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Pleasanton Unified School District Trustee Justin Brown has confirmed he will not be running for a second term on the district’s Board of Trustees this November, leaving Area 5 wide open for new candidates.
Because Brown, the incumbent, will not be seeking reelection, prospective candidates will now have until Aug. 12 to file their candidacy papers for the Area 5 seat, which represents Vintage Hills and Hearst elementary schools and Pleasanton Middle School, as well as part of Foothill High’s attendance area.Â
In an email to the Pleasanton Weekly, Brown said even though his decision not to run was “extremely difficult”, it was ultimately the right thing to do for his family.
“Serving the students, families, teachers, and staff of this district for the past four years has been one of the great honors of my life,” Brown said. “Ultimately, the demands of the role on my family, with my children entering grades 6, 8, and 9, along with growing professional pressures and the need to prioritize my health, led me to conclude that another four-year term is not in the cards at this time.”
Brown first joined the school board in 2022, having previously served on the Pleasanton Planning Commission and on the city’s Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trails Committee. He works at ServiceNow, an American software company based in Santa Clara as a global integrations technical support leader, according to his LinkedIn.
Over the past four years, Brown has had a hand in approving countless school board items, including bond-funded facility renovation projects and dozens of policy updates.
“Throughout my time on the Board, I have tried to act with integrity of purpose, to listen first, to act only in the best interest of the public, and to treat every member of our district community, including our labor partners, with respect, even when we disagreed.
Over the past couple years he and the board also approved millions of dollars worth of budget cuts in response to several budget challenges, including declining enrollment, a structural budget deficit and other monetary factors.
More recently, he and the board approved a new round of budget cuts after the county negatively certified the district’s budget last December, a task he said was difficult but necessary.
“I am especially proud of the Board’s work over the past two years to lift the district out of deficit spending and put it back on the path to an unqualified budget certification,” Brown said. “That was not an easy task, and was accomplished with empathy and compassion.”
Now that Brown confirmed he is not running for reelection, he said one of his main priorities is to make sure he will leave his seat in capable hands.
“I have begun reaching out to community members who may be in a position to serve, and I encourage anyone interested to consider running,” Brown said. “A diverse, thoughtful, and financially literate board is essential to our district’s continued success.”
He also said he will “remain fully engaged” until his term is up this December and added that he hopes to serve Pleasanton again in the future.
“It has been a true honor to serve this community, and I am grateful for the partnership, professionalism, and friendship I have found along the way,” Brown said.
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Thank you for serving Pleasanton well, Trustee Brown.