and curriculum transitions.

Amal is working to serve ALL of Piedmont’s children and takes her responsibility very seriously. She is open, honest, and smart. We need people like Amal on our school Board. Please join me in voting for her on November 6 th .

Cathy Michelotti Glazier, Piedmont Resident

We have lived in this beautiful city of Piedmont for twenty years. As working professionals, we don’t have hundreds of hours to attend long board meetings and read dense financial reports filled with complex financial calculus.  That’s how Dr. Titan found out about the expensive financing schemes that did not improve the schools but cost taxpayers unnecessarily high interest charges.  We’re grateful to Dr. Titan, a father and mathematician, for devoting his time and interest on the finances of our schools since 2013.  He helped save us $26 million once and he might save an additional $26 million dollars!  Piedmonters will be well served with Dr. Titan on the School Board.

Sincerely,
Wayne Leong and Suzanna Chan, Piedmont Residents

The meeting opened the floor to any audience members who had something to say.

First was a man named Mr. Rick Schiller, a long-time resident of Piedmont. He brought up two seemingly-unrelated topics: pickleball and taxes. He was able to connect the two, as both relate to senior citizens in Piedmont. Fixing the tennis courts would really help the elderly who play pickleball there.

Schiller noted tax exemptions, similar to those in many other cities, would help relieve elderly financial stress. Giving tax exemptions would not have to cost the School District too much, if it was based on income.

PHS students Charlotte Diggatno and Mikaela Vawter addressed their grievances regarding the girls’ bathrooms. Bathroom stalls are not locking, causing people to get walked in on. The bad lighting in the 30’s building bathrooms are hazardous and have been broken for years. Becoming a major issue, the poor quality of the girls’ bathrooms needs to be changed. All Board members showed their support for the two girls, and promised to solve the problem.

A woman came forward to present new changes in Piedmont’s wifi configurations. New connections are being formed for better internet connection in Piedmont. The changes have already begun, but the lady wanted more  people to be informed. She came to the School Board meeting: to reach out to the schools, which are in the heart of Piedmont. Though her information didn’t directly pertain to the schools, she was able to get her message across to many.

The main event of the meeting came at the very end: the plans for the H1 PHS construction project. Costing millions of dollars, construction on the new STEAM building will begin in July next year, 2019. Plans for the new-three story building containing 20 classrooms, were shown by projection onto a drop-down screen. Mr. Palmer talked about the project in general, eliminating confusing details so all present could understand. Besides the new building there will also be a brand new theater and renovated field.

Because Witter Field will be under construction next May, the senior and 8th grade graduation will be held at the Paramount Theater. This is a hot spot for graduations, used by Bishop O’Dowd High School and many colleges. The theater contains more than enough room with 2800 seats. From the theater, buses will leave for Grad Night.

After the presentation of the complex blueprints, Ms. Pearson, the Board President, asked if any audience members wished to speak about the project.

Having a question prepared, I volunteered to go first. A few years ago, when the Alan Harvey Theater was renovated with new theater cushions, I took home some theater seats they were going to dispose of. They are currently reupholstered in my basement private theater. Slyly looking for an opportunity to get more free stuff, I asked the Board what will become of all the current theater seats, stage props, lights, desks, science supplies and more.

At first I was nervous talking at the podium, however, because I knew Mr. Booker and Max, it wasn’t so bad. Mr. Palmer, eager to answer my question, returned to the podium and explained that all the supplies will be salvaged, saved or sold. (I couldn’t take any of it.) Mr. Palmer’s answer satisfied my curiosity about where the stuff would be going. More PHS students asked questions about backstage crew at the new theater, new teachers and sports practices.

The meeting ended with the board members discussing their last two weeks. Many of them went to the Beach Pancake Breakfast that I volunteered at the weekend before.

At the very end, as people were packing up, I went up to the Board Members and showed them some of the “courtroom” sketches I made during the meeting. To keep myself focused, I usually doodle people and things around me. They liked seeing my drawings and joked that I should sit in every other week and make official sketches of their meeting. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice and friendly the Board Members were, despite their professionalism during the meeting.

On my way out of City Hall, I ran into PHS Principal, Mr. Littlefield. I asked him why he came to the meeting. “Whenever they talk about the high school, I’m usually there,” he told me as he got into his car. “This time I was here because of the new building designs.” I asked him what he thought about the meeting. “Typical,” was his answer. I thanked him and waved goodbye.

By Natalie Jeng, Piedmont High School Senior

 

 I’ve had the pleasure working side-by-side with Julie Caskey for the past few years in connection with the Piedmont Appreciating Diversity Committee (PADC). To say that Julie brings bountiful energy and doggedness to everything she does is an understatement. As a Board Member, these traits will serve Julie well.

As key organizers of “Let’s Talk,” the community-wide, civil discourse workshops offered last February and, again, this past August, I got to see Julie in action. From initial planning meetings to content development, sponsor outreach, and communication activities, Julie demonstrated critical, strategic and collaborative thinking and effectiveness in all things. For example, Julie was able to get every single parent-led school club to donate even a very short amount of time. This remarkable feat takes equal parts tenacity and strong relations, which Julie has created in our community during all of her hours of volunteer week.

Finally, I also know that Julie will continue to work on important issues including building a more inclusive community that supports all students.

Jill Lindenbaum, Piedmont Resident

Editor:

We strongly endorse Amal Smith for re-election to the School Board.

Amal has an admirable track record of volunteerism and leadership in our town from Beach Parent Organization (BPO), PEF, support groups and for the last four years as a member of the School Board, experience and leadership that is supplemented by her 28 year career in higher education.

Amal’s dedication to the Piedmont community and our schools is unwavering. Amal is not just committed to an education for all students but also to providing them with the social and emotional tools they need to succeed as young adults through high school and beyond.

Through my own volunteerism on parent club and other community boards I have worked with Amal and am continually impressed by her ability to relate to parents at all stages of their child(ren)’s education, to listen, to process copious information and to provide valuable insights, thought provoking questions and/or relevant next steps or solutions.

Amal is a strong leader and communicator whose candid responses, forethought and constructive reflection all help to better educate parents and meet the needs of our schools and our students.

Piedmont is lucky to have such an exceptional candidate willing to run for re-election. We hope you will join us in supporting Amal Smith for re-election to the School Board.

Charlotte and Mike Ero, Piedmont Residents