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Longtime San Ramon Valley school board trustee Rachel Hurd has emerged as the sole qualified candidate for the district’s Area 5 seat, with two other candidates pulling paperwork but failing to qualify by the Aug. 12 deadline.
“For the past 16 years, I have listened to the needs of the community and earned the trust of constituents,” Hurd said on her campaign site. “I have positively impacted how education is delivered in the SRVUSD. As a board, we have provided total compensation for employees that is among the best in the area, while maintaining the district’s financial health and improving its credit position.”
In addition to regular duties during her lengthy tenure on the board, Hurd currently serves on the TRAFFIX Board of Directors, and as board liaison for the San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs, the Deep Learning and Innovation Steering Committee and Equity Steering Team, and the Culture and Climate Committee, as well as for the district’s negotiating team.
Hurd also serves as executive director for Leadership San Ramon Valley, and is a former president of the Dougherty Valley/San Ramon Rotary Club.
“An emphasis on academics, combined with the arts and social-emotional learning prepares students to be productive, responsible members of society with viable future options,” Hurd said.
“This broader definition of success for our students is key to the San Ramon Valley Unified School District’s Strategic Directions, which I helped develop and strongly support. To provide this level of education for all students, we need to provide learning environments that are flexible, responsive, and inclusive, which is the heart of the Equity Initiative,” she added.
Hurd earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering before leaving the field to spend time at home raising her then-young children. This led her to become an active volunteer for the SRV Council of PTAs, and to direct her attention to the world of education.
In particular, with two of her three children being diagnosed with dyslexia, Hurd sought to find solutions to barriers that learning difficulties have traditionally posed for students, which has guided her approach to present and future changes in the district.
“Now, more than ever, we must elect leaders like myself with a proven record of working collaboratively and respectfully with all constituents,” Hurd said. “My tenure makes me uniquely qualified to understand the big picture while remaining focused on local solutions that serve all students.”
Hurd is currently serving on the board at-large. With the district’s shift to trustee-area-based elections approved in 2019, and a redistricting process that followed the release of 2020 census data, November’s election marks the first time that the new map will be in effect and the first time Area 5 is on the ballot.
The Area 5 seat Hurd is seeking represents the southeastern-most portions of San Ramon, as well as most of Blackhawk and Camino Tassajara.
Hurd was initially poised to face a challenge to her seat from Micah Black, a Danville parent who was campaigning for her first elected position on the board. However, Black dropped out of the race two weeks ago. Baljit Singh Sull pulled papers to run against Hurd, but had also failed to qualify by the Aug. 12 deadline.
With no challengers, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the board could just appoint Hurd to the seat and save on the costs of an election — as was the case in the 2018 election cycle when an unchallenged Hurd earned her fourth full term, but that was before SRVUSD converted to district-based elections.
More information on Hurd’s campaign is available at rachelhurd.com.
