The upcoming November school board election just got a little more interesting with the announcement last Friday that Trustee Gloria Fredette is resigning from the position and will not run for re-election. Fredette was one of two trustees up for re-election, the other being Trustee Pat Kernan who, despite a new job that takes him to Sacramento three times a week, said in an interview with the Pleasanton Weekly that he “probably will run” in November.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the trustees discussed how they were going to fill Fredette’s vacant seat, which they must do within 60 days of the vacancy. Fredette’s resignation was effective April 1. The board has three options to fill the seat: hold a special election, appoint a new member or leave the seat open. In the third option, the county superintendent of schools could order a special election to fill the spot. Not wanting to take that chance and citing the need for “five heads” to help the board make decisions on upcoming issues, the trustees dismissed that option, as well as the special election saying it would be too costly and unnecessary given the upcoming election in November. Based on that, the trustees opted to appoint a new member to the seat.
“I feel strongly that we need to make an appointment,” Kernan said. “We have a lot of work to do and, besides saving the cost from a special election, this gives the opportunity for someone from the community to step forward. If I hadn’t applied as an appointment, I never would have run. It’s a nice halfway step to test the waters.”
Kernan was originally appointed to the board in 1997 when Trustee Judith Markoff resigned. When his appointment was up, he ran for the position that same year and won. Board President Steve Pulido and Fredette also applied for the appointment.
The district staff has already started accepting applicants who will have to fill out an application and interview with a screening committee and the trustees. The screening committee will be chosen by the district staff and will be made up of teachers, parents and interested community members. The board is aiming to have the appointment chosen during its May 23 meeting so the new member can be present for the Superintendent’s Report on May 30. The appointee’s term will last through December 12 when the members elected in November will be sworn in.
Although the trustees did not discuss specific people they would like to see fill the seat, they did say they are looking for someone who understands the dynamics of the board and has a clear understanding of all the job entails.
“A school board doesn’t run on dissention; it runs on collaboration,” said Trustee Juanita Haugen. “And one person can’t do it all. There has to be collaboration with the Superintendent and the school district.” She added that Fredette embodied this ideal and was a great asset to the board.
Fredette, who has been on the board since 2001, said she decided to resign due to increased responsibilities with her position at Advantage Sales and Marketing. She started at the company in 2003 as a claims administrator and was promoted to become an administrative manager of four employees. Now, she manages 12 employees and is working 60 hour weeks, she said. Knowing that she potentially had an upcoming campaign that would add many more hours of work, in addition to the hours she already spends performing her school board duties, she decided not to run for re-election.
“I then thought I could stick it out until November, but I thought that wasn’t best for everyone,” Fredette said. “I got to the point where I could continue what I’m doing with the expense being me and I just couldn’t push any further.” She added that the resignation is not due to any serious health problems. Fredette is a breast cancer survivor.
Kernan has also taken a new position as a partner with the law firm Riegls, Campos and Kenyon based in Sacramento. He works there two or three days a week and stays in the Bay Area the rest of the week where he works with his clients, most of whom are based in the Peninsula, San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
“I have no idea who will run, but I anticipate there will be a lot,” Kernan said. “We always get a lot of people coming forward because schools are very important in this community.”
This is the first year school board elections will be held on an even number year to coincide with the City Council elections. Elections are scheduled for November 7.
