New Trustee Ellie Householder is given her ceremonial oath of office by Antioch Councilman Lamar Thorpe on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018.

Chooses former Antioch Councilman Tiscareno for Personnel Commission

New trustee Mary Rocha during her first ceremonial oath of office administered by her son and Antioch High Principal Louie Rocha, Jr.

By Allen Payton

At their meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018, the Antioch School Board welcomed two new members elected in November, Mary Rocha and Ellie Householder. Both held ceremonial oaths of office in front of the audience inside the Lone Tree Elementary School auditorium, as they had each been sworn in as new members previously, so they could participate in a closed session meeting earlier that evening.

Householder was first to take her ceremonial oath, with Antioch Councilman Lamar Thorpe swearing her in. She then introduced her family who was in attendance.

“My mother flew all the way from Arizona to be here tonight,” she said.

Former Antioch mayor, councilwoman and school board trustee Rocha held two ceremonies. First, with her son Louie Rocha, Jr., the principal of Antioch High School, administering her oath. She said she had asked State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to swear her in, but he was late. When he showed up a few minutes later, Rocha had him give her the oath, again.

Following Rocha’s second ceremony, Torlakson said, “yay, you’re in again.”

Rocha taking her second ceremonial oath of office, this time administered by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

Rocha introduced the rest of her family, including her husband Louie, Sr.  She mentioned her “40 years of friendship and working together” with Tom Torlakson.

Each new trustee was then seated on the dais and given the opportunity to speak

“I’m really excited about moving forward,” said Householder. “There’s a lot of positive momentum from the election.”

Rocha asked her family members to stand and thanked them, getting choked up as she spoke.

“I just want to thank everyone of you because each of you have done something special for me,” she said.

“This time I’m excited. I have three grandchildren going to school and my son who has never graduated,” Rocha added to laughter from the audience. “I will do my best for all of you. We will have disagreements, but it doesn’t mean we don’t care about each other.”

New Antioch School Board Trustee Ellie Householder takes her official oath of office administered by Antioch Councilman Lamar Thorpe, as her parents Dave Householder and Karen Matty, and Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts, second from left, look on, at the Round Table Pizza restaurant, early Wednesday evening, Dec. 13, 2018.

Tiscareno Chosen for Personnel Commission

The new board’s first major issue was to appoint a replacement for Rocha, who resigned on Dec. 7 following her election to the school board. Three people applied, including former Antioch Councilman Tony Tiscareno who lost for reelection in November, and Shagoofa Khan and Dr. Clyde Lewis, Jr. who were unsuccessful candidates for school board, also in the November election.

Khan did not show up for the public interview, so only Tiscareno and Lewis participated.in the question and answer process.

At the conclusion, the board voted 4-1, with Vice President Crystal Sawyer-White opposing, and Tiscareno was announced as the choice for the commission. However, a public hearing must be held in January, which was scheduled for the board meeting on the 23rd, “to provide the public, employees, and employee organizations the opportunity to express their views on the qualifications of the person recommended by the Board of Trustees for appointment. The Board at that time may make its appointment or may make a substitute appointment without further notification or public hearing. If the Board is unable to agree upon an appointment within thirty (30) days after the notification of the vacancy, the appointment to fill the unexpired term shall be made by the Superintendent of Public Instruction within thirty (30) days.”

Antioch High School is hosting its 4th annual Warm for the Holidays, which gives new books, toys, jackets and food to students in need. It’s a wonderful event. Every year, they help about 500 families. This year they’re in big need of jackets and hoodies for their big holiday giveaway to students in need. New and gently used goods can be dropped off at Antioch High School, 700 W. 18th Street, this week.

Dear Editor:

After attending a few board meetings, it has become more apparent that the parents who want charter schools simply want options for their students to learn. Unfortunately, some people may not realize that when you change something it takes time because there is no instant switch that automatically changes something.

The people in favor of charter schools don’t take the time to realize what the public schools have to offer. Plus, the reason so many charter schools probably fail is because they don’t take time to put together these programs like the public schools do.

While attending these meetings, I have noticed that these people who are in favor of the charter schools attend the meetings to get their public comment out there. While this is all fine and dandy, it did not seem to me that many of them stayed long enough to hear the options that AUSD is trying to put in place. Also, these options take time because, remember there is no instant switch to make these options happen. Just like with the academies at the high school level, they did not just roll out overnight. These academies took time to roll out at the high school level, like years to become the greatness that they are. Now, because of the successful implementation of these options, oh, I meant academies, there is starting to be more options at the middle school level for students to take classes that give them options to learn.

I know a lot of parents want their students to learn how to code or learn other skills, but those programs take time to develop and these programs also take time to implement. Also, what parents may not realize is that there is this thing called expanded learning and during LCAP meetings (which all parents who want to know what’s going on should be involved in) there was a large discussion on what should we offer our AUSD students for expanded learning. Coding, engineering related skills, and other computer skills were mentioned; but what was not mentioned was anything about charter schools. Parents that want to give their students a different learning opportunity should get involved in PTSA or LCAP, which help and support all students and takes in ideas on how to improve learning and the betterment of all students.

Also, after being lied to once and then your director not knowing what he was talking about I would be skeptical about wanting to send my child to this school.

Deanna Rundall

Antioch

The Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees is accepting applications for appointment to the District’s Personnel Commission, Unexpired term 2/13/19-12/1/20.

Must be a registered voter, live in AUSD boundary, adherent to Merit System principles, qualified to hold CA public office, not employee of AUSD or any governing board.

Application & Packet: Click Here

Or stop by Personnel Commission

510 G Street, Antioch, CA 94509, (925) 779-7500 x55500

www.antiochschools.net

Due: 12/5/2018

By Timothy Leong, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa Community College District

The Contra Costa Community College District (District) has decided to close all College and District operations on Tuesday, November 20th and Wednesday, November 21st^. due to ongoing poor air quality.  The District Office and Colleges (Contra Costa, Diablo Valley, San Ramon Campus, Los Medanos, and Brentwood Center) will resume regular operations on Monday, November 26th.

While the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is forecasting improved but fluctuating air quality over the next few days, the District has decided to err on the side of health concerns of its students and staff.  The District has been closed since Thursday, November 15, 3:00 p.m., due to very unhealthy air quality in Contra Costa County.

By Timothy Leung, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa Community College District

Due to the ongoing and unpredictable poor air quality we are experiencing throughout Contra Costa County, the Contra Costa Community College District has decided to close all locations  – Contra Costa College, Diablo Valley College, Los Medanos College, Brentwood Center, San Ramon Campus and District Office on Monday, November 19, 2018. We hope to re-open Tuesday, but will make a final decision by 3:00 PM on Monday.

By Timothy Leong, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa Community College District

Due to the unpredictable and poor air quality we are experiencing throughout Contra Costa County, the Contra Costa Community College District has decided to close all locations – Contra Costa College, Diablo Valley College, Los Medanos College, Brentwood Center, San Ramon Campus and District Office – effective 3:00 p.m. today (Thursday), Friday and Saturday.  We will reopen all locations on Monday, November 19, 2018.

While the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is forecasting a significant improvement in air quality over the next few days, we believe this decision best serves the safety of our students, staff and community.

Dear Editor:

I am a strong supporter of all public schools. The proposed East Bay Tech Academies approved by the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) Board earlier this year are free, public, charter schools. All of us who worked on bringing this choice to Antioch also support improvement at our current AUSD schools. Even so, we need high performing schools now so that our current students have the chance for success that they deserve.

As a longtime resident, it has saddened me to see many great families with school-aged children move out of town, primarily to get their children into higher performing school districts. I agree with the comment posted by Ken Turnage (on a previous letter to the editor) that it is possible to get a great education in Antioch. My children had some outstanding teachers. However, at the same time, the great majority of children attending the AUSD perform below grade level and are not meeting State Standards in either math or English. This can’t all be a result of bad parenting. After all, where high quality charter schools are established in a community, most of the same children who were failing begin to excel.

The nationally recognized model that the East Bay Tech Academies is offering Antioch families has taken a school in a neighboring community from a poor performing school to one of the best in the state. Fifty-two percent (52%) of their students were proficient in Math in 2016 versus only 15% at Antioch High School and 32% at Deer Valley High School. Which school would you choose to send your children to if you had a choice? The opponents of these schools never argue on the performance numbers because these facts are indisputable.

In fact, almost all of the opposition to charter schools comes from the teacher’s unions. Ironically, I know of many teachers and politicians who send their own children to charter and private schools, while fighting to prevent school choice for others. Parents at the local middle schools signed the East Bay Tech Academies petitions at an astonishing rate. Eight out of ten parents that I spoke with signed immediately when presented with the petition. Parents clearly support choice.

The unfounded fear is that these charter schools will hurt the district by attracting children from the district schools. The reality is that parents and students have already left the district in droves because they want options. The AUSD student population has declined by over 5,000 students from twelve years ago when my children were in the AUSD schools. At the same time, the population of Antioch has risen by over 20%. The student population should have increased significantly over this same period. Performance numbers, not charter schools, are the threat to the AUSD.

I want to thank the AUSD Board of Education for challenging the status quo in order to give the parents and students of Antioch more options.

The American Dream is a set of ideals which includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility. Education remains the best tool for achieving this dream. As a community we should support multiple venues for our children to succeed, including charter schools.

Tom McNell

Antioch