{"id":489700,"date":"2026-10-08T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/489700\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:44:10","slug":"naughton-san-jose-unified-school-district-needs-new-voices-on-its-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/489700\/","title":{"rendered":"Naughton: San Jose Unified School District needs new voices on its board"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Jose Unified School District families have spent the past year watching the district make consequential decisions regarding school closures and consolidations<\/a> that reshaped entire neighborhoods with limited input from the people most affected. For many parents, teachers and community members, that experience has made one thing clear \u2014 this Board of Education needs new voices, and it needs them now.<\/p>\n

When a recent effort to secure an endorsement for an incumbent failed to win support, it signaled something significant from within the circles typically inclined to back incumbents \u2014 confidence in the current board and its direction has eroded.<\/p>\n

A non-endorsement is as powerful as an endorsement \u2014 especially when the endorsement was given for previous elections. A non-endorsement reflects accumulated frustration about the lack of transparency in the \u201cSchools of Tomorrow\u201d process; about whether commitments made to teachers and families at closing school sites were honored; about how the superintendent controls the trustees when in reality, she works for them; and about whether the board has been sufficiently independent of outside interests when it comes to our schools\u2019 future.<\/p>\n

The school board no longer reflects the community it serves and was voted in by. It has settled into patterns that reward blind acceptance over true representation and accountability.<\/p>\n

Boards that govern well over long stretches do so because they keep earning trust through honest engagement with the community and a willingness to change course when the evidence calls for it. Parents and community members have lost faith, hope and belief in this board. A change is desperately needed.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why this November\u2019s school board election matters more than most.<\/p>\n

A changing of the guard creates room for trustees who will ask challenging questions before major votes, do their homework and insist on real community input. One that treats California Public Records Act requests and public records as a normal part of accountable governance rather than an inconvenience and taking months to provide.<\/p>\n

One that doesn\u2019t dismiss the Civil Grand Jury<\/a> report. And one that would not have moved a problematic principal from Lincoln High School<\/a> to become the assistant principal at San Jose High School. It also creates room for board members without conflicts of interest with charter schools.<\/p>\n

Our ask is simple. We want a school board that governs honestly, keeps its promises to the schools and staff and engages parents and community members about what\u2019s really going on \u2014 not what SJUSD feeds them.<\/p>\n

So, the task now is straightforward: look at who is running for trustee in your area. Read their positions on school closures, facilities planning, housing for teachers in a building known as the Slavery Towers<\/a> and the use of Measure R funds. Ask where their support comes from \u2014 and doesn\u2019t come from \u2014 and weigh that against a record. Don\u2019t be fooled by a scare tactic hashtag and endorsements from outsiders<\/a> and political figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

San Jose Unified\u2019s next board will decide how the district manages its next round of hard choices and the community has earned the right to choose carefully who sits in those seats.<\/p>\n

We encourage you to show up to candidate forums. Ask candidates the uncomfortable questions and, most important, vote in November.<\/p>\n

Maeve Naughton is a parent of a SJUSD student and an active member of San Jose Voice (previously Parents United),\u00a0a grassroots coalition of parents and community members throughout the district representing all schools and grades TK-12. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose Unified School District families have spent the past year watching the district make consequential decisions regarding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-489700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}