Letter to Editor: Resident Says Gabrielle Blackman, Dan Cherrier Are Qualified to Meet Needs of Dublin

Dear Editor:

First, I would like to thank each of the seven candidates for Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees for devoting their time and energy to seek public office. This demonstrates a strong commitment to our kids and to our community.

But that is not enough. We desperately need Trustees with the right skill set to enable effective strategic decision-making. The district has made some big strategic mistakes,which have had, and will continue to have, profound impacts on our finances and school overcrowding. These mistakes include relying on faulty demographic data that was off by 100 percent. Yes, 100 percent!

Specifically, the district operated under the assumption that Dublin High School would never exceed its capacity of 2500 students until less than a year ago when, after years of the community questioning this assumption, the district admitted that the population at Dublin High School would explode to 5000 students over the next ten years.

Additionally, the District understated developer impact fees for years and only realized this mistake when a member of the community pinpointed the error and proposed specific solutions to them in a formal letter on November 1, 2015. As a direct result, the District was able to increase developer fees by approximately 50 percent.

Other mistakes involve a flawed project bidding process and architectural design issues which lead to significantly higher school development costs than originally anticipated. Also, the District has used long-term bond money to buy short-term assets such as personal computers. As a result, we will be paying for these obsolete assets for decades.

All of this severely impairs our financial condition and has led to authorized debt of almost $1.2 billion, which is enormous as compared to our debt capacity and neighboring districts. We have great teachers, engaged parents, and successful students. We need Trustees that have a strategic mindset and the financial acumen and technical skills to lead us going forward.

Gabrielle Blackman, who is seeking one of three seats for the four-year term, and Dan Cherrier, who is seeking the two year term seat, are uniquely qualified to meet our needs. They have the ability to anticipate problems before they arise, the intellect to solve those problems, and the willingness to work collaboratively with other Trustees and the District to develop solutions that are best for our kids, our property values, and Dublin.

Please vote Gabrielle Blackman and Dan Cherrier for Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees.

Chris Page, Dublin resident