Tag Archives: Benicia Unified School District

Benicia Mayor and Solano County Public Health Officer disagree whether teachers should get vaccine sooner

Benicia mayor asks Solano supervisors to move teachers to front of vaccination line

Fairfield Daily Republic, By Todd R. Hansen, February 10, 2021
Benicia Mayor Steve Young

Benicia Mayor Steve Young asked the Solano County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to move teachers to the front of the vaccination line so schools can open quickly and safely.

“And the key, as I see it, and absolutely to do that, is being able to vaccinate each teacher and member of the (schools’) staff,” Young said.

Educators are scheduled as part of the first tier of Phase 1B, the same as residents who are 65 to 74, agriculture workers, as well as child care and adult care workers.

The county is currently working through the groups in the final tier of Phase 1A.

Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said the next group of seniors need to be the top priority since 80% of the county’s Covid-related deaths are residents who are 65 or older.

“So if we want to make a dent in our fatalities, we have to focus on (residents) 65 and older,” Matyas said in a phone interview after the board meeting. He was not part of the meeting agenda.

Matyas said he was aware of the pressure being applied to get teachers vaccinated more quickly, but does not agree that politicizing the issue is the best way to make health decisions.

Young’s comments came during the public comment period of the board meeting, during which Michele Guerra also called on the board to open the schools.

She said students, especially those who are deaf or hard of hearing, need to be back in the classrooms.

“Students are struggling with all this technology,” she said. “We need to get these schools open. Many of these students are falling behind.”

The board heard a similar message early in the pandemic from Superintendent of Schools Lisette Estrella-Henderson.

She told the board she was concerned with the potential effects of having schools closed on students with disabilities because of the reliance on distance learning and technology.

The schools closed to in-class instruction at the start of the pandemic in March. The vast majority remain closed, with children and teens receiving instruction online from their teachers….

ANALYSIS: School reopening becomes the new partisan wedge issue

See also this local perspective on reopening schools: Benicia Black Lives Matter letter opposes School Board recall effort

CNN POLITICS: What Matters

CNN, by Zachary B. Wolf, February 5, 2021

(CNN) The debate over when and how and whether to put American kids back in school is taking on a predictably partisan tinge in Washington, with Republicans targeting teachers’ unions and Democrats over perceived resistance to reopening.

But it’s more complicated than that. The fight over schools slices through red and blue America.

In San Francisco, for instance, despite a waning but still serious outbreak, the city, led by Mayor London Breed, has sued the school district for not having a fully developed plan to get kids back in the classroom. The city attorney said San Francisco kids are being turned into “Zoom-bies.” Breed, who was among the first US mayors to impose strict Covid lockdowns in 2020, wants to know when the kids will be back in schools. She said the nearly full year out of school is hurting communities of color and driving inequality.

In Chicago, the mayor and school board are locked in a standoff with the teachers’ union. “We need our kids back in school. We need our parents to have that option,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday. “It cannot be so that a public school system denies parents that right.”

Unions representing teachers who have avoided physically returning to school buildings want vaccines and more safety measures. Parents are getting louder, organizing on social media and running grassroots campaigns to open school doors in the portions of the country where they remain shut. School districts, which are mostly controlled at the local level, keep delaying and punting.

This is a worldwide debate. There’s no consensus in Europe, either.

So which is the party of opening schools?

Democrats, without Republican help so far, are pushing a massive Covid relief package that would give new money to schools and Biden has made opening the majority of schools a key benchmark of his aggressive 100-day plan.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, said money isn’t the issue and slammed teachers’ unions, which he said “donate huge sums to Democrats and get a stranglehold over education in many communities.” Read this from CNN’s Dan Merica, Alex Rogers and Gregory Krieg on the new partisan wedge issue.

Republican governors in Ohio and Maryland are ramping up teacher vaccinations and setting early spring deadlines to get teachers and staff vaccinated in anticipation of reopening schools. In West Virginia, Republican Gov. Jim Justice said all teachers and staff who wanted a first dose have gotten it.

About half of states are prioritizing teachers, according to The New York Times. But it’s notable that some of the states with the worst outbreaks, like Texas, have both ordered schools to open and not prioritized teachers to get vaccines.

The tension between present danger and future risk

For the teacher side of things, read this CNN report about the hundreds of American educators who have been among the hundreds of thousands of American Covid deaths. For the student side of things, look at the recent studies suggesting schools that comply with safety guidance are not the cause of Covid spread.

Schools aren’t just not opening, they’re still closing. In Montgomery, Alabama, the school district closed this week until school staff can all get vaccinated after a string of teacher deaths from Covid.

But new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday vaccines might not be necessary to safely reopen. “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely,” she told reporters. “Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools.”

That’s not official guidance, cautioned White House press secretary Jen Psaki. When asked about the comments, Psaki said she’d like to see that officially put out by CDC. “Certainly ensuring teachers are vaccinated, prioritizing teachers, is important to the President,” she said.

Re-opening schools won’t immediately fix the problems caused by a year out of them. In Chicago, where the city’s liberal mayor is at war with the city’s teachers’ union, data released by district about who will actually come back when schools open suggests it’s the White kids who will return, while the Black and Brown kids stay home.

Read this from the Chicago Tribune:
> When CPS offered the choice to return to schools to families in the first two waves, 67% of white students opted in, followed by 55% of multiracial students, 34% of Black students, 33% of Asian students and 31% of Latino students. Students with special education plans opted in at a lower-than-average rate, 36%, as did economically disadvantaged students, 32%.

The New York Times points out more White kids have returned to school in New York than Black kids and tries to explain mistrust of the system in communities that have already been frustrated by institutional racism in school facilities, funding and curriculum.

Mistrust of schools and mistrust of vaccines

There’s a frustrating similarity that should be explored in that the same Black and Brown communities that have been slow to adopt the Covid vaccine have been slow to return to school when given the opportunity.

Everyone’s doing things differently. In Virginia, the state Department of Education tracks what each district is doing, and the state map is a color-coded patchwork of open, virtual and hybrid.

Biden’s nominee for education secretary, Miguel Cardona — who was recently in charge of Connecticut’s education system — was asked at his confirmation hearing Wednesday if kids should be tested in this weird year, and whether the federal government will still give districts who don’t test students the federal money that is normally tied to it.

Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, asked the question in a simple way, according to the Washington Post: “Do you feel like the states should incorporate standardized testing this year given the circumstances of the pandemic?”

Cardona gave a very complicated answer. “I feel they should have an opportunity to weigh in on how they plan on implementing it and [on] the accountability issues, and whether or not they should be tied into any accountability measures as well,” he said.

That’s a definite maybe on the testing question, which is better than the “I don’t know” a lot of parents hear from local districts who won’t set timelines to return.

Benicia School Board Trustee Ferrucci: ‘I do not believe a recall vote is in the best interest of our community.’

By Roger Straw, February 3, 2021

Ferrucci criticizes negativity on social media and distances herself from the recall effort organized by a family member of the same last name.

Diane Ferrucci, BUSD Trustee

On February 1, I wrote here on the Benicia Independent, “As of yesterday and as far as I can determine, past president Ferrucci has not come out to say that the recall is misguided.  Nor has she called on her daughter-in-law to stop the effort, but has stood back and let the recall unfold.  Power play?  (Stay tuned – if I hear otherwise, I’ll correct it here.)

I wish to correct my statement here today.

Today, February 3, on her Facebook page, Trustee Ferrucci took a public position criticizing speculation on social media as to her involvement, and clarifying her opposition to the recall campaign.

As a resident in this community for 40 years and an educator for almost 50 years, I am appalled at the negativity on social media.

It has come to my attention that some may believe that the recall campaign focused on two school board members is my doing. This assumption could not be further from the truth.

Simply because I share a last name with a parent involved in the recall process does not mean that I am involved in or endorse this approach. I do not believe a recall vote is in the best interest of our community. I am truly sorry that this is happening to anyone.

Ferrucci’s criticism of “negativity on social media” could refer to my having posted my February 1 opinion on Benicia Nextdoor, and multiple posts by other concerned Benicia parents and residents.

I welcome  Ferrucci’s opposition to a misguided and expensive effort to unseat two respected members of Benicia’s School Board.  It would be great if all five of the current Trustees could issue a joint statement of opposition.

Meanwhile everyone: DON’T SIGN THE RECALL PETITION!


Here is the full text of Ferrucci’s Feb. 3 statement:

As a resident in this community for 40 years and an educator for almost 50 years, I am appalled at the negativity on social media.

It has come to my attention that some may believe that the recall campaign focused on two school board members is my doing. This assumption could not be further from the truth.

Simply because I share a last name with a parent involved in the recall process does not mean that I am involved in or endorse this approach. I do not believe a recall vote is in the best interest of our community. I am truly sorry that this is happening to anyone.

I do find it contradictory to the democratic ideals of our country that some people feel I should use my family connection to stop any parent from lawfully expressing their opinions about school issues. As an elected official, I believe every voice deserves to be heard and when being board president was my role, I made it my practice to review and respond to the comments of each member of our constituency to the best of my ability even when the author did not agree with me.

The idea that I would spur this recall campaign for political gain is also a falsehood. Each trustee represents a specific geographic area of the city. Recalling one member of the Board means that another person from that area would need to be appointed or elected to the seat.

The Board is structured to allow for growth by moving through different leadership and committee positions including clerk and president. I have served my term per our bylaws in these positions with integrity and see the wisdom in having other Board members step up, learn and serve in these roles.

As one parent recently wrote to us, “Board members have a responsibility to the students, their families, the teachers, and the staff.” Like her, I believe that we are responsible to all of our constituents, and I would hope that members of the community and my colleagues on the Board, would agree that all of our constituents deserve to have their opinions recognized and fairly addressed. While some may write more eloquently than others, in the end, we are all working toward what we believe is best for our students. We, as Board members, however, must weigh and balance all of the community concerns with the needs of our students, the state and federal guidance, and the goals of the district to make decisions that lead BUSD forward.

To fail to recognize any of these voices only creates further discord in these already difficult times.

We must work together keep what’s best for the success of our students in the forefront.

Since this is my personal statement, I would appreciate no comments.

Don’t sign the Benicia recall petition!

By Roger Straw, February 1, 2021  [Contact your School officials: below.]

Everyone wants to get Benicia kids and teachers SAFELY back in school, but the recall looks more like a political power play to me

A group is circulating a petition in Benicia to oust two of our School Board Trustees.

The petition strangely singles out two of our BUSD Trustees because they – along with every other board member – would not vote to return immediately to in-person learning of students in classrooms.

In January 2021, the board voted unanimously 5-0 to postpone the return to in-person instruction to the 4th quarter of this school year.  This was due to a complex variety of factors, including most importantly health expert advice, but also State and County regulations and State executive orders.  The whole Board approved.

But now we are being asked to sign a petition for a selective recall of two of those Trustees.  One wonders why.

A recall election would cost the Benicia School District approximately $300,000, enough reason alone NOT to sign their petition.  Not to mention that by the time the special recall election is held, our kids and teachers are likely to already be back in school.

And also consider this: the petition is being circulated and promoted by the daughter-in-law of BUSD School Board member Diane Ferrucci.  Ferrucci was past president of the Board, and was replaced as Board president in December by Sheri Zada, one of the two targeted in the recall effort.

As of yesterday and as far as I can determine, past president Ferrucci has not come out to say that the recall is misguided.  Nor has she called on her daughter-in-law to stop the effort, but has stood back and let the recall unfold.  Power play?  (Stay tuned – if I hear otherwise, I’ll correct it here.  See my Feb. 3 correction here.)

Along with Zada, the petitioners want to unseat Mark Maselli, which if successful would empower a new majority on the Board and give Ferrucci and the remaining Board members (who ALL voted with the 5-0 decision) solid control on a wide range of policy matters affecting our children and teachers.

Zada and Maselli (along with Board member Gethsemane Moss) were endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of Benicia for election to the Board in 2018.  The Benicia Independent stands behind all three, and strongly opposes the removal of Zada and Maselli.

No one with a brain and heart wants our kids and teachers to go back to school before it’s safe.  And anyone with an ear to the ground has to wonder about the seeming political manipulation of this recall effort.  If you are asked to sign the petition, please DON’T SIGN!


Contact your Benicia School Superintendent and Board Trustees:

Superintendent Charles Young

Email: cyoung@beniciaunified.org
Phone: (707) 747-8300 x1211

Executive Secretary Georgina Martinez

Email: gmartinez@beniciaunified.org
Phone: (707) 747-8300 x1211

BUSD Trustees

Sheri Zada

President, Area 1 – Term Ends 2022
Email: szada@beniciaunified.org
Phone: (707) 747-8300 x1211

Mark Maselli

Trustee, Area 4 – Term Ends 2022
Email: mmaselli@beniciaunified.org
Phone: (707) 747-8300 x1211

Cece Grubbs

Trustee, Area 2 – Term Ends 2024
Email: cgrubbs@beniciaunified.org
Phone: (707) 747-8300 x1211

Diane Ferrucci

Trustee, Area 5 – Term ends 2022
Email: dferrucci@beniciaunified.orgPhone:  (707) 747-8300 ext 1211

Gethsemane Moss

Clerk, Area 3 – Term Ends 2024
Email: gmoss@beniciaunified.org
Phone: (707) 747-8300 ext 1211