The Alameda Unified School District has a number of updates for the public this week, including board of education news, parcel tax news and an update on our traffic safety efforts.
First the board news: At its Oct. 12 meeting, the AUSD Board of Education appointed Ardella Dailey to take the seat left vacant when former President Mia Bonta was sworn in as the state’s new 18th District Assemblymember. Ms. Dailey has been a member of the AUSD community for more than 35 years — as a teacher, principal, district administrator, superintendent and board member — and we welcome her back and thank her for her willingness to serve.
Board policy dictates that when a board president leaves, the vice president automatically becomes president. As such, former Vice President Jennifer Williams is now the board’s president. At its Dec. 14 organizational meeting, the board will decide who the next president will be during 2022.
Oversight panel: In October 2020, the board approved consolidating the oversight committees for the Measure B1 and Measure A parcel taxes. The board did this to facilitate a unified approach to managing and monitoring the district’s parcel tax programs. Currently, the AUSD is seeking applicants to this new umbrella oversight committee. Any Alameda resident can apply (including students!), the term runs from January 2022 to January 2023, and the committee meets four to five times a year to review these parcel tax programs’ revenues and expenditures. Applications are available on the AUSD webpage at www.alamedaunified.org/ptoversight.
Traffic safety: In other news, we’re hearing a lot of reports of unsafe driving behavior around our school sites. The AUSD participates in the city of Alameda’s Vision Zero Taskforce as well as its Transportation Alternatives Committee and is deeply committed to educating families about safe driving, bicycling and walking practices near our school sites. Toward that end, we ask that all of our community members commit to driving slowly around our school campuses (or avoiding these areas entirely during drop-off and pick-up times); refraining from U-turn, K-turn or other risky maneuvers in the streets adjacent to our schools; and being vigilant about looking for students and families bicycling and walking to and from school.
We also encourage families to support their children in bicyling, walking and taking public transportation to school, as this is better for the environment, provides time for exercise and fresh air, helps older students develop independence and contributes to safer streets around our campuses. For information on these alternatives, please see our Getting to School webpage (www.alamedaunified.org/schoolroutes), which includes recommended routes to our campuses (developed by the county’s Safe Routes to Schools program), information on public transportation and links to county, state and nonprofit resources.
We believe that creating safe streets is a joint responsibility of the school district, the city and the wider community and look forward to continuing collaboration on these efforts. The Board of Education’s City/School Subcommittee will meet at 2 p.m. Oct. 27 to discuss traffic safety. You can find the meeting information (including the Zoom details) online at alameda.novusagenda.com/agendapublic.
Susan Davis is the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs. Reach her at 510-337-7175 or sdavis@alameda.k12.ca.us.
