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San Leandro: Seven candidates seek election to two school board posts [The Daily Review, Hayward, Calif.]
[October 30, 2014]

San Leandro: Seven candidates seek election to two school board posts [The Daily Review, Hayward, Calif.]


(Daily Review (Hayward, CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 31--SAN LEANDRO -- Seven candidates are seeking election in November to two school board seats with no incumbents in the race.

The at-large post has attracted four candidates: Evelyn Gonzalez, Elsie "Jeanne" Kinkella, Peter Oshinski and Monique Tate. The term is for two years, through 2016.

Three are running in Area 4: Latrina Dumas, Leo Sheridan and Chike Udemezue.

Gonzalez regularly reports to the school board as the district's representative on the city's Recreation and Parks Commission.

"I realized that some of our school board members weren't as involved at the school sites as they should be," she said. "We need parents that are active and we need parent voices on the school board." The district also needs better communication, Gonzalez said.



"I would love for the school board meetings to be broadcast. We use same chambers as the City Council, so it's all set up for that," she said.

Gonzalez said that although her opponents have worked in education, she is the only one with a strong knowledge of San Leandro schools.


Kinkella was a teacher and head of her school's foreign language department, where she worked with teachers and administrators and, she said, was able to see both sides of complex issues.

One of the biggest challenges for the schools is the education equity gap, Kinkella said.

"The poor students don't get early childhood education and start in school already behind. It's hard to catch up," she said.

Schools should tackle that problem with the same effort made to close the education gender gap, she said.

"We need to begin now. The school board and superintendent need to spearhead an effort to solve the problem," she said. "We can't wait 20 years." Oshinski worked for the San Ramon Valley district before taking a job in Hayward.

"When I started at Hayward I began to realize that there is such disparity between districts with low, free and reduced lunch populations such as San Ramon and districts with high, free and reduced populations such as Hayward and San Leandro," he said.

The San Ramon students have better facilities and technology, and there is a greater emphasis on academics, he said. "I have a lot to offer and I need to bridge this gap in my own community," he said. "I feel that education can improve and transform people's lives as it did for me." Tate has volunteered in San Leandro schools for about 14 years.

She decided to run because "I wanted to see more parent engagement in the district at the decision-making level," she said.

Tate would like to make it easier for parents to be involved.

"Let's come up with a plan so that people who are not able to come to meetings can get the message. Parents need to be a part of the process," she said.

Sheridan also said the district needs to get parents and the community more involved in the schools. And he is concerned about school safety.

"We have some campuses where anybody can walk on during the day," he said.

His expertise running an information technology consulting company would be useful on the board as schools shift to a greater reliance on technology, Sheridan said.

Repeated attempts to contact Dumas were unsuccessful. She also ran for the school board in 2010.

Udemezue was not available for an interview.

"Being ... a parent of two kids under the school district drives me to reach out and help," he wrote in an email. "As I am involved in the PTA, I have a firsthand account of the everyday problems and needs." Contact Rebecca Parr at 510-293-2473.

___ (c)2014 The Daily Review (Hayward, Calif.) Visit The Daily Review (Hayward, Calif.) at www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview Distributed by MCT Information Services

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