WCCUSD Area 2 incumbent Otheree Christian enthusiastically told a questioner at a Monday night election forum to “Bring it on,” while his challenger Guadalupe Enllana stressed that she’s parent-focused and not beholden to special interests.
The League of Women Voters and WCCUSD sponsored the forum at De Anza High School with the election just two weeks away and will hold a second one on Oct. 30.
The race between Christian, who bowed out of an Oct. 3 forum for personal reasons, and Enllana is the only contested one. Incumbent Jamela Smith-Folds and Cinthia Hernandez are running unopposed for seats representing Areas 1 and 3, respectively. Hernandez has not been attending election events as she has been on maternity leave, but a press release for the Oct. 30 forum says she will attend. (The seats governing Areas 4 and 5, which represent El Sobrante and El Cerrito, are not up for election.)
The post-election WCCUSD board will immediately face several important tasks, most notably launching a search for a new top leader. Assistant Superintendent Kim Moses will become interim superintendent with Chris Hurst’s impending departure set for December.
Other challenges on tap include improving the district’s financial outlook and ensuring all schools have enough properly credentialed teachers as well as sufficient services to support students at risk of dropping out or being suspended. The board recently approved its 2024-25 budget two months late because trustees, parents and district staff weren’t aligned about the district’s plan to help its most vulnerable youths.The League of Women Voters of West Contra Costa County and the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) are pleased to announce a second candidate forum on October 30, 2024. This forum will take place from 6 PM to 7 PM in the multipurpose room at DeJean Middle School.
Final WCCUSD school board election forum
WHEN: Oct. 30, 6 p.m.
WHERE: DeJean Middle School, 3400 Macdonald Ave.
INFO: West Contra Costa Unified School District school board candidates Guadalupe Enllana, Cinthia Hernandez, Christian Otheree and Jamela Smith-Folds will discuss their platforms and take questions from a League of Women Voters moderator. Live questions will not be allowed, but you can email questions to wccusdcandidateforum@wccusd.net.
The candidates responded to questions asked by the League of Women Voters, which did not take live questions from the public but announced on Friday that questions could be emailed to the WCCUSD.
Enllana presented herself as a representative of parents, saying she’s a mother of five, and as a daughter of immigrants. She said she decided to run for office because she thinks parents have not been adequately included in district decisions.
“I stand for independence. I am not attached to any group or special interest,” Enllana said. (Campaign finance filings with the Contra Costa County Clerk Recorder show that Enllana’s campaign has raised $6,250, including $3,000 from the U.A. Local 342 P.A.C Fund, and has spent more than $2,000.)
Christian, who told Richmondside last month that he’d be happy to debate Enllana “anytime, anywhere,” after she suggested he hadn’t done enough to support academically challenged schools, said at Monday’s forum that he wants to continue to fight on behalf of improving educational standards and safety in schools, including for children exposed to gun violence. He stressed that he supports traditional public education, saying, “We will not lose any more kids to the charter schools or to any other places.”
“I’m advocating to help build this community and help make it a better community for our students in this district,” he said, emphasizing the words “this.” “We’ve got to hold the superintendent accountable. We got to know the truth.”
Smith-Folds said she’s running for re-election because, “Service is my oxygen. I understand the difference between campaigning and governing. I’m running for the school board because I am not afraid to tell the truth … and to challenge the systems.”
The unopposed board chair also said people who become board trustees must understand how the district sets its priorities and how much power they have to implement them. Smith-Folds described the role of a board member as following the priorities already laid out in plans such as the LCAP, which sets the district’s strategy for using millions of dollars for programs which benefit the most vulnerable students, and making policy recommendations to the superintendent. Being a school board member requires working together as a team and understanding the rules behind governance, she said.
Enllana said that she wants to see more efforts to properly inform parents and give them “a seat at the table” when making decisions on major documents such as the LCAP (although the district already must follow various state and local laws to engage the public in the LCAP approval process). She said she thinks that WCCUSD needs to work more closely with different community organizations to pull in more parents.
Christian told voters that he was one of the board members who saw deficiencies in the 2024-25 LCAP, and he abstained from voting on it so that he could meet with Area 2 parents. He said that after he met with parents he recommended that the board prioritize using LCAP funds for the most vulnerable students in Area 2, demonstrating his focus on bringing resources to students with the most needs.
“Young people need the resources to help them get to the next level,” he said. “We have to continue to make sure that we do our due diligence to inform and educate and build a relationship instead of being divided.”
The candidates appeared split on how they would try to improve the regional credentialed teacher shortage, a problem highlighted by a judge’s recent decision to reject a civil rights lawsuit that sought to, among other things, order the district to only hire credentialed teachers.
Smith-Folds said the board has upheld high standards for teachers and will stand by those standards to have high-quality education. Enllana said the teacher shortage comes from the districtd not supporting educators enough to retain them, including with sufficient professional development and in-school support. She added that WCCUSD needs to hire more teachers who know the community well and resemble the students they educate.
Christian said offering more affordable workforce housing would make a big difference in teacher retention.
“I know we don’t have it here in this district,” he said. “We need to recruit from historic Black colleges and within this area as well. But we also want to attract (people) from all backgrounds, all nationalities. We’ve got to do our due diligence to work to find good teachers.”
Asked about improving preschool and transitional kindergarten, Christian said WCCUSD must boost the dollars available to teachers to provide adequate programs for younger children, although he didn’t describe how to do so.
Smith-Folds said she’s discussed the demand for pre-kindergarten classes, which the district doesn’t have sufficient funding for, with Hurst. She said she wants to improve facilities for younger children and support for their teachers.
“You have this vast array of children in one spot, and you don’t have enough adults in the room,” Smith-Folds said. “I volunteer in (transitional kindergarten) all the time, and every time I have to take a whole bottle of Tylenol because I’m not built for it anymore. So, having the right people in the right place is key, and we have to get it right from the beginning.”
Enllana said she agreed with Smith-Folds, adding that WCCUSD should do a better job of including parents of “lower-performing students” at the transitional kindergarten level to get help addressing diverse learning needs early on.
In her closing statement, Smith-Folds said that she intends to continue making hard decisions and that the public must be able to trust the board members. (She has not reported raising any funds this campaign season.)
“It’s not easy doing this job, but I stand on the shoulders of the Black women who did this job before me,” she said.
Christian said that he has the support of leaders such as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), various building trade unions and United Teachers of Richmond. (Campaign finance filings with the county clerk recorder show Christian has reported $2,300 in contributions, including $1,300 from Mister Phillips, the WCCUSD board member who is not running for re-election.)
“I’ve worked tirelessly over the years, I’ve worked in the neighborhoods,” he said. “If I didn’t care, I would not be in this position.”
Enllana reiterated that she has “an independent voice” and said she won’t abstain from voting on important issues in Area 2, which she said has the lowest-performing schools in WCCUSD.
“I want to build on the relationships I already have and bring together the community without dividing,” she said.
Another candidates forum will be scheduled, with information on a date and location coming soon, the league said. Community members are encouraged to submit questions to candidates by emailing wccusdcandidateforum@wccusd.net.
For more information, follow Richmondside’s schools coverage or visit the WCCUSD school board website.
