Can parent activist unseat Sacramento school Trustee Woo? What to know about Area 6 candidates
Three seats on the Sacramento City Unified School District Board of Trustees are on the ballot this fall. The election follows an eight-day strike that shut schools earlier this year and two years of learning under pandemic restrictions.
In Area 6, three-term incumbent Trustee Darrell Woo is running for reelection against Taylor Kayatta, a state attorney who became active in the school district as a parent.
The district they’re running to represent covers the Pocket, Greenhaven and South Land Park Hills neighborhood.
Darrel Woo
Party: Democratic
Age: 70
Birthplace: San Francisco
Residence: Sacramento
Occupation: Retired
Education: Lincoln Law School of Sacramento, Juris Doctorate; UC Berkeley, bachelor’s degree in political science
Offices held: Sacramento City Unified School Board Trustee
Campaign website: Darrelwooforschoolboard.com
If elected, how would you address labor issues in the district that led to April’s teacher and staff strike?
The right to strike are embedded in the foundation and ethos of our state. The teachers and other staff have the right to strike. All I can do is is encourage the teachers and staff not to strike. The labor issues which lead to April’s strike has been addressed. We must prevent the next strike and I will assure you, I will try.
What should the district do to improve conditions for Black staff members and students who said they’ve experienced ongoing harassment on campus?
At Sacramento City Unified School District we are working toward inclusion and equity. With our partners we are engaged every day to improve the lives of students. We have recently established multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) to identify struggling students early and to intervene quickly. It is too early to tell, but I am hopeful that MTSS and other methods will help improve conditions for black students and Black staff.
Partner input that representation matters for students and the anti-racism efforts need to be continued and expanded. The curriculum needs to reflect the specific experience and perspectives of students (e.g., the Black/African American experience)
We are moving toward our staff reflecting the linguistic, racial, cultural, and other diversity of the student population. Further anti-racism training is needed and systems resulting in disproportionate outcomes need to be dismantled.
What can the district do to attract more families and students after recent enrollment declines?
The beauty of our school system is that children can and do go to schools of choice. We have schools which are impacted and we have schools which are at less than capacity. To attract students the long term solution is the building of residences in the south and west of our city. This will add many hundreds of children to our classrooms.
The immediate answer is to fix our schools to make them more attractive and appealing to the families who could attend. In addition to fixing the schools we could offer more too. Music, shop, and other hands on classes make going to school fun. We are offering classes on coding. We are offering classes on 3D graphics and model making. We offer classes on growing plants and harvesting, plants and vegetables. All of these classes are important, hands on and create excitement to students.
We are offering TK as well for parents who want to introduce their children to school earlier. We feed children all year long and when they need, we have a relationship with RT to provide bussing all year long, for free.
Taylor Kayatta
Party: Democratic
Age: 37
Birthplace: New Jersey
Residence: Sacramento
Occupation: Attorney, CPA
Education: McGeorge School of Law, Juris Doctorate; Sacramento State, master’s of business administration; UCLA, bachelor’s degree in political science; American River College, associate of arts degree.
Offices held: This is my first time running for public office
Campaign website address: www.kayatta.com
If elected, how would you address labor issues in the district that led to April’s teacher and staff strike?
I was proud to stand with teachers and staff as they went on strike this past school year. While a strike is certainly disruptive to students, parents, and school employees, there are times when a strike is unfortunately necessary. Over the past several years, and especially during the pandemic, as a parent I saw just how dysfunctional our school district administration is. When the administration will not cooperate or respond to changing events, actions like a strike seem to be the only way to get them to act. The community understood the position teachers and staff were in after experiencing a lack of respect and cooperation ourselves during the pandemic. The community stood by those on strike because what they had to say made sense to us based on our own experiences.
To address the longstanding labor issues in our district, we need to reset labor relations. When the unions and the administration don’t trust each other, they cannot find common ground to work out a good contract and invest in our schools. This is evidenced by the parties’ inability to move our school year start date forward, despite both parties saying that they would like to do so. To reset relations, I would ensure that the School Board takes an active oversight role in labor negotiations. The school board should provide concrete direction to the district’s bargaining team and take accountability for the results of bargaining positions. A board member should attend critical bargaining meetings. Board members should solicit input from the community (parents, students, teachers, and staff) and ensure those issues are being addressed in bargaining sessions. Perhaps more importantly, a board member should make sure that respect is a top priority in labor negotiations. If I were elected, I would make it clear that unimpeachable good faith is a prerequisite for bargaining. I would also respect my community and provide real updates on bargaining sticking points, as opposed to slick press releases that merely advocate the administration’s position.
What should the district do to improve conditions for Black staff members and students who said they’ve experienced ongoing harassment on campus?
As a school district and as a community, we need to listen more and take real action to stop what has been happening. The stories and experiences I have heard are unacceptable. The district should invite those who have experienced harassment to report directly to the school board about their experiences, to the extent they are comfortable sharing. School board members should listen to those who have stories to tell and take personal ownership over righting those wrongs. The school board should take direct ownership over making changes to prevent this harassment from occurring going forward. This means agenda items with proposed action, not just public comments. For years, members of our Black community have reported problems with the school district, most notably disproportionate suspension rates and other disproportionate discipline. The current school board has given those reports lip service but done little to set in place real changes - by agendizing action items that they can vote on and hold the district to account for. The district should make real changes in its operations, not just pass non-binding resolutions.
What can the district do to attract more families and students after recent enrollment declines?
I am very cognizant of why our school district, more than others, has been experiencing declining enrollment. No one wants to send their kids to a failing school district with frequent public labor disputes, an unresponsive administration, and problems with how certain communities are treated. My family experienced this first hand. I am running for school board first and foremost to improve our Special Education department. My family had incredible trouble getting my son the appropriate speech services he needed. There was a time where I asked myself on a daily basis if this was the day we would pick up and move to Folsom or Roseville. However, it is not just families moving out of the city (or choosing not to move into the city in the first place) that are causing declining enrollment. Our local kids are attending other school districts, private schools, and charter schools. The kids are here, we just aren’t attracting them to our schools.
To attract more families and students to our city and our schools, we need to fix our schools from top to bottom. We need real leadership in the Serna Center that prioritizes making real and lasting changes to how families are treated. We need to take on new educational models, work with teachers to roll those models out, and commit to long-term and district-wide implementation. We need a labor relations team that values its teachers and staff and truly invests in their careers. We need to continue what we have started to do with bond revenues and make our campuses beautiful places where kids will want to learn. We also need to do a better job of telling our story; our schools are diverse in so many ways, which provides an education that might not be available in the suburbs. Our teachers are some of the best in the country and their background should be advertised. But all of this starts with a tone at the top that values these efforts. Our school board and superintendent need to own these changes and continue to push for them on a constant and consistent basis.
This story was originally published October 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.