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Dublin Unified School District candidate forum, moderated by the Pleasanton Weekly. (Video by Amos Productions)
Two of the four Dublin school board candidates in the contested races on this November’s ballot met for an election forum aimed at providing a platform for voters to hear directly about their campaign priorities.
Area 3 incumbent William Kuo and Area 5 challenger Sameer Hakim agreed to answer questions about numerous district issues including finances, teachers union negotiations, and a geographical and social divide in the city that many residents lament.
Kuo’s opponent, John Wu, was unavailable to attend the virtual forum on Oct. 6. Hakim’s opponent, incumbent Dan Cherrier, declined an invitation to attend or provide a statement. In addition to the two races for contested seats, Area 2 newcomer Kristin Speck is unopposed and poised to be appointed directly to the board.
The forum was moderated by DanvilleSanRamon publisher Gina Channell Wilcox and sponsored by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.
The discussion came in the midst of widespread debates over several hot-button topics in the Dublin Unified School District that have culminated in increased scrutiny of the board by district voters. One of these in particular, which was addressed in the recent discussion, was the board’s role in addressing the so-called “east-west divide” in Dublin, and its impact on the school district.
“I would say that yes, it’s a very known thing that there’s an East Dublin and a West Dublin divide, but I’ve always stood for one Dublin,” Hakim said during the forum. “I’ve tried to unite people.”
To this end, Hakim — who previously served more than a year on the board as an appointed trustee in 2015 and 2016 — emphasized the construction and growth of Emerald High School as a campaign priority that would seek to address this issue in addition to others facing the district.
“I want to bring the west and the east together in building Emerald High School to be one of the best high schools,” Hakim continued. “That vision of making it among the best school districts gives us the advantage that we can do something together.”
Kuo said that uniting the two sides was especially important to him, given the central location of Area 3, and that his experience in the seat had given him an advantage in understanding how to “reach across the aisle”.
“I’ve been on the board for a year and a half, and it’s quite challenging to be able to work between both sides, but it is not impossible,” said Kuo, who was appointed to the board in May 2021 to fill the seat left vacant following the unexpected death of his wife Catherine.
Kuo added that it would nonetheless be impossible to make all parties happy with all decisions, at which point data should be the deciding factor.
“We’re not going to agree on everything,” Kuo said. “And the best thing for me is that I like to look at the numbers and see how those numbers work out based on that. Not favoring one side or the other, in the best interest of the students involved.”
Kuo and Hakim both emphasized that while they would also seek to balance the interests of the areas they’re seeking to represent, decisions would be made by all five board members with the entire district in mind.
“I’m only one of the five votes,” Kuo said. “I won’t be able to make decisions for just one area. It has to be all of us.”
In addition to seeing Emerald High School as a development that could help to unite the two “sides” of the city, Hakim said it and other new projects would be the answer to other issues in the district.
“We need to build more schools, and that is the single biggest thing that needs to be addressed,” Hakim said. “We need to build EHS; we need to build more elementary and middle schools to address the growing population in Dublin. Emerald High School is the most important piece because we already have a very overcrowded Dublin High School, and I think that is impacting the second most critical thing, which is student achievement.”
Hakim added that addressing overcrowded schools and improving student achievement go “hand-in-hand.”
“What I feel is students are impacted and we are not seeing that,” Hakim said. “The building of schools has been delayed for a very long time.”
For this reason, Hakim said he would seek to speed up the development of Emerald High School if possible.
“I would say building Emerald High School to the fullest, Phase 1 and Phase 2, and building it quicker and faster will address a critical issue,” Hakim said.
Kuo also emphasized the importance of constructing new facilities and expanding existing ones, during his current term on the board and in the future if elected in November, but noted that he was optimistic about how the district currently operates.
“In general I like to say I do believe the district is run pretty well. We have excellent schools, we have great teachers, and the administration is doing quite well under the new leadership of (Superintendent) Chris Funk,” Kuo said.
Kuo pointed in particular to the district’s existing plans for two new schools and other projects aimed at updating existing schools.
“The second high school is out in Phase 1 … there’s a new school planned for central Dublin — which is in my area, Area 3 — and that is The Boulevard,” Kuo said. “That is scheduled to be a K-8 school and these are two new constructions that are happening in the school district, and I would want to make sure things are complete on time and on budget, as well as there’s a couple smaller constructions that are also on the top five of our Facilities Master Plan.”
Despite seeking to present a fresh face on the board if elected over incumbent Cherrier in November, Hakim said he was also mostly supportive of the district’s current operations under Funk’s administration.
However, he noted that Funk’s relatively short tenure has meant a lot of changes at the district has resulted in rapid changes for the district at all levels, including labor negotiations with the Dublin Teachers Association.
“(The) current relationship is better than I have seen in the past several years,” Hakim said. “We have seen a lot of change, in the school superintendent especially, and all of this change basically has caused … some kind of rift. We need to bring the teachers together. We invest 85% of our investment in our teachers. I want this investment to work for our students.”
Kuo also acknowledged the sometimes tense labor negotiations between the district and the teachers union, and echoed calls for a better relationship between the board and district educators.
“I will be honest and say it’s been challenging,” Kuo said. “Sitting there on the board, during the meetings we have heard many different viewpoints from the union and I’ve spokn to Chris Funk about this, and we are strategizing how we could work better with the DTA.”
He added that some ideas that had come forward were weekly meetings between district officials and the union to discuss agenda items from board meetings and other issues in need of discussion.
The two candidates, along with their opponents, will continue to campaign for the two competitive races for board seats ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
Full video of the forum is available here.
