ALAMEDA COUNTY — Election results in Alameda County on Tuesday night showed parent Catherine Kuo as the winner for a spot on the Dublin school board, and both Measure G and H in Piedmont with clear “yes” votes.
All precincts were reported in Alameda County just after 10 p.m, according to the registrar of voters.
In Piedmont, Measure G asked voters to renew an existing school district parcel tax at an annual rate of $2,763 per parcel for eight years beginning July 1, 2020, providing an estimated $10.8 million annually. Results Tuesday updated at 10:02 p.m. showed it winning by a landslide with 81% or 2,691 of voters approving, while 18% or 616 were opposed.
The funding will help keep class sizes small, textbooks and technology up to date, and fund programs such as math, science, engineering, English, music and arts, according to the district.
Measure H results Tuesday night showed it had 73% approval, with 2,417 votes. A total of 26.74%, or 882 voters, opposed the measure.
Measure H asked Piedmont school district voters to approve a tax of 25 cents per square foot of building improvements, providing an estimated $2.6 million annually for funding Piedmont schools for eight years. Both measures G and H require two-thirds of the votes to pass.
Dublin Unified School District board candidate Kuo was also a clear victor Tuesday night results with 78%, or 404 votes. Candidate Malcom Norrington had 112 votes, or 21%.
School board candidates Kuo and Norrington vied for the open Area 3 seat, which covers the middle of Dublin from Dougherty to Fallon roads. Only those residing in Area 3 were allowed to vote in this special election, after the school board agreed to district-specific elections after being threatened by a lawsuit two years ago.
Kuo is a parent of two children in the school district who has served on the district’s Second High School Input Committee and on the Superintendent’s Council.
Norrington is a current vice principal at Foothill High School in Pleasanton and is a former police officer in Los Angeles. He also taught at Valley Continuation High School in Dublin.
The seat was left open by long-time school board Dan Cunningham, who resigned in February. The term that the newly elected board member will fill would end in December 2020, meaning another election would be held for Area 3 next year.
This election comes after a tumultuous past year at Dublin Unified, after two school board members resigned, an appointed school board member was forced out and its superintendent unexpectedly left the district.
Instead of appointing someone to fill Cunningham’s position, the board agreed to put the question to voters.
The decision came after Niranjana “Nini” Natarajan was appointed in December 2018 to fill an empty seat of a former board member, but was ousted after some residents gathered enough signatures to call for a special election. Gabrielle Blackman won that seat in June.
Kuo said she is focused on alleviating the impact that growth has had on the district’s high school students by ensuring the completion of the second comprehensive high school. Norrington said his focuses would be on student safety, recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers, open and transparent communication, and fiscal accountability.
