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Pleasanton native Donalyn Harris, a longtime member of various parent-teacher associations across the school district and a former substitute teacher for nearly 10 years, will be throwing her name in the race for the Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees race in Area 3.
Harris told the Weekly that while it is her first time running for a trustee position, she wants to use her years of experience to rebuild relationships between the community and the district so that they could all focus on what really matters — the students.
“We just accomplish so much more when we are working together, and our kids deserve that,” she said.
Challenging incumbent Area 3 Trustee Kelly Mokashi, who is seeking a second term this fall, Harris currently works in corporate sales administration but has had a long history with PUSD.
The homegrown Pleasantonian went through the entire school system growing up, just like her own kids. She has been a part of several parent-teacher associations, served on the Pleasanton Partnerships In Education Foundation Board of Directors and was in the classroom as a substitute teacher from 2015 until earlier this year.
She also served on the PUSD Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Council in 2020 and served as the president of the Pleasanton Parent Teachers Association Council from 2020 to 2022.
Harris said she had been thinking about running for a spot on the school board for quite some time now but it wasn’t until one of her kids recently told her how they wanted to advocate for others just like her that she got inspired to run.
One of Harris’ top campaign priorities will be focusing on the district’s ongoing budget issues as PUSD continues to face declining enrollment.
With her oldest child having graduated from PUSD in 2013 and her youngest having started kindergarten that same year, she said she has seen the district face budget cuts during the 2008 recession and knows how important it is to make sure these cuts stay away from the classroom.
She also said that especially after a difficult negotiation session between the district and the teachers union this past year, there is an underlying sentiment of distrust between the community and the district that needs to be addressed before PUSD makes such decisions.
“We just have to be focused at every level of interaction between the schools and the community,” Harris said. “We are rebuilding something because a lot of people are hurt … part of healing is understanding that sometimes people make mistakes but we’re willing to work through them together.”
She said it will have to take consistent and open dialogue between the district and the community in order to repair that relationship.
She said as a substitute teacher, longtime PTA member and as someone who is friends with many people at the district level, she knows everyone just wants what is best for the students and that it is important to focus on those similarities that people share rather than the things people disagree about because those commonalities will help everyone focus on what’s best for the district.
She said if she is elected, another one of her priorities in regards to the ongoing budget issues will be using her platform to advocate for the state to move away from the current attendance-based model that is used to determine a school district’s budget.
She said she has already been discussing moving away from the current funding formula during her time on various parent teacher associations and that if she is elected, she will work on a grassroots movement to put pressure on state legislators to understand it is time to find another way to determine a district’s funding.
“We want full and fair funding,” Harris said. “We should say ‘why do we do that, why do we tie funding to attendance.”
She also said regardless of the election, she will continue to advocate for what’s best for students.
“If I do have the opportunity to serve my community on the Board of Trustees, I would do so with a very humble servant’s heart,” Harris said. “(But) no matter what happens with this election, I’m still going to be advocating for our community.”
To learn more about Harris’s campaign, visit www.harrisforpleasanton.com.
