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Dublin school board Area 5 candidates Dan Cherrier and Seema Badar put their platforms side by side for the voters last week during an election forum hosted by the Pleasanton Weekly.
Among the differentiating subjects, incumbent Cherrier and challenger Badar expressed opposing viewpoints on labor negotiations and the subject of most importance in Area 5.
The winner of the Nov. 3 general election is slated for four years to represent central-eastern Dublin, bound generally by Tassajara and Fallon roads to the north and Central Parkway to the south.
Held on Wednesday evening (Sept. 16) in the Dublin Unified School District boardroom, the forum involved asking candidates prepared questions as well as periods for opening and closing statements. The Weekly created its questions with input from a community survey before the event.
The evening also featured candidates running for Area 3 on the school board.
Kicking off the event, each Area 5 hopeful provided opening statements.
DUSD Area 5 candidate Seema Badar is a district parent and community volunteer. (Photo by Chuck Deckert)
Badar, a mother and community volunteer, runs for school board with multiple years of experience serving on parent faculty clubs within the district. She was the organization president at Kolb Elementary School for two years and its vice president at Fallon Middle School for three years. Badar has also served as chairperson and vice chair on the DUSD Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee.
From those experiences, Badar said she learned that good government is about listening before making decisions.
“Our district needs to focus on two main things–physical responsibility and student advocacy,” she said.
During future budgetary challenges, Badar said the board will need to ask tough questions and demand transparency while also looking for ways to make operations more efficient.
“At the same time, we cannot lose sight of why we’re here, our students,” she added.
A candidate for the Dublin school board election for the first time, Badar did run previously for public office – for Dublin San Ramon Services District in 2022 and Zone 7 Water Agency in June, losing both times.
Introducing himself to the forum audience, Cherrier recalled moving to the city almost three decades ago because of the schools.Â
One of the reasons Cherrier said he initially wanted to be involved in the school district was to represent the east side of Dublin.
He was initially elected at-large in 2016, followed by consecutive wins for the Area 5 seat in 2018 and 2022.
“I’d like to get the city politics out of the school board. It’s been a huge issue for a long time, especially the last decade and a half about east-west (Dublin),” Cherrier later explained.
Cherrier said he intends to conduct “smart planning” on the board.
Last school year, the Dublin Teachers Association went on a four-day strike with the goal of better pay and benefits, smaller class sizes and maintaining a full-time counselor at each elementary school.
District negotiators reached a compromise with DTA, which the school board later approved by 4-1 tally. Cherrier cast the dissenting vote.
“I don’t think it’s something we could support,” Cherrier said of the financial weight of the deal, noting that teachers already receive step and column raises.
He added, DUSD has spent all of the $20 million surplus it had in the 2020-21 school year due to spending beyond its needs. The trend has continued and the district has needed to make reductions.
Cherrier said he intends to restore some previous cuts by maintaining the salary schedule as-is for the next several years.
“They’re already some of the highest paid staff of any school district. We need to start putting students’ needs first,” he said.
Among the restorations, he hopes for new supervisors, assistant principals and day custodians.
Challenger Badar expressed an interest in engaging in labor negotiations.
Noting the damage following an impasse, Badar said she intends to build a culture where disagreements are handled respectfully and financial analysis is a collaborative process.
Students and teachers suffer during a walkout, she said.
“It should never come to a situation again where our teachers are going on strike,” Badar said during her closing statement. “I want to be someone that’s meeting regularly, that’s creating the accurate communication that causes things like that never to happen again.”
Badar and Cherrier also named different issues of highest importance in Area 5.
Top of mind for Badar: providing students with support for academics, mental health and extracurricular interests.
Badar said listen to the district community and use data to identify where students are falling behind.
“We really have to focus our majority of our decisions on our student advocacy and their mental health and making sure that they have the support that they need to succeed both academically, emotionally, socially and that’s one of the main reasons that I chose to run for the board,” Badar said.
In Cherrier’s perspective, the most important issue is overcrowding at Fallon Middle School. Built for 1,200 students, the campus last year held nearly 1,600 kids, he said.
“It is a huge problem. People are jammed in portables. They have to have multiple lunch periods,” he said. “It’s not the experience middle school students should be having.”
Cherrier suggested a bond measure for east Dublin as a potential solution to overcrowding.
Another option would be a reconfiguration on each side of the city, he added.
“Last time we floated that, it didn’t get a lot of reception, but maybe the time has come,” Cherrier said.
He also anticipates an issue with students living in the future housing along Tassajara Road being bound for Dublin High School, despite their location near Emerald High School.
The candidates responded to additional questions regarding their perspectives on the district’s financial health, the Measure I parcel tax up for vote in the general election, the quality of campus facilities and state legislation they are following. A recording of the forum will be available soon.
The event was moderated by Pleasanton Weekly associate publisher and editorial director Jeremy Walsh and this reporter. The Dublin Chamber of Commerce provided publicity support, and DUSD provided the venue and video.
