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Publisher’s Corner
Subscription Form El Ravenswood 2019 Survey Events Calendar 8 East Palo Alto T-Ball Pitching Machine 9 Black American Community Health Advisory Council/10 Obituary-Gertrude Wilks-1927-2019 12 Obituary- Antoinette Pietras-1970-2019 13 Transitions-Jaime Fontes-
New East Palo Alto City Manager 14 Recology-The 4th Largest Employee-Owned Company In California 15 Community Snap Shots 17 Word Play 18 Transitions-Duane BayNew Executive Director Of EPACANDO 19 Transitions-Robert Jones Retires From EPACANDO 20 Transitions-Gina Sudaria
Takes The Ravenswood City School District Helm 21 Transitions-Ofelia Bellow, New Executive Director Of YUCA 23 Agency Profile- Youth United For Community Action (YUCA) 24 Transitions-Andrew Hartwell / Starla Jerome Robinson-Menlo Park’s New City Manager 25 Superintendent Goff Forced To Resign 27 How Many Firearms In East Palo Alto And Menlo Park? APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD 1
P.O. Box 50849 Palo Alto, CA 94303 (650) 323-4477 E: infoeastpaloaltoinformation.com Publisher Meda O. Okelo Editorial Meda O. Okelo, Editor Barbara Noparstak, Copy Editor Contributors, Past and Present C. Jango, Luke James, M.O. Okelo, Michelle Daher, Rodney Clark, Sarah Hubert, Saree Mading, Shammai Mading, Alejandro Vilchez, Rose Jacobs Gibson. Sid Walton, Sandy Moon Farley, Zalika Sykes, Isaac Stevenson Design/Layout George Okello Advertising Meda O. Okelo Business/Administration EPA-Belle Haven Information Inc. Circulation Alvin Spencer and Sonja Spencer El Ravenswood is published by EPABelle Haven Information Inc. P.O. Box 50849 East Palo Alto California, 94303. (650) 323-4477. El Ravenswood is delivered free to public offices, businesses and non-profit agency offices in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven Community in Menlo Park. Copyright © 2017 by EPA-Belle Haven Information Inc.
TO SUBSCRIBE: For $40 annually, you can have your El Ravenswood magazine delivered to your mailbox/address. Send a check for $40 to the mailing address above.
2 APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD
From the Publisher
E
l Ravenswood last published in September 2018. For a monthly publication, I am sure many are wondering what is happening and whether El Ravenswood will continue publishing. I started El Ravenswood in 2015 with the intention of publishing a monthly informative magazine with interesting articles about people, organizations and events in East Palo Alto and parts of Menlo Park. The idea was born out of a need I felt that information was constantly being generated but was not adequately being disseminated throughout the community. It was triggered by a specific event. Four years after I left the city of East Palo Alto’s employment, a resident knocked at my door early one morning with a request related to my previous functions with the city. He had no idea that I was no longer working with the city, but, even more importantly, the department that I worked for had been dissolved. While working for the city, it was not uncommon for people to knock on my door after working hours with one request or another. For instance, several Saturday mornings I had to mediate conflicts between groups regarding use of a city park. I thought El Ravenswood would be a good vehicle to communicate with the community regarding local issues. Not publishing as frequently as a newspaper, I knew I could not be a news magazine but would provide a vehicle through which events would be recorded as historical information. I could also analyze issues impacting the community by providing background information and raising questions that may not have been raised. I have received a lot of support from various individuals and organizations. Michael Francois subscribed to the magazine for seven years! Others, like the Ravenswood Family Health Clinic, Recology and Realtor Jane Jones, have committed to advertising long term in the magazine. Local publishing is expensive and while the magazine has existed because of a subsidy from a few of us, that model is not sustainable. The magazine has got to be able to pay for itself at the very minimum. It has not since 2015. For El Ravenswood to continue publishing it is important that we have some certainty about its target audience’s communication needs. To do that, El Ravenswood has included a brief survey (pg 4) targeted at both readers and potential advertisers. Kindly fill it out and mail it back at the address provided. The survey is also available at survey monkey but to participate you would have to send us your email.
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/ Yes I would like to subscribe to El Ravenswood
Date:
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(If Business/Non Profit or Public Agency) Title: Type of Business: Type of Business: Address: City: State: Zip Code: We may share your information with our affiliates and other parties in order to fulfill your subscription request. For any questions, please contact El Ravenswood at (650) 323-4477 or email: info@eastpaloaltoinformation.com Terms and Conditions 1. Delivery will commence the second month following receipt of paid subscription. For example, if El Ravenswood receives your subscription in January, you will receive your first issue in March. 2. The subscription will terminate 12 months after you receive the first issue. 3. EPA Belle Haven Information Inc. reserves the right of the final decision on any dispute. Please post this form including check to: Circulation Department, El Ravenswood, P.O. Box 50849 Palo Alto, CA 94303 Write all checks to: EPA Belle Haven Information Inc. Telephone: 650-323-4477 Email: info@eastpaloaltoinformation.com Facebook: www.face book.com/eastpaloaltobellehaveninformation APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD 3
READERS SURVEY
Where do You normally get El Ravenswood? a. On line Yes b. East Palo Alto City Hall Yes c. Menlo Park City Hall Yes d. Ravenswood Family Health Clinic Yes e. Menlo Park Senior Center Yes f. East Palo Alto Senior Center Yes g. East Palo Alto YMCA Yes h. Other (Please name)
No No No No No No No
How would you like to get a copy of El Ravenswood? a. On line Yes No b. Subscription Yes No c. Pick up at a local location at
What features of the magazine do you like or not like: a. Advertisements b. Artist Profiles c. Birthday features d. Community Events e. Investigative reports f. Obituaries g. People profiles h. Publishers Letter i. Staff Transitions j. Wordplay/games
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
No No No No No No No No No No
What important topics would you like to see covered? a. b. c. d.
Would you like to see it continue? a. Yes b. No
Would you subscribe to El Ravenswood? a. Yes b. No 4 APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD
If yes How much would you be willing to pay for a subscription annually? a. $80 Yes No b. $60 Yes No c. $45 Yes No d. $40 Yes No e. Other
What size ad would you pay for in the magazine? a. Full Page Color $1350-1500 b. Full Page Color Prime: $1725 c. 2/3 page color: $1000 d. ½ page color: $815 e. 1/3 page color: $545 f. 1/6 page color: $275 g. ¼ page color: $375 h. None
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
No No No No No No No No
Where do you live a. East Palo Alto Yes No b. Menlo Park Yes No c. Palo Alto Yes No d. Redwood City Yes No e. Other (include City and State)
I am a. Male Yes No b. Female Yes No c. Other gender Yes No d. 20-39 years old Yes No e. 40-59 years old Yes No f. 60-79 years old Yes No g. Over 80 years old Yes No h. Black Yes No i. White Yes No j. Hispanic Yes No k. Pacific Islander Yes No l. Asian Yes No
Mail or Fax to: P.O.Box 50849, Palo Alto, CA 94303 or 650-323-4477
WHAT IS REGULAR AND ONGOING Tuesday, January 8 Community Collaboration for Children Success meeting at the Muhammad Ali Center.
Monday, January 21 Annual Martin Luther King Celebration at the 7th Day Adventist Church Saturday, February 2 Fixit Clinic at the East Palo Alto Library.
Wednesday, January 23 Homegoing Celebration for Gertrude Wilfus Dyer Wilks at Abundant Life Church in Mountain View
Wednesday, January 30 Community Meeting regarding MidPen Housing’s about its Gateway Apartments redevelopment project located at 1345 Willow Road at the Menlo Park Senior Center 110 Terminal Ave. 6:30–8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25 San Mateo County Credit Union 67th Annual Meeting, Fox Forum, 2411 Broadway, Redwood Ctiy.5:30 P.M. Saturday, April 6 East Palo Alto T-Ball Pitching Machine 2019 Opening Day at Jack Farrell Park. Register now at: www.epatball.org or call 650-630-1826 Saturday, April 6 Recreating Black Genius-Read and Think Black History Program, Saturday, April 6, 10-2:00 P.M. 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto. Saturday, April 13 BCM (Bayshore Christian Ministries)
Family Fun Day, 1001 Beech Street, East Palo Alto, 1-4:00 P.M. Saturday, April 13 March to Success Experiencing the Lives You Change 2019-Foundation for a College Education Annual Fundraiser, Garden Court Hotel, 520 Cowper Street, Palo Alto Sunday, April 14 Art Exhibit by Will Webster, East Palo Alto Family YMCA 550 Bell Street, East Palo Alto 2-5:00 P.M. Thursday, April 18 Community Meeting for East Palo Alto Water Customers, American Water 2415 University Avenue, 7:00-9:00 P.M. Thursday, April 18 Youth Community Service (YCS) ANNUAL FUNDRAISING EVENT “Sowing the Seeds for Community Engagement 5:30-7:30PM at Lucie Stern Community Center 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto.
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EVENTS CALENDAR | PAST , UPCOMING AND ONGOING
Sunday, May 5 Cinco de Mayo Parade and Festival
Saturday, April 20 First Time Home Buyers Seminar, 505 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto with your local realtor, Jane Jones. Go to: notifications@facebookmail.com to rsvp.
Machine 2nd Annual Legacy Maker Banquet. Wednesday, April 24 Planning for Rising Waters: Sea Level, Groundwater and the Bay Edge, Dr. Kristina Hill (Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and Urban Design, U.C. Berkeley) Michell Park Community Center, El Palo Alto Room, 3700 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Saturday, April 27 Belle Haven Spring Fair, Ivy Place 410 Ivy Drive 11:00-2:00 p.m. Presented by Facebook.
Sunday, February 24 East Palo Alto/Las Vegas T-Ball Pitching
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Friday, May 3 35th Annual JobTrain Breakfast of Champions, Santa Clara Convention Center 7:30-9:30 A.M.
May 4, Saturday Tree Planting: Pedestrian Overpass 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at the Home Depot 1781 E. Bayshore Road, East Palo Alto. E-mail: info@canopy.org for more information. Saturday, May 4 Town Hall Meeting, Hosted by Mayor Gauthier and Vice-Mayor Wallace Jones City Room YMCA Building 550 Bell Street 3:00-5:00 p.m. Saturday, May 18 Soul Stroll is Back! Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council (formerly African American Community Health Advisory Committee- Call 650-6523884 for registration information.
Sunday, June 2 “ Meet the Tree Whisperer, A Benefit Event for Canopy with Dave Muffly”, 10:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. Eastside College Preparatory School, 1041 Myrtle Street, East Palo Alto Friday, June 28 Celebration of former EPA CAN DO Executive Director, Robert Jones, Hotel Nia, Menlo Park. Call 650-473-9838 or e-mail. Friday, July 26 - Saturday, July 27 Nairobi Reunion. Location to be determined. Goals: Reconnecting the Nairobi family; reviewing Nairobi history; Celebrating five decades of work; Celebratory cultural activities, honoring and memorializing Nairobi ancestors; distributing memorabilia.
Saturday, June 15 Juneteenth Festival at University Circle 1900 University Avenue. 510-677-9228 for information.
Saturday, August 10 Tree Walk: Remarkable Trees of East Palo Alto with local arborist Uriel Hernandez, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Visit canopy.org/get-involved/tree-walksign-up/.
Saturday, October 19 15th Annual EPA T-Ball Pitching Machine Golf Classic, a fundraiser for the EPA T-Ball Pitching Machine Baseball Program, The Club at Sunrise, 5483 Club House Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada.
1st and 3rd Mondays, Kiwanis Club of the Bayshore Community Club Meeting, 12:00-1:30 P.M. 1875 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto
2nd and 4th Thursday of the month, Ravenswood City School District regular board meetings 7:15 PM in the District Office Board Room, 2120 Euclid Avenue, East Palo Alto
Every Thursday, East Palo Alto Bayshore Rotary Club meeting 7:00-8.30 P.M. East Palo Alto YMCA 550 Bell Street. 1st and 3rd Tuesday, East Palo Alto City Council Meetings 7:30 P.M., 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto. 1st Thursday of the month, East Palo Alto Sanitary District, 7:00 P.M. 901 Weeks Street, East Palo Alto
Tuesdays (varies), Menlo Park City Council 7:00 P.M. 701 Laurel Street, Menlo Park. 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, West Bay Sanitary District regular board meeting 7:00 P.M. 500 Laurel Street, Menlo Park. 3rd Tuesdays, Menlo Park Fire Protection District regular board meeting 7:00 P.M. 170 Middlefield Street, Menlo Park.
Ravenswood Junior’s Club Soccer Spring Season for youth ages 4-15 has started. Games started on March 31 and will end On June 6. Practice days are on Wednesdays and Fridays between 6:30 P.M.8:00 P.M. at the East Palo Alto Charter School, 1286 Runnymede Street in East Palo Alto. Call Karen at 650-385-1593 or e-mail: ravenswoodjuniorsoccerclub@ gmail.com.
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EVENTS CALENDAR | PAST , UPCOMING AND ONGOING
EAST PALO ALTO T-BALL PITCHING MACHINE
East Palo Alto T-Ball Pitching Machine is a youth-sports-and-academic-developmentthrough-baseball-program open to boys and girls ages 4-10. The Program has been in existence since 1992 and was designed to prepare kids for the local little league program. For more information or to register a child visit: www.epatball.org or call 650-630-1826. The program which uses the names of teams that played in the Negro Baseball league had its opening day on April 6 with two teams: THE NEW YORK BLACK YANKEES Alexander Young Jr., Ariyah Patterson, Bo Jefferson, Fatani Uhila, Maryanne Young, McKenzie Young David Jefferson (Coach) KANSAS CITY MONARCHS Emanuel Farrell Jr., Giana Melgar, Leo GarcÃa, Leon Marshall IV, Losaline Uhila, Mia Melgar, Rashad Mashack Jr. Mario Mendoza (Coach) 8 APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD
OPINION from 30 in 2002 to more than 200. The event has attracted such well-known celebrities as Laila Ali, Danny Glover, Ben Vereen, Donna Richardson Joyner, and Stedman Graham to serve as honorary chairs and to keynote the Friday night kick-off, Heroes for Health, which honors leaders in faith, corporate and medical communities for their contributions to good health. Soul Stroll now includes a weekend of events, beginning with Friday evening’s Heroes for Health kick-off. On Saturday, it’s time for the Soul Stroll itself. In addition to a 1-, 3-, or 5-mile run/ walk, the event provides a health fair with more than 50 resource partners distributing information and healthrelated advice, and conducting on-site health screenings. Sunday is a time to connect with the churches that are involved in the BACHAC partnership. In 2013, honorary chair Aaron Perry made a special appearance at two churches, delivering a passionate message about healthy living. Soul Stroll has also evolved into a timely platform for important health issues. Bone marrow donors are sometimes hard to locate. To encourage people to register as donors, BACHAC recently facilitated a visit to Soul Stroll by a 16-year-old girl in need of a marrow transplant. In three hours, nearly 40 people registered to help this young woman–and others like her.
Soul Stroll has become BACHAC’s premier Signature Event. Established in 2002 to increase awareness about good nutrition and physical activity as keys to better health, the event’s attendance has grown from 500 in 2002 to more than 3,000 participants in recent years. In addition to a 1-, 3-, or 5-mile run/
walk, Soul Stroll provides on-site health screenings, children’s activities, and a health fair with more than 50 resource partners. Our partnership with community-based organizations is an important component of Soul Stroll’s success, and the number of volunteers for the event has increased
Soul Stroll’s popularity has led BACHAC to develop a toolkit for other cities to replicate the event. In the last two years, organizations in Tempe, Arizona; Sacramento, California; and Madison, Wisconsin, have started their own Soul Stroll events. If you’re interested in hosting a Soul Stroll event and would like more information, email BACHAC at or call us at (650) 652-3884.
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Gertrude Wilks 1927 - 2019
By El Ravenswood Staff
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any aspiring, as well as seasoned, local politicians in East Palo Alto vying for political office made it a point to visit and consult with Mrs. Wilks at some point in their candidacy. Some sought her counsel before deciding to run and others made contact in the heat of their campaigns. Mrs. Wilks however never endorsed any candidate. “The only thing she would do if she supported your candidacy would be to allow you to place your yard sign in her yard,” said Mayor Gauthier recently. Gertrude Wilfus Dyer Wilks was born March 9, 1927, the fourth child in a family of six siblings in a house on a plantation in Homer, Louisiana. She died peacefully on the morning of January 20, short of her 92nd birthday, at her home in the presence of family and friends. Her parents, Roosevelt and Eula Dyer, were sharecroppers who, in addition to working in the fields with their children, tended their own hogs, chicken and cattle in their home. They maintained a strict household, in which every child was assigned a chore with the expectation that they would do theirs diligently with little or no supervision. Gertrude’s chore according to her youngest sister, Dr. Reginald Banks, was to milk the cows daily so that the family would have milk every morning. She never missed a day. Gertrude and her husband Otis
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Gertrude Wilks with the late Joseph Goodwill moved to California in 1947 and initially lived in the City of Richmond. She and Otis worked at the Hunts Cannery and were able to save up enough money to buy a piece of land on which they built a house. When the family moved to the mid-peninsula, they first lived in Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood Like they did in Richmond, they purchased a lot on Saratoga and built a home which they moved into in 1955. She lived in that house until her death. Her husband Otis passed away in 1997. Between them they had four children: three sons, Otis Jr. Daniel and Danny; and one daughter, Patricia. All her children are deceased. Education was always important to her, perhaps because that was one thing that she was denied by circumstances as a child. Born into a sharecropper family,
she had to work the fields leaving little time to attend school. She was appalled by the quality of education that was being dispensed to children by the Ravenswood City School District. Despite graduating from the Ravenswood City School District, her son could barely read when he joined the newly built Ravenswood High School. “When I enrolled the kids in school,” she later observed in her book ‘Gathering Together- Born to be a Leader.’ “I thought they were on their way…. Otis and I assumed our children would get a good education in the public schools just like they did in the church schools in the South… It was very disappointing for all of us when found out OJ wasn’t learning.” This led her, the late Barbara
Gertrude wilks with the late Joseph goodwill (left) Mouton, the late Clarene Watts, and the late Ida Berk to create Mothers for Equal Education (MEE) in 1985. MEE mobilized parents in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park as well as parent allies in neighboring communities, creating a movement that saw hundreds of East Palo Alto students ferreted out of the East Palo Alto and Belle Haven schools to take advantage of ‘superior’ educational opportunities that were perceived to exist across the freeway. The creation of MEE reflected what was happening in the country at the time. Desegregation was the call. All across the country there were efforts seeking to racially integrate schools. The Civil Rights Act had just been enacted the previous year by Congress. In the early sixties, the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees received an ‘ethnic report’ from a citizen’s committee that concluded
that District schools were segregated. Ravenswood High School, the only District high school in East Palo Alto, was comprised primarily of Blacks and the other five schools in the District were predominantly white. She and the other founders of MEE believed that students attending Ravenswood High School were being ignored largely due to alleged prejudiced beliefs by teachers that Black students could not learn. Concluding that students like her son Danny would not get the kind of education that she and husband Otis felt he needed, she, so the local lore goes, at the spur of the moment called Agnes Robinson, then a board member in the Palo Alto Unified School District, and worked out an arrangement where Danny was enrolled at Cubberly High School. To be legitimately enrolled at that school, he had to live in Palo
Alto and so four nights during the week he lived with a family in Palo Alto, coming home only on weekends. Shortly afterward, David Rages, another student from East Palo Alto, did the same thing. Thus began Mothers for Equal Education’s ‘Sneak Out’ Program. By the end of 1965, over 50 students were sneaked out of the Ravenswood High School. An East Palo Alto visit by Stokely Carmichael, aka Kwame Toure, in 1965 altered the prevailing perspective when he urged East Palo Alto residents not to count on others to be able to educate their children and challenged them to create institutions to educate their own. According to Bob Hoover, this remark by Toure was instrumental in a significant shift in perspective that eventually led the community to create its own educational programs such as Saturday School or Youth United Corps where residents offered their homes as tutoring centers where older kids tutored younger kids. Gertrude Wilks was deeply involved in these initiatives. These efforts eventually ended up in the creation of the Nairobi Day School which opened its doors on October 22, 1966 with the motto ‘Our Children Can Learn.’ In 1969, the Nairobi Elementary School and Nairobi High School came into existence. Saturday School directed to students in public school needing tutorial assistance continues to function with tutorial services offered for free. In a 1975 interview with The New York Times, Mrs. Wilks said that Nairobi Schools arose from the fact that “our children were moving out of the eighth grade, illiterate, into the mortification process of an un-teaching public high school.” “Our school,” she added, “was born of need. There just came a time when we decided to stop reacting and to begin creating.”
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By 1972, the Nairobi Schools were so confident in their ability to educate children that they began offering families an iron clad guarantee, according to The New York Times quoting Barbara Mouton, the director of the Nairobi Elementary School, they would ‘positively teach a child to read or hey would refund all the tuition for that year.’ By the time the article was written in 1975, they had been no refunds requested. Families that could afford it were requested to pay $1,000 per year covering all children in any one family. In 1973, Mrs. Wilks was elected to the Alto Park Council, a body that advised the county board of supervisors on issues in the Belle haven community and East Palo Alto but the election was, according to Mrs. Wilks in her book ‘Gathering Together,’ annulled and had to be repeated four times. The County eventually disbanded the Alto Park Council. In 1974, she ran for the East Palo Alto Municipal Council and won. In 1976, she successfully ran for mayor of the council, a post for which she was elected three times. While serving as
Mayor, the community of East Palo Alto in 1982 tried to incorporate as a city and failed. It tried again in 1983 and won by 15 votes. On both occasions Mrs. Wilks fought against the efforts. “I was opposed to incorporation because I did not think the community had enough of a tax base to support services” she later wrote in her book. Her arguments mirrored previous anti-incorporation activists who in 1957 argued that, with not enough of a tax base, the community would face increased property taxes. She was a formidable foe during the city of East Palo Alto’s incorporation struggle, a fight that pitted her against former friends with whom she had historically partnered with. Despite her opposition to East Palo Alto becoming a city, she ran during the same incorporation election in April 1983 and was elected to the first East Palo Alto City Council. While serving on the city council, she continued her lawsuit questioning the validity of the incorporation vote. She contested the incorporation
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results in court and was successful in getting 300 absentee ballots thrown out, but the measure still won by 13 votes. She, represented by former Republican congressman Pete McCloskey, appealed and won with the court tossing out an additional 100 absentee ballots, votes that were eventually reinstated by the State Supreme Court. Mrs. Wilks and her co-plaintiffs appealed to the United States Supreme Court but was turned down and in 1987, East Palo Alto legally shed any doubts about its cityhood. Mrs. Wilks is survived by Dr. Reginal Banks (a sister) of Richmond California; Greg Wilks, Naja Hendrix-Dunnell, Donald Dunnell, Marquez Huston, Tamika and Dorian Dawson, Lapria Wilks (grandchildren); and Ashely and Alisha Dunnell, Sean, Amiya, Zoey, Kali and Theodore Huston (great grandchildren). Preceeding her in death, were her parents, Roosevelt and Eula; her siblings, Herbert, Dalton, Brief, Queenie and Shelvert Dyer; all of her children, Otis Jr., Danny and Patricia and her grandson Jason Dawson.
ntoinette Marie Pietras, who served as the Rent Stabilization Program Administrator for the City of East Palo Alto passed away on March 29. She worked in the city’s now defunct Housing Department from 2001-2008 At the point of her death, she worked with the City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department a position she occupied since leaving the city. A memorial ceremony was held for her at the Mary Magdalene Church in Berkeley on April 4th. Several colleagues from the City of East Palo Alto who worked with her attended the memorial service. Known for her constant warm smile and welcoming disposition she made many friends. She was also famous for her constant fight against injustices across the world. She is survived by her mother Rosemarie Pietras.
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Jaime Fontes East Palo Alto’s New City Manager By El Ravenswood Staff
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n April 2, Jaime Fontes, 61, a three-time city manager, became the City of East Palo Alto’s 19th city manager after the City Council approved an employment agreement with the former city manager of the City of Greenfield a city in the Salinas Valley, Monterey County. Mr. Fontes will start his three-year contract with the city on May 1. He replaces Carlos Martinez, who resigned as East Palo Alto’s city manager on October 12, 2018. Fifty-two applications were received of which nine were selected as meeting the city council’s minimum required qualifications. Out of the nine, four eventually were interviewed by a citycouncil-member appointed community panel and the city council itself. The four included Fontes; Sean Charpentier, the city’s Interim City Manager appointed after Carlos Martinez’s departure; La Tanya Bellow, the City of Berkeley’s Human Services Director and Al Bito, the Deputy City Manager of the City of Campbell. Fontes graduated from Nogales High School and holds a bachelor’s from Arizona State University as well as a Juris Doctorate from Western State University College of Law. Jaime Fontes was previously the city manager of the City of Greenfield, a position from which he was fired on June 16 2018 after a year of service. He currently has a lawsuit against the city for wrongful termination. He
alleges in the lawsuit that his firing was directly linked to his refusal to execute a directive from the city’s mayor. Previously, from 2010-2017, Fontes was the fourth city manager of Santa Paula, a city in Ventura County known as the citrus capital of the world. The council opted not to renew his contract in early 2017. He also served as the third city manager of Nogales, Arizona, after it changed from a strong-mayor to a city manager form of government in 2002. Fontes has served as the CEO for the Economic Development Authority of the Tohono-Odham Nation, a Native American territory in the Sonora Desert spanning the state of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora. He has also served as a real estate manager and assistant planning chief for Maricopa County, the most populous county in Arizona harboring more than half of Arizona’s population and according to the census the fourth most populous county in the United States. He has also worked as a real estate program coordinator, a supervising real property agent and a senior real property agent for the County of San Diego Department of Public Works.
According to the April 2 report to the Council, Fontes will be earning $291,800 including perks and benefits. He previously earned $165,000 annually at his previous job. Part of the information from his article has been sourced from Nogales International.
JAIME FONTES EARNING HISTORY City Population City Budget Salary Nogales 20,076 $59 million $130,000.00 Santa Paula
30,313
$45 million
$174,304.00
Greenfield
17,517
$12 million
$165,000.00
29,765
$36 million
$220,000.00
East Palo Alto
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Recology Is The Fourth Largest EmployeeOwned Company In California
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id you know that Recology, the waste management company for both East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, is, according to National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), the fourth largest company in California that is employee-owned? It is the 30th in the country. According to its website, Recology employs over 4,100 members working at over 60 offices and facilities and, as of 2018, Recology is the largest 100% employeeowned company in the resource recovery industry. Recology is a waste management company providing materials collection, processing, commodity sales, and outreach and education to customers throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. When the original company was founded in 1919, each employee owned one share of stock. In 1986 and 1987, the preceding companies of Recology merged and placed ownership in the hands of the Recology Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). In addition to providing an ownership interest in the company
EMPLOYEE-OWNED COMPANIES IN CALIFORNIA WITH OVER 1000 EMPLOYEES Company City Start Date Business Employees Parsons*
Pasadena
1974
Engineering & construction
14,000
Rosendin Electric*
San Jose
1992
Electrical Contracting
6,000
Gensler*
San Francisco
1987
Architecture
5,720
Recology*
San Francisco
1987
Waste management
4,100
Swinerton Builders*
San Francisco
1962
Construction
3,500
ACCO Engineered Systems, Inc.*
Glendale
2007
Heating & air conditioning services
3,000
Kleinfelder
San Diego
1989
Engineering
1,800
Brown and Caldwell
Walnut Creek
1962
Engineering
1,650
Armstrong Garden Centers
Glendora
1980
Garden centers
1,500
North State Grocery
Cottonwood
2006
Supermarkets
1,340
*Indicates that the company has 100% ownership | Source: National Center for Employee Ownership
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1. Black history month celebration at the Onetta Harris Community Center. Local Congolese Dance group teaches dance. 2. On March 2, 2019 Bob Hoover convened a group of adults, some already grandparents who participated in a program he started in the 60’s where teenagers provided academic assistance to elementary school kids in neighborhood homes. Called the Youth United Corps (YUC) its goal was to find out where they all ended up and what they thought of the effectiveness of the program. 3/4. Bernice McDonald, the mother of Vickie Porter the city’s long serving Supervisor of Records in the East Palo Alto Police Department by March 13 had lived 36,000 days, 876,000 hours, her heart had pumped for 52,560,000 minutes and along the way had one daughter, who blessed her with 6 grandchildren who between them begat 13 grandchildren who in turn begat 24 great, great grandchildren some of who have begat a total of 3 triple great grandchildren. Her family celebrated her on March 13 at Open Bible on O’Connor Street with Superintendent Huddleton officiating.
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5. While parents carefully watch, Mario Mendoza the Coach for the Monarchs, gets his team to do some prior game warm ups at the T-Ball. 6. Mi Panaderia announces its grand opening on Willow at the same location as Tony’s Pizza. 7. East Palo Alto makes up 5% of the county’s population but accounts disproportionately in the county’s mental health services County hosted a Neighborhood Leadership group on January 8, 2019. The group is tasked to develop a plan to be presented to the County as to how to provide appropriate mental health services.
16 APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD
WORD PLAY
Circle the words listed below, in the grid. The words are situated left to right, right to left, up to down, down to up, and diagonally in both directions.
1. Antoinette 2. Pietras 3. Gertrude Wilks 4. Wilfus Dyer 5. Jaime Fontes 6. Homer Louisiana 7. Gloria 8. Hernandez 9. Goff 10. Hartwell 11. Andrew 12. Duane Bay 13. Jerome Robinson
14. Ofelia Bello 15. YUCA 16. EPACANDO 17. Robert Allen 18. Firearms 19. Recology 20. Ravenswood Family 21. Health Center 22. Mothers For Equal Education 23. David Rages 24. Kwame Toure 25. LaPria 26. Tameeka Bennett
27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.
Nairobi Day School Agnes Robinson Ravenswood High School Cubberly Barbara Mouton Ida Berk Clarene Watts LaTanya Bellow Al Bito Charpentier Nogales Maria De La Vega Gina Sudaria
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TRANSITIONS
EPACANDO Duane Garwick Bay is the new executive director of EPACANDO. He takes over from Robert Jones, who served in that capacity for over 20 years.
D
uane Bay was born in Austria while his father was serving there as a teacher. The family, on moving back to the United States, lived in several small towns in California eventually settling in Palo Alto when his father enrolled at Stanford University. Duane was 10 years old. Duane moved to East Palo Alto in 1975 attracted by the small-town agricultural atmosphere of farm animals, gardens and horses. “I was impressed by the community’s civic mindedness and progressive predispositions and their leadership’s thoughtfulness about what was right,” he said recently. “I found their belief about the need for cooperation and their desire for self-governance inspiring.” In his early years in East Palo Alto, he worked as a day care teacher during the day and did computer programming at night for a food buying cooperative. Duane served on the City of East Palo Alto’s City Council from 1996 through 2004 serving as Mayor in 2002. Since leaving the council, Duane has served as the Director of Housing for the County of San Mateo, and prior to joining EPACANDO he was the Assistant Director of Planning and Research for the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), maintaining that position even after the agency’s merger with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). EPACANDO owns and operates one property on Clarke Avenue and co-owns five other properties: Bay
18 APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD
Oaks on Gloria Avenue and Serenity Senior Housing on University Avenue with Mid- Peninsula Housing; Nugent Square and Light-tree Apartments with Eden Housing and Peninsula Park Apartments on Tate Street with Bridge Housing. A new 130- unit project on Weeks Street is currently being jointly planned with Mid-Peninsula Housing. “There are also plans to add 90 additional units at the Light Tree Apartments,” said Duane Bay. Currently EPACANDO with its partners manage 350 affordable housing units.
(East Palo Alto Community And Neighborhood Development Organization)
EPACANDO’s mission is to create affordable housing and to promote community and economic development in the city of East Palo Alto. It was first conceived in 1989, when Cliff Boxley, Trevor Burrows, Robert Jones, Dyanne Ladine, Beth Leder-Pack, Jane Leech, Barbara Mouton, Acanio Piomelli, Marjorie Wallace and William Webster met to contemplate the creation of a community development organization. By 1991, their efforts had led to the incorporation of a membership-based Community Development Corporation (CDC) called the East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization (EPA CAN DO). Community Development Corporations (CDCs) are not for profit, community-based organizations focused on revitalizing typically economically weak communities by developing affordable housing. They have also been known to get involved in other areas such as economic development. Previous Executive Directors Robert Jones-1997-2018 Leonard Randolph 1995-1997 Ken Jones Zalika Sykes -1995
TRANSITIONS
Robert Jones
Honored and celebrated by the East Palo Alto City Council
R
obert Jones, who retired from EPACANDO (the East Palo Alto Community and Neighborhood Development Organization) in November last year, was honored and celebrated by the East Palo Alto City Council at its meeting April 2. In an emotionally charged council meeting that saw Mr. Jones pause for minutes to avoid shedding tears, council members paid tribute to his unwavering leadership in the areas of housing affordability, financial literacy and economic development. Vice Mayor Wallace-Jones lauded him as “one of the great leaders in our community.” Council member Moody applauded him for being “an unwavering mentor for him personally as a leader.” Council member Romero spotlighted his more than 30 years of uninterrupted service to East Palo Alto noting that he was one of the founding members of EPACANDO, having been present at the organization’s first meeting in 1987. East Palo Alto’s Mayor Lisa Gauthier thanked him for making “East Palo Alto a better community today” because of the work he has done. The former Arkansian who overcame the debilitating impacts of segregation and Jim Crow laws, moved with his mother and a sister to California in 1962 as a teenager, eventually graduating from San Jose State University with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a master’s degree in counselor education. He is the son of John and Odessa Jones and a brother to nine other siblings, six girls and three boys.
Robert Jones, in addition to being present at the founding of the agency, served on its first board of directors assembled in 1990. He was the fourth Executive Director of the organization with the longest continued service. “He served through periods when the agency could not even pay him,” a fact noted by William Webster, one of the
founders of the organization and echoed by Angah Miessi, the current President of the EPACANDO board of directors.
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TRANSITIONS
School District Appoints Long Term School District Employee As Interim Superintendent
G
ina Sudaria is the Interim Superintendent for the Ravenswood City School District. She will serve in that position until June 30.t Cynthia Chin, principal of Willow Oaks School, is filling in for her as the Director of Student Services. Addressing the board following her appointment, Ms. Sudaria promised that she “would continue to build leadership capacity both amongst certificated and classified personnel to ensure staff is prepared to courageously lead, encourage and transform our instructional programs and schools.” She noted that, “Some staff with ideas that could benefit the District have felt held back,” and promised “to let those good ideas be manifest.” Ms. Sudaria was appointed following the board’s decision to accept Gloria Hernandez-Goff’s resignation effective March 31. Earlier, on February 26, Superintendent Hernandez-Goff was placed on administrative leave, but with the forced-resignation on March 19 of Superintendent Hernandez-Goff, she was made the acting superintendent and briefly served as Superintendent while retaining her responsibilities as the Director of Student Services. Ms. Sudaria has been with the Ravenswood City School District for approximately 21 years. She began her teaching career at Belle Haven School where she taught for six years before becoming the vice-principal at Costaño School. In 2008, she was promoted to Principal, a position she served in for eight years, orchestrating the merger of the 49er Academy and Costaño School. In July 2016, she became the Director MAY 2018 RAVENSWOOD 20 APRIL 2019ELEL RAVENSWOOD
of Human Resources, a position she held until she became the Director of Students Services in August 2018. Gina Sudaria grew up in Orange County in Southern California. She has one sibling, a younger sister. She went to schools in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa and following high school graduation, she attended Stanford University attaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She volunteer-tutored students from the District while a student and started teaching the summer of her graduation from Stanford and has never looked back since. “I was teaching while going to learn how to teach at the same time, “she told El Ravenswood recently. She attended National Hispanic University to attain her teaching credentials. In school she was involved in track and field, basketball and Olympic weightlifting and, from that experience, she has continued to appreciate the value of mentors particularly coaches and teachers in the development and growth of youth as well as the professional development of teachers. Addressing the board at its March 14 meeting, she promised to diligently ensure that the District moved forward while remaining student-centered with the recognition that it exists for the children and their success. She also promised to “ensure that the District remained fiscally solvent promising to have a transparent budget that is clear as to how fund allocations reflect what the District values and believes will make the greatest impact on student achievement and on their social emotional development.”
Ravenswood City School District 20 years 8 months April 2019- Present, Interim Superintendent, Ravenswood City School District August 2018- March 2019, Director of Students Services Ravenswood City School District July 2016- July 2018, Director of Human Resources, Ravenswood City School District August 2008- June 2016, Principal, Costaño School, Ravenswood City School District August 2004-July 2008, Vice Principal, Costaño School, Ravenswood City School District August 1998-July 2004, Teacher, Belle Haven School, Ravenswood City School District Bachelor of Arts, Psychology 1994-1998-Stanford University Master of Science, Educational Leadership and Administration 2004-2006
TRANSITIONS
Youth United For Community Action (Yuca) Has A New Director
O
felia Bello is the new Executive Director of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA) fulfilling a long-held desire to be working in East Palo Alto and in an area that would make ‘a positive difference.’ She started her work in February. YUCA is a quarter century old grassroots community organization that seeks to empower local youth to transform their communities working on environmental and social justice issues through community organizing. Ofelia grew up in East Palo Alto, attending local schools: Edison Brentwood, Edison Ronald McNair and Eastside College Preparatory. After Eastside she attended University of California at Santa Barbara, graduating with a BA in Sociology, Sociocultural Linguistics and U.S. History. She subsequently attended University of San Francisco attaining an MA in Urban and Public Affairs. “I enjoyed attending schools in the Ravenswood City School District,” she said recently, “the experience was fun, homely and comforting and the teachers were most helpful.” Ofelia attributes her success to the teachers who believed in her and who, particularly in middle school, went out of their way to give her more challenging materials and tasks and convincing her not to give up every time she felt discouraged. “I enjoyed playing soccer and basketball and particularly enjoyed the cultural diversity of the community,” she added.
The choice to attend Eastside Prep was not hers. “I did not even know the school was literally across the street from Ronald McNair. To me, it was just these big buildings with their back turned to the street. My teacher encouraged me to apply and I was accepted.” “Eastside was a world of its own and although I liked its mission and its academic rigors, I felt separated from the community, particularly because my friends from public school were out of school way before 5 p.m. when Eastside let us out.” “I also felt that although the school was in East Palo Alto, little if anything was taught about the community’s
history. Student learned nothing about East Palo Alto’s incorporation movements or the struggles the community has had over the education of its youth with initiatives such as Nairobi Day School and Nairobi College.” “I however appreciated and took advantage of the community service opportunities and tutored children at Girls to Women and my old school, Edison Brentwood.” “For college, I chose to go to UC Santa Barbara which turned out to be an extreme culture shock for me. For the very first time in my life, I was in a predominantly white environment with students comfortable in that
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TRANSITIONS
environment. I was the first generation in my family to go to college with no models to emulate or consult.” “I was reminded of an event I was involved in when, as students in Brentwood, our teachers developed a pen-pal program with a school in neighboring Palo Alto. After communicating for a while with our pen pals, a trip was arranged for our entire class, to Rinconanda Park in Palo Alto to finally meet our pals.” “I have never felt so foreign! The kids from Palo Alto felt so alien. They dressed and spoke differently and were less diverse and we all felt very awkward.” At UC Santa Barbara, Ofelia became politicized, making a personal commitment to use her education to improve the well-being of her East Palo Alto community. “I was dead set to coming back home and delved into studies around Chicano, Black, LGBTQ, inequity and community development issues.” Graduating from UC Santa Barbara, she decided to pursue further studies attending the University of San Francisco’s master’s program in Urban 22 APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD
Affairs. She focused her studies on East Palo Alto and was amazed at what she did not know about the city’s history and the initiatives the community has undertaken to address problems besetting it such as inequity, housing and economic development. “I was inspired, happy and angry at the same time reviewing this history but it reaffirmed even more my desire to work in East Palo Alto. My parents still live in East Palo Alto as renters and I have stayed worried as to what would happen to them should the forces currently working to transform East Palo Alto end up forcing them to move.” Both of her parents are immigrants from southwest Mexico. They came to the country in the late eighties, initially landing in San Jose penniless and with no place to live. “My parents were houseless for a few months working odd jobs and living out of their car until they were able to save enough money to rent a small garage in East Palo Alto.” “My family still rents a home in East Palo Alto and I live fearful that we may have to move because of the constant escalation of rents.” Before joining YUCA she worked at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission/Association of Bay Area Governments (MTC/ABAG) as a Housing Planner with the agency’s regional housing planning team. She hopes to build upon the work that YUCA has done with youth and the community for the last 25 years as well as the wonderful work that so many community activists, private and public agencies, elected and appointed public officials have done to address issues of housing, education, economic development, equity and general community advancement.
Ofelia Bello 2019 Appointed Executive Director of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA) 2017-18 Works at the Association for Bay Area Governments/Metropolitan Transportation Commission 2016-17 Interns with the Association for Bay Area Governments 2016-17 Studies at the University of San Francisco Master’s Program in Urban Planning. 2011-2015 Attends the University of California Santa Barbara undergraduate studies in BA in Sociology, Sociocultural Linguistics and U.S. History. 2008-2011 Studies at Eastside College Preparatory School, East Palo Alto 2004-2008 Attends Edison Ronald McNair Academy, East Palo Alto 1999-2004 Attends Edison-Brentwood Academy, East Palo Alto Prior YUCA Executive Directors 2015-2019 Tameeka Bennett. Previously Co-Program Director of the High Learning Program 2011-2015 2008-2015 Isabel Loya 17+ years of experience with YUCA. Initially joined the organization as a client at age 14 in the Higher Learning Program. At age 24, she took over as Executive Director.
COMMUNITY
Youth United For Community Action (YUCA) Established: 1994 | Address: 2135 Clarke Avenue, East Palo Alto, CA 94303 | Telephone: 650-322-9165
Y
UCA’s mission is to empower youth through the provision of opportunities for them to work on environmental and social justice issues and to establish positive systemic change through grassroots community organizing. Founding Story According the the YUCA website, YUCA came into existence in the spring of 1994 when a small group of youth of color active in their communities came together to form the organization. That May, so the story goes, YUCA kicked off its first activity, the FIRE program. The program placed young people in internships with communitybased organizations working for environmental & social justice in the Bay Area. Three years later, in response to the rising number of high school aged youth participating in the FIRE Program, YUCA participants came together to develop a program by and for high school aged youth called Higher Learning. It was and still is the goal of Higher Learning to create a safe space where high school youth can come together to critically examine and act on issues that impact their communities. Currently, its work involves leadership development, community organizing and coalition building.
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS
Closure of Romic Environmental Technologies. Shut down Romic, a hazardous waste toxic plant in the community of East Palo Alto! After 11 years of continuous pressure on regulatory agencies and the company for accountability, YUCA and community members forced the Department of Toxic Substances Control to issue a shutdown order of Romic after a series of workplace and safety violations that threatened community and workers. Increased local control over hazardous waste facilities through the passage of an ordinance requiring formal city council approval of any hazardous waste use in the City of East Palo Alto. Battle Page Mill Properties supporting tenants and probably forcing the company into bankruptcy. Successfully passed the roll backs of rents for tenants who had been unfairly increased by Page Mill Properties. In 2014 We won the passing of a Tenant Protection Ordinance, the first ordinance of its kind in the entire Bay Area Region. Revisions to the Rent Stabilization and Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance (measure J), in conjunction with Tenants for an Affordable EPA. (2016) Won $20 million in Affordable Housing Funds while creating a vanguard in Partnerships between Facebook and the EPA Community! (2016) Successfully passed the East Palo Alto Neighborhood Safety & Vitality City Service Measure (measure P), in conjunction with Tenants for an Affordable EPA. (2016) Successfully passed Revisions to the Rent Stabilization and Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance (measure J), in conjunction with Tenants for an Affordable EPA. (2016)
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TRANSITIONS
A
ndrew Hartwell, one of the founders of Bayshore Christian Ministries and its former Executive Director, has rejoined the organization as its new Director of Ministries. He served as the agency’s executive director for 24 years, from 1984-2008. He also served on the boards of One East Palo Alto and Abundant Life Christian Fellowship. A lover of baseball, he coached both local T-Ball and Little League programs. Andrew Hartwell attended Stanford from 1979-1984, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, History. As a student, he was involved with Stanford Christian Fellowship and Stanford Committee on Hunger. As its Executive Director, he guided Bayshore Christian Ministries from a grassroots all-volunteer agency to a multiprogram organization with its own building and a sizable operating budget.
Starla JeromeRobinson, 64 Is The New City Manager Of The City Of Menlo Park She took the helm as interim city manager in October 2017 after former City Manager Alex McIntyre announced his departure for the city manager position in the city of Ventura. She worked previously in Menlo Park as its assistant city manager for seven years, a position from which she retired in July of 2015. She has previously worked in various other municipal government positions in communities in the Bay area, including: assistant city manager for the Town of Los Altos (1999-2008) and the finance director for the town of Atherton and the City of Milpitas. The new city manager is a longterm resident of Menlo Park having moved there in 1982.
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TRANSITIONS
Superintendent Goff Forced To Resign
S
uperintendent’s Goff resigned effective March 31st after 5.5 years as the head of the Ravenswood City School District. She was appointed on September 1, 2013 following the retirement of the previous Superintendent, Maria De La Vega the previous July. She was the third longest serving Superintendent in the last 37 years. Dr. Charlie Mae Knight who was later elected to the Board of Trustees had served the longest with 17.3 years. Maria Meza- De La Vega served for 6.8 years. Maria Meza De La Vega served as Charlie Mae Knight’s deputy before being appointed as the head of the District. In the last 37 years, the District has had 9 superintendents 3 acting superintendents, and 2 interim superintendents a clear illustration of the troubled leadership history of the School District. The median tenure for a superintendent in that period is 1.5 years with the board always seeming
Maria Meza De La Vega the second longest serving Superintendent.
Gloria Hernandez-Goff
Charlie Mae Kinght the longest serving Superintendent in the last forty years.
to doubt the capability of their chief executive by dispatching them early through forced resignations or by engaging additional administrative support for the superintendent at significant additional cost. Sam Davis, who served as Superintendent from August 1980, first as an interim but eventually as Superintendent until April1982 was allegedly subjected to public competency hearings by the then board of trustees. Superintendent Charlie Mae Knight was put on administrative leave following the election of a new board majority in 2002 comprised of Todd Gaviglio, Adam Mitchell and Marcelino Lopez, The three were part of a group committed to reforming the District elected after a community group, Coalition for Quality Education Now (CQUEN) rallied to prevent the state from taking over the District. Now councilmember Ruben Abrica, was one
of the trustees swept out of office. LaDawn Law was hired as Dr Knight’s replacement but soon was forced to resign because the board did not see eye to eye with her over staff and other changes, she was making according to local newspaper reports. Maria De La Vega was shadowed and supported for 18 months by Paul Perotti, a retired superintendent of the Santa Clara Unified School District and a lecturer on educational leadership at San Jose State University. He had served as a superintendent for over ten years with the Santa Clara District. For Gloria Hernandez-Goff the school district hired Maurice Ghysels, former Superintendent of the Menlo Park City School District as the Chief Innovations Officer to assist in the launching the Ravenswood Middle School at the cost of $180,000, all donated. Former board trustee Todd Gaviglio subsequently became a popular principal of Belle Haven School but
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TRANSITIONS worked there for almost three decades. He has submitted a formal complaint to the board and has presented his case publicly to the board at several meetings. He is seeking reinstatement to his old job. “I trained him in Human Resources and then I lost my job” he told El Ravenswood recently Despite the complaints against her, the board of trustees approved a twoyear renewal of her contract in February 2018 but with the November 2018 election of two new trustees supported by a Teachers Union who had previously asked the old board of trustees to fire the superintendent her tenure in the District was questionable. Despite her forced resignation, she still lasted longer than the average tenure of a superintendent in the District.
had run-ins with Superintendent Goff and was reassigned to a desk job in the administrative office. His treatment became one of the reasons used for having the Superintendent fired. Local media reported 200 parents keeping their children home in protest when he lost his principalship. In early 2018 Superintendent Hernandez-Goff faced accusations on nepotism following the revelation that her son, John Denos had been hired in the District. This hiring reportedly occured despite lay offs that were at the same time being implemented to help the District grapple with a pending 5-Million-dollar deficit. Jorge Prado, a close ally of Councilman Ruben Abrica was laid off but subsequently rehired as an Administrative Secretary at a lower pay rate. Mr. Prado is a longterm employee of the District having
Gloria Hernandez-Goff
2013: May 23 Hired as the Superintendent of the Ravenswood City School District. 2017: Teachers Association calls for her termination following the association’s vote of no confidence in her leadership. 2018: April 26 Board extends her contract from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020 2019: January Change.org petition circulates calling for her termination (287 signed) 2019: February 26, put on Administrative leave 2019: March 14, District board accepts Superintendent Hernandez-Goff’s resignation effective March 31st.
FOUR-DECADE HISTORY OF SUPERINTENDENTS IN THE RAVENSWOOD CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT Name of Superintendent
Date of Appointment
Title
Left
Yrs of Service
Sudaria, Gina
2/28/2019
Acting/Interim
Hernandez-Goff, Gloria
9/1/2013
Superintendant
3/31/2019
5.5
Meza-De La Vega, Maria
7/1/2005
Superintendant
7/1/2013
8.0
Law, LaDawn
6/1/2004
Superintendant
7/1/2005
1.1
Gonella, Floyd
1/1/2003
Superintendent
6/1/2004
1.5
Mae-Knight, Charlie
10/10/1985
Superintendant
12/1/2002
17.3
Thomas, Othene
12/28/1984
Acting Superintendent
10/10/1985
0.8
Rybensky, William*
11/1/1983
Superintendant
12/28/1984
1.3
Le Blanc, Cynthia
8/31/1983
Acting Superintendent
11/1/1983
0.3
Beech, Emmet
10/8/1982
Superintendant
8/31/1983
0.8
Davis, Sam
9/26/1981
Superintendant
4/30/1982
0.6
Davis, Sam
8/31/1980
Interim Superintendent
9/26/1981
1.1
Seabrook, Luther
12/12/1977
Superintendant
10/31/1979
1.8
Price, Nelson
10/31/1976
Interim
12/12/1997
1.2
Hayman, Warren
Superintendant
10/31/1976
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COMMUNITY
How Many Firearms Are There In East Palo Alto And Menlo Park?
E
ast Palo Alto and Menlo Park may have as many as 35,861 and 41,393 firearms, respectively! This would be the conclusion, according to a study done by the Small Arms Survey, a project of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland whose main objective is to reduce the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons and their impacts. Their recent study concluded that there are 120.48 firearms for every 100 persons in the United States. The study does not make any distinction between children and adults and admits that figures are based on well though-out estimates particularly given the fact that most arms owned by civilians are illicit and not registered. According to their most recent survey, there are more than 1 billion firearms in the world, with the majority owned by ordinary people the likes of you and me. The survey estimates that 857 million (85 percent) are in civilian hands, 133 million (13 percent) in military arsenals and 23 million (2 percent) are owned by law enforcement agencies. The new study suggests that the global stockpile has increased over the past decade, largely due to civilian holdings, which grew from 650 million in 2006 to 857 million in 2017. The United States has the largest concentration of. With an estimated population of 326,483,234 in 2017, civilians in the United States had 393,347,000 firearms in their possession! The majority of which
(99.7percent) were, according the Small Arms Survey, unregistered! The extrapolation to East Palo Alto and Menlo Park may be an overstretch, but its results still raises the question as to how many guns are actually in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, a worrisome thought given the gun violence that has characterized the City of East Palo Alto’s not very distant past. United States Estimated Population (2017)
325,719,178
Estimate of firearms in civilian possession (2017)
393,347,000
Estimate of civilian firearms per 100 persons (2017)
120.48
Registered firearms (.3%)
1,073,743
Unregistered firearms (99.7%)
392,273,257
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28 APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD
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Apologies In the last issue, Greg Scharff, a candidate for the Mid-Peninsula Open Space Elections was mistakenly described as a two-term mayor of East Palo Alto. He was actually a two-term mayor of the City of Palo Alto. We apologize for the error.
APRIL 2019 EL RAVENSWOOD 29
PA Belle Haven Information Inc E P.O. Box 50849 East Palo Alto, CA 94303
Please Find El Ravenswood At These Choice Locations Want to be an El Ravenswood distribution location? Please contact El Ravenswood at info@eastpaloaltoinformation.com EAST PALO ALTO Above All Insurance, 907 Newbridge Street # B; | Boys and Girls Club-East Palo Alto, 2031 Pulgas Avenue; | Brentwood School, 2086 Clarke Avenue; | Cesar Chavez & Green Oaks, 2450 Ralmar Avenue; | Ravenswood Child Development Center, 952 O’Connor Street, | Community Development Department, 1960 Tate Street; | Costano School, 2695 Fordham Street; | County Services Building-Lobby; 2415 University Avenue; | East Palo Alto Academy, 1040 Myrtle Street; | East Palo Alto Charter School, 1286 Runnymede Street; | East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy, 1039 Garden Street; | East Palo Alto Police Department, 141 Demeter Avenue; | East Palo Alto Senior Center, 560 Bell Street; | East Palo Alto YMCA, 550 Bell Street; | Ecumenical Hunger Program, 2411 Pulgas Avenue; Gregory’s Enterprise & Barber Shop, 1895 E. Bayshore Road; | Jones Mortuary, 660 Donohoe Street; | Oakwood Market, 2106 Oakwood Drive; | Peninsula Park Apartments, 1977 Tate Street; | Rainier’s Service Station, 1905 E. Bayshore Road; | Ravenswood City School District, 2130 Euclid Avenue; Ravenswood Family Health Center, 1885 Bay Road; | Ronald McNair School, 2033 Pulgas Avenue; | San Mateo Credit Union, 1735 Bay Road; | St Francis of Assisi, 1425 Bay Road; | St Johns Baptist Church, 1050 Bay Road; | Stanford Community Law Clinics, 2117 University Avenue; | Starbucks-East Palo Alto, 1745 East Bayshore Road;
MENLO PARK Belle Haven Library, 415 Ivy Drive; | Belle Haven School, 415 Ivy Drive; | Esquire Barber Shop, 830 Newbridge street; | Job Train, 1200 O’Brien Drive; | Jonathan’s Fish & Chips, 840 Willow Road; | Markstyle Barber Shop, 828 Willow Road; | Menlo Park City Hall, 701 Laurel Street; | Menlo Park Senior Center, 100 Terminal Avenue; | Mt Olive AOH Church of God, 605 Hamilton Avenue; | Project Read-Menlo Park, 800 Alma Street; | Tony’s Pizza, 820 Willow Road; | Tutti Frutti, 888 Willow Road; Willow Cleaners, 824 Willow Road; | Willow Oaks School, 620 Willow Road