School District Map Divides Castro Valley Trustees
Starting next year, your vote for School Board candidates will be based on where you live. This map breaks down five different districts created to reflect demographic diversity. In advance of adopting a final plan, the District was required to, and did, seek public input on the proposed trustee area plans.
Where you live in Castro Valley will impact whether you will vote for the Castro Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Board of Trustees in 2024 or 2026.
The Board voted last Wednesday to adopt a resolution with a map that separates Castro Valley into five districts where each Trustee will reside and seek the votes of their neighbors. Previously, all Castro Valley voters were able to vote for any candidate. The board member seats held by Lavender Lee Whitaker, Michael Kusiak, and Dolly Adams are up for re-election in 2024. Trustees Gary Howard and Sara Raymond, who were just elected in 2022, will keep their seats until they are up for a district election in 2026.
The map now goes to the Alameda County Committee on School District Organization for approval. If the Committee approves the change, "by-trustee area" voting would begin with the general election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
The Trustee map does have its quirks. Several Trustee districts split right down the middle of a street, and in some cases, an intersection—such as Parson Avenue and Christensen Lane—where three corner homes would cast a vote for three different candidates.
Board of Trustees president Lavender Lee said she was looking forward to working with the people who live in her district. The “by-trustee area” election now opens the door to candidates who live in the Palomares, Five Canyons neighborhoods where Trustees currently do not reside.
And while the Trustee breakdown makes it look like board members only represent the schools in their districts, CVUSD Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi and other Trustees reiterated that those elected to the Board are not responsible for only one or two schools but for the more than 9,000 students enrolled in the district.
The “by-trustee” map was created using data from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau and reflects an even distribution of race. The district initiated the transition after a resident threatened to sue because population diversity had not been accurately represented amongst the Board of Trustees, which has been predominantly White.
Castro Valley’s largest ethnic group is White (36.7%), followed by Asian (31.2%) and Hispanic (16.9%), according to the 2020 US Census. CVUSD's student body of 9,200 is made up of 24.3% White, 4.9% Black, 34.1% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 23.3% Hispanic/Latino, and 12.9% of students are two or more races.
As part of the process of transitioning its election system, the Board needed to adopt a final trustee area plan for implementing the new voting trustee areas. Before adopting a final plan, the district held public hearings (May 9 and May 12) to solicit feedback before map preparation. Following the creation of draft map options, which were available and advertised on the district’s website, the Board held feedback meetings (June 12, June 14, and June 28).
More information on the new "By-Trustee Area" election system can be found on the CVUSD website (https://www.cv.k12.ca.us/).