Category Archives: November election

Sheri Zada running for Benicia School Board

Repost from the Benicia Herald
[NOTE: The Progressive Democrats of Benicia have not yet endorsed any candidate for the November election.  Posting of this article does not constitute endorsement.]

Retired librarian becomes first candidate in school board race

By Nick Sestanovich, August 10, 2018
Sheri Zada fills out paperwork to become the first official candidate in the school board election. (Courtesy photo)

The Benicia school board election is well underway. This year, three seats are up for grabs but of those three, only President Diane Ferrucci has made an attempt to run for re-election. This will essentially guarantee new faces on the board, and according to the Solano County Registrar of Voters’ website, at least four challengers are going through the process of filing papers to establish candidacies. Of these, one is now an established candidate as of press time.

Sheri Zada, a retired elementary school librarian and local volunteer, is the first candidate in the race. She cites a lifelong love for education and children that she hopes to bring to the board.

“I’ve been heavily involved in volunteering for children and education, which is my passion,” she said.

Zada raised her two sons in Southern California where she served as everything from a room mother to a librarian to an assistant to special needs children to a director for a high school swim team. She also had an elected position with the local teachers union.

“I so appreciate everything the teachers do for our students,” she said. “I know how hard it is that they work.”

Zada has kept up the volunteer efforts since moving to Benicia four years ago. She has lent her time to the Benicia Fire Museum, Run for Education, Robert Semple Elementary School’s STEM program and Scholastic Book Fair and the garden at Mary Farmar Elementary School. Perhaps her biggest volunteer effort came in kickstarting the March for Our Lives event in Benicia, held in response to gun violence incidents worldwide particularly the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. back in February. Zada had been discussing the planned nationwide March for Our Lives events with her husband Alan and decided to see if she could gauge interest for a local event through social media. She made a post on the Facebook group “Benicia Happenings” to see if anyone would want to get involved.

“I started getting feedback from people in our community, and it snowballed from there,” she said.

Zada also posted to Nextdoor and Meetup, and this drew interest from high schoolers, retired individuals, educators, local elected officials and more. The March 24 event drew a crowd of approximately 1,500 people.

Following the event, Zada was approached by people who told her she should run for the school board. Initially, she said she was not interested.

“The school thing was brand new to me,” she said, “but I got very excited and encouraged by what people were telling me and what they were sharing with me and how I felt during the press for the march that I gave it some thought and I said, ‘You know what? I understand what they’re going through because I’ve been in their shoes working in the school district. Plus, as a parent, I know how parents have to deal with the district as well.’ It just made me realize I have time now that I can devote to helping our school district out.”

The other motivator for Zada to run was the stories she had heard from teachers and parents working with the Benicia Unified School District, especially during the impasse over contract negotiations.

“It’s not a good situation these teachers are in right now,” she said. “I’ve been on that side. I understand how hard it is.”

For example, Zada said her hours as a librarian would continually get deducted to the point where benefits were lost.

“I know what they’re going through,” she said.

Zada completed her paperwork to run on Aug. 3 and has been busy getting her message out through social media. Among her biggest goals are helping teachers and the district come up with an equitable contract and being able to hold on to BUSD’s best teachers.

“We’ve got good teachers, and they are looking elsewhere because we’re not offering a competitive package,” she said. “There’s a shortage of teachers in California, and there’s a small amount of really good teachers, and we don’t want to lose them. They’ve done a lot for our children.”

Zada believes that solid educators and parent involvement make BUSD a strong district, but she feels communication at the district level remains an issue.

“We need to encourage and listen and come up with solutions,” she said.

One thing Zada is proposing as a BUSD trustee is visiting each school once a month and having coffee chats with teachers and faculty to listen to their concerns as well as positive developments.

“I want to be the conduit to bring that information back to the board so that we can work on addressing things and not letting things slide,” she said.

Another top priority for Zada is for the district to further address safety issues like bullying and suicide prevention.

“I think there needs to be more understanding,” she said.

Zada said she is against arming teachers but is in favor of establishing a security system to make students safer and feel more secure. She is also opposed to charter schools that are not privately funded.

“I don’t want to see any money that should be funneled into the school district be taken away from us because of charter schools,” she said.

Zada has already received early endorsements from the Benicia Teachers Association, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Vice Mayor Steve Young and Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown, a retired educator.

Zada believes in taking a stand on certain issues while also considering the benefits and drawbacks.

“I take sides in what I believe in while making change, but I listen and I weigh everything out and then I make a decision,” she said.

Zada is aware the position requires a lot of time, but she said she is ready for it.

“I’m not doing it for fame,” she said. “I’m doing it because I believe in this district, I believe in these kids and I believe in our future. There’s no other reason I would do it.”

For more information on Zada’s campaign, visit her Facebook page “Sheri Zada for Benicia School Board.”

Other potential candidates in the race include real estate agent Adrean Hayashi, Pittsburg Unified School District employee Mark Maselli, and Gethsemane Moss, a senior director of community engagement with the Solano County Office of Education.

Sheri Zada fills out paperwork to become the first official candidate in the school board election. (Courtesy photo)

 

The election is just 100 days away—let’s get to work!

From an email by SwingLeft.org
[See also: Swing Left / CA 10 / Josh Harder on this website.]

Date: Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 10:44 PM
Subject: Fwd: The election is just 100 days away—let’s get to work!

Hey Progressive Democrats of Benicia,

This weekend marks 100 days until the midterm elections. What we’ve accomplished so far has been incredible—and the Big Blue Wave is gaining momentum every day—but to win this fight, we need to keep working hard.

So, if you’ve already signed up for an event in the coming weeks, thank you. If you haven’t: what are you waiting for? This weekend is jam-packed with opportunities to help campaigns in more than 50 swing districts around the country!

Sign up for the event nearest you (click the image – or here – to go to SwingLeft – scroll down to Events and enter your zip code to see nearby events).

Talking to voters is what wins elections. Whether it’s knocking on doors and meeting face-to-face, or joining a group phone bank, every hour you put into connecting with potential voters makes a huge difference. And that’s how we’re gonna flip the House this November.

When we work together, we win!

Ethan, Matt, Michelle, and the Swing Left Team

Dana Dean, others pull papers for November election

Repost from the Vallejo Times-Herald
[NOTE: The Progressive Democrats of Benicia have not yet endorsed any candidate for the November election.  Posting of this article does not constitute endorsement.]

Six pull papers on first day of candidacy period

By John Glidden, 07/16/18, 6:15 PM PDT

The first day of the fall election period opened up on Monday with possibly the surprise of the year as local realtor Ryan Messano pulled candidacy papers for the Vallejo school board, according to the Solano County Registrar of Voters website.

The self-proclaimed foe of pornography has been active in recent months, speaking out at school board and Vallejo City Council meetings about his perceived dangers of pornography on youth and society.

Messano in April was removed from a City Council meeting after making homophobic remarks regarding Brenda Crawford — who is an African-American and openly gay.

Crawford was scheduled to be appointed by the council as the city’s new representative to the Senior Coalition of Solano County.

“We now have a nest of homosexuals infesting our city right now — who have absolutely no business getting involved in our politics,” Messano said during the meeting.

Three of the five seats are open on the Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Education this November. The incumbents include Board President Burky Worel, and trustees Tony Ubalde and Ruscal Cayangyang.

Two City Council incumbents — Vice Mayor Katy Miessner, and Councilwoman Pippin Dew Costa — wasted no time as both pulled candidacy paperwork Monday, according to the Vallejo City Clerk’s Office.

Just like the school board, three seats are open this fall.

Dew-Costa and Miessner are each seeking a second term on the council after being elected to the seven-person body in 2013.

Vincent May also pulled candidacy papers on Monday as well, the clerk’s office said.

Vallejo City Council candidacy paperwork can be obtained from Vallejo City Clerk Dawn G. Abrahamson at the City Clerk’s Office, 555 Santa Clara St.

Abrahamson can be reached at (707) 648-4528 and/or at [email protected].

Dana Dean pulled papers on first day of nomination period as she seeks re-election to the Solano County Board of Education.

Dean represents Trustee Area 3, which includes the city of Benicia, a portion of East Vallejo, sections of South and East Fairfield, the city of Cordelia, Collinsville, and Travis Air Force Base.

She was first appointed to the board in March 2013 and then ran uncontested for the same seat in 2014. Prior to joining the county, Dean served on the Benicia school board for five years.

Former Solano Community College math professor A. Marie Young also pulled papers as she seeks a fourth term on the college’s governing board.

Young represents Area 2 which includes all of all of Vallejo located east of Interstate 80.

Nomination paperwork for all other contests can be found at the Solano County Registrar of Voters, 675 Texas St. Suite 2600, Fairfield, Calif. 94533.

For more information, call (707) 784-6675 or email [email protected].

The filing deadline is Aug. 10. Should an incumbent fail to file papers, the nomination period will be extended for five days up to Aug. 15 so non-incumbents have an extra opportunity to file.

The election is Nov. 6