Antioch Unified School District elections (2014)

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2014 Antioch Unified School District Elections
General Election date:
November 4, 2014
Table of Contents
About the district Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links
See also
California Antioch Unified School District Contra Costa County, California ballot measures Local ballot measures, California

Two seats on the Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees were up for general election on November 4, 2014. Two at-large incumbents, Joy Motts and Gary Hack, were up for re-election. They ran against challengers Walter Ruehlig and Debra Vinson.

Ruehlig and Vinson, the two challengers, defeated incumbents Motts and Hack in the general election on November 4, 2014.

This election was held amidst a debate in the school district. Teachers and the school district administration were waging a court battle over the fate of the Dozier-Libbey Medical High School. A large majority of the school's teachers supported its conversion to an independent charter school, but the school district's administrators wanted to keep the school within the district's oversight. The debate ended with Dozier-Libbey teachers agreeing to end their efforts to convert the school to an independent charter.

About the district

See also: Antioch Unified School District, California

Antioch Unified School District is located in Contra Costa County, California.

Antioch Unified School District is located in Contra Costa County, California. The county seat of Contra Costa County is Martinez. Contra Costa County was home to 1,094,205 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau. In the 2011-2012 school year, Antioch Unified School District was the 86th-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 18,877 students.

Demographics

Contra Costa County outperformed the rest of California in terms of education achievement in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 38.6 percent of Contra Costa County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 30.5 percent for California as a whole. The median household income for Contra Costa County was $78,187 compared to $61,400 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level for Contra Costa County was 10.2 percent compared to 15.3 percent statewide.

Racial Demographics, 2013
Race	Contra Costa County (%)	California (%)
White	67.9	73.5
Black or African American	9.6	6.6
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.0	1.7
Asian	15.9	14.1
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0.6	0.5
Two or more races	5.0	3.7
Hispanic or Latino	24.9	38.4

Presidential Voting Pattern, Contra Costa County
Year	Democratic Vote	Republican Vote
2012	290,824	136,517
2008	306,983	136,436
2004	257,254	150,608
2000	224,338	141,373

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Voter and candidate information

The Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees consists of five members elected at-large to four-year terms. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 4, 2014. Two seats were up for election in 2014, and three seats will be up for election in 2016.

School board candidates had to file with their county elections department during the candidate filing period. The filing period began July 14, 2014, and ended August 8, 2014. To vote in the 2014 general election, voters had to register by October 20, 2014. Voters could request vote-by-mail ballots from October 6, 2014, through October 28, 2014.

Elections

2014

Candidates

At-large

• Gary Hack
  • Incumbent
  • Retired educator, Antioch Unified School District
• Joy Motts
  • Incumbent
  • Senior mortgage consultant, Delta Lending Group
• Walter Ruehlig
  • Director of special programs, Pittsburg Adult Education Center
  • Former trustee, Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees
• Debra Vinson
  • Educator
  • Counselor
  • Clinician

Election results

Antioch Unified School District,
At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Walter Ruehlig	29.9%	8,095
	Nonpartisan	Debra Vinson	28.6%	7,737
	Nonpartisan	Joy Motts Incumbent	21%	5,692
	Nonpartisan	Gary Hack Incumbent	19.9%	5,385
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.5%	138
Total Votes				27,047
Source: Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters, "Final Official Results - Election Night Final: November 4, 2014 General Election," accessed December 19, 2014

Endorsements

The Contra Costa Central Labor Council and the California Labor Federation endorsed Gary Hack and Joy Motts. The Democratic Party of Contra Costa County and the community organization Evolve endorsed Motts and Debra Vinson.

Motts also received endorsements from the Antioch Education Association, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Assemblyman Jim Frazier (D), Congressman Jerry McNerney (D), Mayor ProTem Mary Rocha and former mayor Don Freitas.

Vinson also received endorsements from the United Professional Firefighters of Contra Costa County, the East County Democrats for Action, California State Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D), mayor of Antioch, California Wade Harper, mayor of Pittsburg, California Sal Evola and Orinda School Board member Sarah Butler.

Campaign finance

Candidates had to file contribution reports within 24 hours of receiving an aggregate total of $1,000 or more from a single source. The first scheduled pre-election report filing deadline was October 6, 2014. If candidates raised or spent less than $1,000 during the 2013 and 2014 calendar years, they had to file Form 470 at that time. If candidates raised or spent more during that time, they had to file Form 460 by the pre-election report filing deadline.

Candidates required to file Form 460 also had to file a second pre-election report on October 23, 2014, and they had to file termination reports by December 31, 2014. If a termination report was not filed, candidates had to file a semi-annual report by February 2, 2015.

Reports

As of the most recent reports available through the Contra Costa County Elections Division as of November 3, 2014, candidates received a total of $10,834.00 in contributions and spent a total of $5,196.00 in expenditures. Incumbent Gary Hack and challenger Walter Ruehlig filed Form 470 to indicate they did not intend to raise or spend more than $1,000 for their 2014 campaigns. Because of this, they did not have to file any additional campaign finance reports.

Candidate	Existing balance	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Gary Hack	N/A	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Joy Motts	$1,883.79	$9,614.00	$4,035.20	$7,462.59
Walter Ruehlig	N/A	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Debra Vinson	N/A	$1,220.00	$1,160.80	$59.20

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2012 Antioch Unified School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Barbara J. Cowan 19.6% 13,933      Nonpartisan Diane Gibson-Gray Incumbent 15.6% 11,043      Nonpartisan Claire Renee Smith Incumbent 12.9% 9,167      Nonpartisan Linda M. Anderson 9.9% 7,043      Nonpartisan Synitha R. Walker 7.1% 5,005      Nonpartisan Debra Vinson 11.1% 7,860      Nonpartisan Zandra Raphael 4.7% 3,358      Nonpartisan Jack (John) Yeager 10.8% 7,654      Nonpartisan Randy Benevides 8% 5,667      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 188 Total Votes 70,918 Source: Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters, "Past Election Results: November 6, 2012 General Election," accessed July 14, 2014 2010 Antioch Unified School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Gary Hack 18.3% 6,853      Nonpartisan Joy Motts 17.4% 6,525      Nonpartisan John (Jack) Yeager 16.7% 6,273      Nonpartisan Teri Lynn Shaw Incumbent 12.6% 4,733      Nonpartisan Debra Vinson 10.7% 4,011      Nonpartisan David W. Pfeiffer 9.3% 3,487      Nonpartisan Angel G. Luevano 7.5% 2,799      Nonpartisan Vincent Manuel 7.2% 2,688      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.4% 153 Total Votes 37,522 Source: Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters, "Past Election Results: November 2, 2010 General Election," accessed September 15, 2014 2008 Antioch Unified School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2008 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Walter Ruehlig Incumbent 31.7% 19,113      Nonpartisan Claire Smith Incumbent 22.6% 13,637      Nonpartisan Diane Gibson-Gray 22.4% 13,528      Nonpartisan Kristy Lou Nielsen 13.9% 8,403      Nonpartisan Sean Kyle Wright 9% 5,426      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.4% 233 Total Votes 60,340 Source: Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters, "Past Election Results: November 4, 2008 General Election," accessed September 15, 2014

What was at stake?

Issues in the district

Charter status for Dozier-Libbey Medical High School

A debate in the Antioch Unified School District over converting the Dozier-Libbey Medical High School to a charter school left teachers waging a court battle with the school district administration. Dozier-Libbey Medical High School teachers supported converting the school into an independent charter school, which would have been run completely separately from the district. Though the district administration had also supported plans to convert Dozier-Libbey to a charter school, they wanted it to be a dependent charter, still within the district's oversight.

In February 2014, Dozier-Libbey Medical High School teachers submitted a petition to the district to convert the school into a conversion charter school independent of the district. This would have allowed the school to receive funding directly from the state, be run by its own board and executive director, develop its own budget and hire its own teachers. The petition was signed by 23 of the 26 teachers at the school, who claimed actions and policies of the district had watered-down the school's programs.

Upon receiving the teachers' petition, the district filed its own petition to convert the school into a dependent charter school that would be included in the district's parameters. The district's board of education then denied the teachers' petition and approved the district-submitted petition. With approval granted, the district moved to convert the Dozier-Libbey Medical High School to a dependent charter school and gave the school's teachers the choice to stay at the charter, get transferred to a different school or resign. This included transferring Nancie Castro, Dozier-Libbey's principal, to a teaching position in a different school in the district and replacing her with Scott Bergerhouse. Castro instead found an administrative position outside of the Antioch Unified School District. The district also contacted students and parents to let them know they would have to enroll in the dependent charter school in order to continue attending the school the following year. In response to these actions, the teachers of the Dozier-Libbey Medical High School filed a Writ of Mandate and Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief with the Superior Court of Contra Costa County, seeking to stop the district from converting the school. The superior court halted the district's conversion of the school pending resolution of the teachers' appeal to the Contra Costa County Board of Education.

After hearing dozens speak both for and against the Dozier-Libbey Medical High School charter school status, the county board of education also denied the teachers' petition, claiming the petition did not adequately address special education, English-language learners or the school's budget. A state appellate court then upheld the superior court's decision to halt the district from converting the school, keeping the school's status unchanged for the 2014-2015 school year. The earliest any changes could have been incorporated would have been the 2015-2016 school year, pending further appeals. The teachers next filed a petition with the California State Board of Education at the end of July 2014, aiming to reverse the county board's denial. Prior to submitting the new petition, teachers had met with district officials to work out any differences and did not mention pursuing further appeal. The district claimed the meetings were positive, but teachers said they felt the district was insincere and not willing to compromise.

The two groups did eventually come to an understanding, with Dozier-Libbey teachers agreeing to end their efforts to convert the school to an independent charter. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by both the Antioch Unified School District and the Antioch Education Association (AEA). The MOU was then ratified by a majority of teachers at Dozier-Libbey, and the petition to the California State Board of Education was withdrawn on September 27, 2014.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Antioch Unified School District election in 2014:

Deadline	Event
July 14, 2014	First day for candidates to file nomination documents
August 8, 2014	Last day for candidates to file nomination documents
October 6, 2014	First day to request vote-by-mail ballot
October 6, 2014	First pre-election report due
October 20, 2014	Last day to register to vote
October 23, 2014	Second pre-election report due
October 28, 2014	Last day to request vote-by-mail ballot
November 4, 2014	Election Day
December 31, 2014	Termination report due
February 2, 2015	Semi-annual report due

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: California elections, 2014

This election shared the ballot with municipal elections and other school board elections. It also shared the ballot with general elections for several state executive offices, four U.S. House seats and four State Assembly seats. Measure O, a citywide ballot measure on a business license tax, was also on the November 4, 2014 general election ballot.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Antioch + Unified + School + District + California"

Antioch Unified School District News Feed

See also

• California
• Antioch Unified School District, California
• California school board elections, 2014
• List of school board elections in 2014
• School board elections, 2014
• Contra Costa County, California ballot measures
• California ballot measures

External links

• Antioch Unified School District
• Contra Costa County Elections Division