PUSD Area 4 trustee candidates highlight top priorities, concerns at Weekly forum

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Two first-time candidates for the Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees squared off during a public forum last week and talked about how their unique past and current experiences make them the best choice for the Area 4 seat.

Charlie Jones, who grew up in Pleasanton and now teaches social studies at a high school in Hayward, is running against longtime Pleasanton resident Jen Flynn, a former Hearst Elementary School administrative secretary and parent of three PUSD students.

The two participated in the pre-election forum in the district boardroom on Sept. 25 where they responded to questions from Pleasanton Weekly moderators Gina Channell Wilcox and Jeremy Walsh in a room of about 30 people. The Area 3 candidates took part alongside them too.

This is also the first time that the Area 4 seat race, representing the east-central part of Pleasanton, will be decided by a trustee-area election after PUSD transitioned from at-large elections. Current Trustee Steve Maher opted not to run for reelection this November.

Flynn said during her opening statement that if she is elected, she will be dedicated to supporting students, teachers and staff and said she believes she can make a difference on the school board.

“I believe I can make a difference … on the school board,” Flynn said. “My priorities include fiscal responsibility, transparency, retaining and attracting excellent teachers and staff … and advocating for all students.”

Jones said he wanted to run for the seat because he also wants to make a difference for the school district that raised him and helped him become the teacher and the overall person he is today.

“Our district is in crisis,” he said. “You need someone with the experience to do this job on day one. With me, you get someone who has stabilized district budgets … you get an education expert.”

Jones is a product of the PUSD after his family moved to the city when he was in first grade. After graduating college, Jones said he moved back to Pleasanton and began teaching social studies at Hayward’s Tennyson High School in 2017.

He said it was the teachers at Amador Valley High School who inspired him to follow in their footsteps and it was also those same teachers who helped him after coming out as gay during high school and have helped him be comfortable as a gay teacher.

His main campaign points revolve around the idea that as a teacher, he is uniquely knowledgeable about how schools and district’s operate, which means he would be able to hit the ground running if he becomes the next Area 4 trustee.

One issue he said he wanted to address during the forum was regarding PUSD’s current financial challenges. 

He said that means being transparent about which jobs might be cut and recognizing that future budget cuts — in whatever shape they take — will affect students and personnel.

That’s why he said the district needs to start addressing its continuing declining enrollment, which is one of the main factors behind the district’s budget challenges, by looking at the demographics of students in Pleasanton and finding out which kids are not attending PUSD schools and the reasons behind that so that the district can find ways to keep those students at the district.

He also said the school district should not have hired Interim Superintendent Maurice Ghysels and instead they should have appointed someone from within the district as superintendent in order to save money.

Both Jones and Flynn emphasized the need to keep such budget cuts as far away from the classrooms as possible, but Flynn said she is already actively working on doing so because of her role in the recently created Budget Advisory Committee.

Flynn moved to Pleasanton with her husband in 2014 to raise their three sons. She said right from the beginning, she realized how important funding was for the schools and decided to get involved with the Hearst Parent Teacher Association.

She worked with the PTA until 2023 and as a secretary for the school before recently joining the advisory committee, which is aiming to come up with new revenue streams and ideas for cuts and reductions that will have minimal impact on the district community.

She said the work she and the rest of the committee is doing is hard work but that it is important that they all focus on keeping those cuts away from teachers and the classroom.

One idea she presented to increase revenues during the forum was increasing enrollment for transitional kindergarten and expanding the district’s kids club program. She said there are already so many families on the waitlist for the program that if the district can find more space for additional kids in the program, it will bring in more revenue to the district’s general fund.

She also said they need to continue investigating how the district is spending its money and make sure it isn’t throwing money away on duplicated or unnecessary resources and expenditures.

Another big-ticket item the two candidates discussed was hiring PUSD’s next permanent superintendent following the departure of former superintendent David Haglund at the end of last school year.

Flynn said she is excited for the opportunity to have a new superintendent, but she wants to make sure that next leader is someone who has experience in dealing with budget crises like the one PUSD is facing.

She also said she wants someone who is straightforward with their stakeholders, is community oriented, has a sense of urgency and who will set a new tone during labor negotiations following Pleasanton’s teachers union getting close to striking this past contract negotiations season.

Jones said he had actually been involved in a superintendent search for his own school district where he teaches at, which gives him a unique perspective of the overall process.

He said the characteristics he is looking for in a new superintendent is someone who not just understands and knows the community, but someone who has worked with similar districts and understands the constantly shifting demographics in school districts.

Jones also said PUSD will need someone who doesn’t micromanage, who has a strong moral compass and who will be able to rebuild the trust that has been broken between the district and various stakeholders.

That’s why he said it’s important that PUSD does everything in its power to reach out to the entire school community to get input during its search process, rather than simply relying on sending out surveys.

School safety and mental wellness was another particularly personal topic for Jones who held back tears as he recounted how he has seen five lockdowns at his own school at Hayward and how two two of his students were shot at in the past.

While he did acknowledge many people in a poll said they wanted more school resource officers on Pleasanton campuses, he also said they need to check in with students who — even if they were a minority in the polling — might not be comfortable with more SROs at school and see how they could improve those relationships.

He also said PUSD can do more in terms of mental wellness. Given his experiences, he said he knows how important school counselors can be for not just students but the rest of the school community.

Flynn also said safety is one of her top priorities and talked about how she attended recent City Council meetings where the city discussed its own financial challenges, which pose risks like pulling back from funding programs like the SROs. She said she has fought for the program and would also like to see more of those officers at all schools, including elementary.

However, she also talked about the need to improve relationships, which she said could be done by introducing younger children to SROs.

She did touch on some positive news regarding school safety by bringing up all of the completed work that came from the 2016 voter-approved Measure I1 bond, which helped PUSD improve school security in many different ways.

For the most part, the two candidates saw eye-to-eye on the rest of the topics brought up during last week’s forum.

They both believed all students should have equal opportunities in their educational experience and that they should all feel like they are a part of their community. 

Flynn said she wants to introduce more reading aides for struggling students as a way to address reading challenges early on while Jones wants to find ways to help Black and Latino students who not doing as well in school and figure out how the district can supports those and other disadvantaged students like foster students, English as a second language students and special education students.

As for how they would work with teachers and the Association of Pleasanton Teachers following a long and contentious negotiation season, Flynn said she is personally friends with many teachers, secretaries, nurses and many more, which is why she promises to work with everyone.

Flynn said while she was not interviewed nor endorsed by the APT, she is still running to support them, staff and students.

Jones said he knew he wanted to run for the seat back in March, which is why he received an early endorsement from the APT who Jones said believed he is the best person for the job because of his understanding of teacher unions as a teacher himself and on budgets.

He said while he might not always agree with everything the APT has to say, he understands they are all just trying to do what is best for the students.

During his closing statements, Jones said he is running with the goal of leading the district forward in a positive way by using his past budget and teaching experiences to address PUSD’s current challenges.

“When you choose me as your next trustee you get a partner who listens to you and fights for you, for your child’s education,” Jones said. “I am the change this district needs with the experience to get the job done.”

Flynn said during her closing statements that she is someone who not only understands Pleasanton’s values, she also has the experience of working in the district, which makes her the most knowledgeable regarding the needs of students and teachers.

She said she is also already actively involved in the budget committee work which means she already knows what’s going on and why she wants to continue those discussions as a trustee.

“I’m committed to being transparent and approachable,” Flynn said. “I’ll serve with integrity, bringing my experience and dedication to our schools and the district.”

The Pleasanton Weekly presented the forum with logistical support from the Pleasanton PTA Council, PPIE and the district. A video recording of the event is available on the Pleasanton Weekly’s YouTube page.

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