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Pleasanton Unified School District Trustee Valerie Arkin announced Monday that she will seek election to the Pleasanton City Council in November with her school board term expiring this year.
Arkin, who is in her 12th year on the PUSD board and works as a manager for a local nonprofit, said her primary focus would be to use her elected service experience and educational background in health sciences and business to help the city government address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My first year on the school board marked the launch of the Great Recession of 2008 and an extended period of budget constraints that required us to make do with what we had,” Arkin said in a statement announcing her City Council campaign on Monday afternoon.
“As we emerge from the current pandemic, the ability to leverage the city budget in a way that will support local businesses and maintain city services will be paramount,” she added.
Arkin becomes the fourth City Council hopeful to confirm their candidacy during the past week. Two regular council seats — for full, four-year terms — will be completely up for grabs on the Nov. 3 ballot, as incumbent council members Jerry Pentin and Karla Brown are terming out. Mayor Jerry Thorne is termed out this fall as well.
Arkin’s decision will also open one spot on the PUSD Board of Trustees, as her seat is one of three due up for election on Nov. 3 — trustees Steve Maher and Jamie Yee are up for re-election as well, but they have not yet publicly announced whether they’ll run again.
In announcing her City Council campaign, Arkin pointed to years of experience on the school board focused on high-quality academic programs for students, transparency on school issues and fiscal responsibility.
“My role on the school board and as school board president contributed to the top-rated education, academics and improved facilities in the Pleasanton school district,” she said. “Our students are consistently accepted by top universities and become industry, business and community leaders. I want to bring this level of excellence to our city government.”
Among her other top priorities on the City Council, Arkin cited preserving Pleasanton’s historic downtown, evaluating the impact of future development on local schools, traffic and the water supply, and protecting the local environment and hillsides.
“My long-term tenure on the school board gave me the opportunity to collaborate with city staff and elected leaders for more than a decade, where I gained great insight into the challenges and opportunities facing our city,” she said.
Arkin was first elected to the school board in 2008 and earned re-election in 2012 and 2016. She also has prior service experience on the city’s Library Commission and on the boards for the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council and Tri-Valley YMCA.
She works as a manager for Hively, a local nonprofit supporting families in need. She holds a Bachelor of Science in health sciences (California State University, Northridge) and a Master of Business Administration (California Lutheran University).
To learn more about Arkin’s campaign, visit www.votevaleriearkin.com.
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Valerie Arkin is 25% of the fiscal disaster that is the PUSD system. No way she gets on the city council and contaminates the budget and all the great work that has been completed and continuing projects.
Thank you, Valerie Arkin, for running for City Council. I have worked on several school related projects with you and have seen how you have conducted yourself over your past 12 years on the School Board. You have my strong support for your bid for a position on the Council and appreciation for your many years of service as a school board member. Proven leadership is a valuable asset especially when dealing with challenging budgets and decisions that help keep our community growing in the right direction.
Michael,
What specifically does that mean? Did she vote in favor of spending initiatives you didn’t support? If so which?
First and foremost, Michael, there are 5 trustees and 100 divided by 5 is NOT 25. Second, do you realize how high our schools rank in national and state rankings? Last I checked, Pleasanton Unified School District ranks 11th best in the entire state. As for the national ranking, it ranks 117 out of 10,782, according to Niche. These are stellar rankings. So to say that she has created a “disaster” is just false. Thirdly, Valerie Arkin has a very good background to handle budgets and programs; She even has an MBA which if you don’t know, is where you learn to manage budgets and operations. Overall, Valerie would be excellent on the city council and her track record indicates that too.
It is great that Valerie is running for City Council. There is no better candidate
and no other candidate that has already contributed so much to the quality of life in Pleasanton.
I like Ms. Arkin’s platform of preserving the historic character and uniqueness of downtown Pleasanton. We have an iconic Main Street and limited commercial district that is being encroached on by higher density housing. We need to retain small businesses and restaurants to attract visitors in downtown. I am concerned about allowing three and four story buildings and too much residential in our Downtown. Let’s elect Valerie Arkin and Nancy Allen to serve on the City Council in November 2020 to help with this effort.
Congratulations Valerie and you will be a great asset to our city Council like you have been for PUSD.
Unlike many other politicians you follow thru your commitment that you discuss during the campaign time.
You care for our children and PTown homeowners without school age children. Our city needs some one like you to maintain the balanced budget that helps both groups.
We are behind you to make sure that you are part of our City council.
I have known Valerie Arkin for many years. She is smart, makes independent decisions, she loves Pleasanton and she will make an excellent Leader in City Government as a Council member.
I know it takes a lot of guts to run, so thank you for stepping up!
This article made my day. Thank you for running Ms. Arkin. I could not see myself voting for Jack Balch, The third generation From a huge developer family member. I could not stomach voting for Randall Brown, pro developer real estate agent and chamber president.
Together with Nancy Allen and Valerie Arkin, we have LOCAL leaders I can support the November 2020.
Having served as the President for the Pleasanton Teachers Association for many years before retiring in June from a 28 year career in PUSD, I will post for the first time on this platform in support of Valerie Arkin’s candidacy for City Council.
Valerie was always one school board trustee that we could count on to consider all perspectives of an issue, to gather input from all stakeholders, and to work collaboratively to find the best solutions for our district, the students, and the teachers, who by all data points prove to be the top-ranking educators in California!
Valerie has not asked me to post, but as soon as I saw this article announcing her decision to serve in another vital leadership role for our city, I was compelled to reach out to our amazing community in hopes you will get your vote out in support of Arkin for City Council.
I am delighted Valerie has decided to run for City Council. It will be good to have a strong educated voice that will stand up for maintaining our historic downtown and businesses. Her experience on the school board bodes well for supporting our award winning system and she will bring insight into how growth will affect the quality of our schools, traffic and our precious water supply.
Fiscal disaster is PUSD:
PUSD did not deliver on previous band measures.
Valerie Arkin was front and center for Measure M.
Measure M bond language was deceiving, misleading
an attempt to commit fraud.
People and Organizations endorsing Measure M was a factor in its defeat.
If people and organizations had stayed out of the endorsement business, Measure M would have passed.
Randy appears to have no individual accomplishments – only shared with his wife – maybe she should run. He will lose. He doesn’t have true passion for our city – but it’s clear he wants to be elected, for the sake of being elected.