The roster of candidates vying for a seat on the five-member West Contra Costa Unified School District board in the November election became official today.
The WCCUSD board and district Superintendent Chris Hurst make up the district’s governing team. The WCCUSD includes the cities of El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo, and six unincorporated areas: Bayview-Montalvin Manor, East Richmond Heights, El Sobrante, Kensington, North Richmond and Tara Hills.
There are three open seats, for which two current board members are running for reelection.
What should Richmondside ask the candidates?
As Richmondside kicks off its election coverage we want to hear from you. What school district issues are most important to you as you’re deciding who to vote for? Email hello@richmondside.org.
Not sure what voting area you live in? Visit this interactive map to find your neighborhood.
Learn more about how the school board and district work in our guide.
Here are the WCCUSD school board candidates and the geographical areas they represent.
Area 1
According to Contra Costa County’s Clerk Recorder filings, as of Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline there are no challengers to current school board chair Jamela Smith-Folds, who is running for re-election. She was first elected in 2020 and governs Area 1, which includes parts of Richmond, Hercules and Pinole.
Area 2
Otheree Christian, elected in 2020, is running for re-election. He governs Area 2, which includes the Richmond shoreline north of the bridge and Richmond neighborhoods such as Atchison Village, Coronado and North and East. He is the only candidate to report raising funds for his race so far: He reported $2,300, according to campaign filing records.
Running against Christian is Guadalupe Enllana, co-chair for the city’s Children and Youth Oversight board according to her LinkedIn page.
Area 3
Voters will elect a new school board member in Area 3, which Mister Phillips used to represent until the district was redrawn and he was moved into Area 2. It includes parts of San Pablo and the Central and North Richmond neighborhoods.
Cinthia Hernandez is the only candidate for the seat. She is a workforce specialist with Richmond at the Employment & Training YouthWORKS program, according to her page on LinkedIn.
The school board’s responsibilities
The board, on behalf of the geographical areas members serve, governs Richmond’s schools. Board members serve up to two four-year terms. Once elected, any new or returning members will be sworn in this December.
Members approve the school district’s budget, evaluate district schools and make key personnel hiring or firing decisions, while Superintendent Hurst leads day-to-day operations.
WCCUSD reorganized its elections in 2020, replacing at-large elections with trustee-area voting. The candidates are required to live in the area they represent and are selected by voters within that boundary. The new system resulted from a lawsuit that alleged district-wide elections violated the California Voting Rights Act and were racially polarized.
Anyone can access a detailed map of the neighborhoods that school board members represent on the district’s site. The maps are defined by “district areas,” which were most recently updated in 2022.
