Thank You, Alameda
By now most of you have likely heard the news – needing 66.6667% of votes cast on or before June 3rd, Measure H has passed at 66.90%.
It is not just a victory for KASE or schools, but for Alameda.
This has been an incredible effort — one that was the result of more than 500 volunteers in Alameda coming together to support their schools and our city’s students. All worked on behalf of teachers, staff, and most importantly, children – children who deserve, simply, access to quality education for all.
I can tell you truthfully – not one person’s efforts were in vain. Every single person who walked a precinct or picked up a phone to call a potential supporter was vital. Each time any one person did any one thing on behalf of our schools – it mattered.
Since coming on board with AEF I have been more heavily involved in our community than ever before. I have been to Kiwanis and Rotary and to faith-based organizations. I have met with parents and teachers and business owners. I have talked to folks at the Mastick Senior Center and at pre-schools. I say this without hesitation: I am proud to be an Alamedan.
Overwhelmingly, this community has sent a message: Public education is too valuable to throw away.
Thank you, Alameda, for seeing the inherent value of our schools and for taking action to secure their immediate future.
I say immediate future because we have just begun to work. It behooves us to remember that we are facing CA state budget realities that will likely bring more cuts to our public education system. We have already lost valuable programs we would like to reestablish in our community – like bringing middle school sports back or finding a way to shore up our college and career centers again. We want to look toward innovations in technology in the classrooms of Alameda and we want to establish secured funding for programs too often on the chopping block when economic times are tough – like the arts and athletics.
We will need to have hard conversations in the year ahead – about what we want for our schools, what our priorities are and how we want to go about educating the children of Alameda.
But by passing Measure H, we have retained the opportunity to have those discussions on our own terms. We have retained local control – we have given ourselves the chance to roll up our sleeves and work again.
We have given ourselves the chance to move past mere survival and begin to look towards thriving.
I am excited to thrive. I am excited to work with you all again. I am thrilled that Measure H passed, but most of all I am thrilled that the amazing individuals who made that happen live in my community. And I know they are not finished with their work. They will take a few days off to celebrate – to enjoy a family vacation or watch a child graduate. But they will return, rested and ready to continue to provide the schools we dream of for all of the children who call Alameda home.
You all did a rare, important thing – you had hope, you worked, you persevered. You made something happen that was vital to children and you never gave up – even when the days looked dark. And you built the lasting network and mechanisms that will allow the work to continue.
Thank you, Alameda. From the bottom of my heart – Thank you.
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