The Herald recommends: Re-elect Rocha to represent with responsible leadership for Antioch School Board
Race pits independent long-timer against activist newcomer
Dawkins claims he’s running because Rocha encouraged him to, but she says she only said he should – someday but not against her
By Allen D. Payton
With a week to go in the Trustee Area 5 race for the Antioch Unified School District Board election, I’ve decided to endorse Mary Rocha for re-election for a third and most likely final term in a row. The long-time, local elected official, who first served on the school board, when she served as Board President, then on the Antioch City Council, including one term as mayor, and has been serving on the school board again since 2018.
She faces newcomer Brandon Dawkins as her only challenger.
Reasons for Rocha
I served with Mary for four years on the council. We worked together well during the final two years of my term and her first two as mayor and I know I can trust her as she does what she says she will.
More importantly, Rocha is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in even if it means being the odd person out when voting on major issues. For example, she was the only trustee to vote against hiring the current superintendent who has since been placed on paid leave and is now suing the District and Rocha. (See related article)
She voted against staff salary increases due to concerns about budget impacts this past year. Rocha also said no to painful cuts, but she did support some budget cuts. Because of her leadership in that area, two of the other trustees joined her to form a new board majority.
Rocha said no to painful cuts, but she did support some necessary staff and budget reductions. She said her efforts help win other board members to her side.
As previously reported, during their meeting on May 13, 2026, on a vote of 3-1-1 with Rocha voting “no”, the Trustees approved the Budget Reduction Plan including the concessions that saved several specific jobs. The Board then voted 3-1-1, again, on final layoffs of 78 Certificated employees which, were mainly teachers, also with Rocha voting against. Finally, after Rocha was able to get the other board members to agree to saving the jobs of the Behavior Support Specialists (3 FTE), Board Certified Behavior Analyst (1 FTE) and Bilingual Instructional Assistants – (12.4275 FTE), the Trustees voted 4-0-1 with Rocha voting in favor, on final layoffs of a little over 81 Full-Time Equivalent Classified Services employees.
Rocha has the backing of almost 20 current and former elected officials in or who represent Antioch, district and community leaders and also one union, the Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council.
Dawkins’ Background
According to his website, Dawkins has worked for the City and County of San Francisco for the past 18 years, currently as a health worker with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He is a member of SEIU Local 1021, where he previously served as Vice President of Organizing. Dawkins also holds a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies with an emphasis in Behavioral Sciences from S.F. State.
He does have some experience with Antioch schools, having served on the AUSD Safety Committee and as a parent representative on the district’s Community Schools Steering Committee, according to his website which his good.
Challenges with Dawkins
But during the night of the NAACP Candidates forum on Sept. 24th, I met and spoke to Dawkins for the first and only time and I gave him my business card with my phone number and email address. But I’ve never heard from him. Plus, his campaign website does not include either his phone number or email address. In order to contact him, I completed a form on the website and provided my phone number and email address last Wednesday. Yet, I still haven’t heard from him, or anyone associated with his campaign in order to speak with Dawkins to ask him a few questions. That’s not good for someone who wants to serve in public office. Candidates and elected officials need to be accessible to the public they’re wanting to or do represent. I finally saw his email address on his campaign Facebook page late Sunday night and sent him a message. But as of Tuesday he still hasn’t responded or contacted the Herald.
Worse, in introducing himself during that forum Dawkins embellished a conversation he had with Rocha a few years ago when he said the reason he’s running is because she encouraged him to at that time. But when asked about it, Rocha said, “I only met him two years ago at the Democrat Central Committee dinner when Louie (her son) was running for city council. I told him, ‘You sound good. You would make a good school board member.’”
She never expected Dawkins would run this year or against her.
Plus, he or someone on his campaign posted on his campaign Facebook a photo from that forum taken by this reporter that had been posted on the Herald’s Facebook page without permission and without mentioning where it was obtained.
When informed of it, either he or someone from his claimed, “Actually, this photo was taken by another community member who was in attendance and it was posted on their page.” But it is the exact same photo and that person obviously obtained it from the Herald’s Facebook page and posted it on theirs. On Tuesday prior to publication time, I asked them to either give credit to the Herald or remove the photo.
Opposed to School Safety Officers on Antioch Campuses
Also, on Dawkins’ website, he claims to have “helped lead efforts to replace armed police officers in Oakland schools with unarmed school safety staff.” So, he’s against School Resource Officers like the six AUSD high school and middle schools could have had and Rocha supported in a 3-2 vote on August 6, 2020 after she endured being almost knocked to the ground the night before by protesters against the SRO’s who twice interrupted to the Board meeting. But the new council majority, which included District 1 Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker, voted to rescind the federal grant that the previous council majority voted to accept after the hiring process had already begun. The councilwoman is the only local elected official or community leader who has endorsed Dawkins. Plus, a post on Torres-Walker’s Instagram account shows a photo of him standing between her and District 4 Councilwoman Monica Wilson revealing with whom he’s politically aligned, especially since they’re all backed by many of the same groups.
He’s also endorsed, of course, by SEIU Local 1021, plus, the Contra Costa Central Labor Council, as well as by a variety of Democrat organizations, injecting partisan politics into what is supposed to be a non-partisan office.
Finally, in photos on his personal Facebook page, labeled “boutdatakshun”, Dawkins can be seen speaking at various union and political rallies and wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf posted on Sept. 14th. Then on the SEIU Local 1021 website, he can be seen at a Starbucks in Antioch in 2024 with union organized employees celebrating “Pride” month.
While Dawkins seems like a nice man and his campaign platform is good, being an advocate is one thing, but being an activist is another. The last thing the Antioch School District or Board needs right now is an activist, especially on international and other matters that have absolutely nothing to do with Antioch or our local students. Nor do we need a union organizer who would be torn between representing the taxpayers’ interest and those of the district’s unionized staff during salary negations.
Rocha’s the Right Trustee to Represent Us for Responsible Leadership
Plus, we need a trustee who has the experience, now and will continue leading on fiscal responsibility, not someone who will be learning on the job for the first six months to two years, along with the other new school board trustee who is running to replace Dr. Jag Lathan and without opposition will be automatically elected. Antioch also needs a trustee who will focus on helping the students who desperately need so much of it, especially in the areas of math and English, based on the information from the latest California School Dashboard that was released last week. Mary Rocha is the right trustee at the right time to represent us who will do just that.
On her campaign website she writes, “I remain committed to transparency, accountability, academic excellence, and working collaboratively with families, staff, and the community to prepare every student for a successful future.” That’s what Antioch needs.
So, please join the Herald in supporting her for re-election. Learn more about Rocha and her campaign at https://maryrocha4antiochschools.com/ and www.facebook.com/MaryRocha4Antioch.
the attachments to this post:
NAACP-Candidate-Night-AUSD-Board-092426
Brandon Dawkins campaign logo & photos
Mary Rocha & AUSD campaign logo header
