Trustee Area 1
Most of West Vallejo, Mare Island, and part of South Vallejo
Recommendation: Clarence Martin
The next board will face a projected deficit, the aftermath of last year’s school closures and layoffs, and a loss of public trust after the board was accused of violating the Brown Act, the state’s open meetings law, by discussing closures in private.
Clarence Martin was born and raised in Vallejo and runs a local towing company. He regularly attends school board and Police Oversight Commission meetings, and he serves on the committee that oversees how the district spends its bond money. He was the clearest of the three candidates on transparency. He said private meetings on public business are never acceptable, and that he would speak up if he saw it happening. He supports extending the district’s existing facilities bond, which would continue the current tax rate rather than raise it.
Martin brings the kind of steady attention to district finances and process that this board needs.
Trustee Area 3
Most of East Vallejo
Recommendation: Irene Reynolds
Irene Reynolds has worked in school district operations for 26 years, including ten years as Vallejo Unified’s assistant director of student nutrition and five as its safety and risk manager. She now works in human resources for Vacaville Unified.
Her focus is the budget. She wants the board to review expenses line by line, look closely at consultant and third-party contracts before approving them, and keep cuts as far from the classroom as possible. That experience on the business side of a school district is rare on school boards and valuable at a time of deficits.
Voters should know that Reynolds was laid off by Vallejo Unified in June during budget cuts. We don’t consider that disqualifying, and her firsthand knowledge of how the district operates is an asset. But she will need to show she can make budget decisions without regard to her own history with the district.
Trustee Area 5
John Fox is running unopposed.