• Co-Presidents' Message
  
• Catching Up On Events
  
• LWVCS Updates
  
• Local Happenings
• Local Government Updates
• LWVCS Board Briefs

Vote411

This primary election was our first experience with Vote411. We hope you had a chance to also go to our website and click on Elections.  Marilyn Sherry did a great job of listing of the candidate forums, regular key election information and resources to several great websites.

FUHSD Districting

FUHSD is still working on designing the maps.  The intent is to wrap this up in April so please take the time to give your input: click here

Annual Meeting

Our Annual meeting is coming on Jun 8th from 1 to 4pm.  Please be sure to attend. It will be at the Sunnyvale Community Services Community Room at 1160 S Kern Ave in Sunnyvale.  We have some significant changes coming from LWV at the national level on how we handle our membership dues. It is an important topic and much easier to understand with a conversation rather than a “memo”. 

We will also hear about Election Security and how we can help preserve the integrity of our local elections by having a League sponsored volunteer team during the election and a few days before.  Please register at June 8 event registration link here.

Elaine Manley & Tracey Edwards

Your Co-Presidents

Your Vote Does Matter!

What Happened With the Primary?

CA Secretary of State provides resources: https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov

• Current Vote Status: https://pp.electionresults.sos.ca.gov/unprocessed-ballots-status
• Specific Contest Results: https://pp.electionresults.sos.ca.gov/player
•  For Information Candidate Forums recordings, go to: www.lwvcs.org/candidate-forums
•  For Information about Ballot Measures, go to: www.lwvcs.org/ballot-measures

LWC Bay Area - LWVBA

• The next event in the Death vs. Dollars Series: The Impact of Race and Gender Disparities on Our Health on April 9, 2024, 12 – 1:30 via ZOOM

  What are the issues and how can they be corrected? Race is reflected in the pandemics’ disproportionate effect on communities of color. Women’s diseases are often missed and misdiagnosed. Women and people of color are often ignored by the medical profession. Clinical studies and research are typically limited to white male patients when we know that women’s bodies are different. We will also explore the long-term impact of discrimination and micro-aggressions on our bodies.

   

  Please join us for a revealing discussion about Race and gender disparities in healthcare with our expert speakers:

  Dr. Susan Rogers, immediate past President of the Physicians for a National Program (PNHP) and assistant professor of medicine at Rush University. She is a longtime advocate for health care justice and racial equity. Dr. Rogers has testified before Congress and spoken to both medical and community audiences throughout the country.

  Kavita Ramdas, Activist in Residence for the Global Fund for Women and Director of the Women’s Rights Program at the Open Society Foundation. She is a globally recognized advocate for gender equity and justice. She is also a thought commentator on gender and racial equity.

  Register Here

•  

• Bay Area League Day - "Connecting the Dots: Building Healthy Communities" You can view the recording here.
  

• You can view prior event recordings here and

  Death vs Dollars Chronic Disease - here

• Bay Area Briefs

•  Debrief on BAHFA  program - LWVBA Video BAHFA with Kate Hartley: BAHFA

• Bay Area Monitor News:
  

  • Join the Monitor Mailing List here

  • Current Monitor

• We did it again - mingled & met with the Electeds at our Mar 10 Meet & Greet at BJ's in Cupertino - with 70 attendees and food and fun, we heard from the City Managers of Cupertino & Sunnyvale and representative of Santa Clara County. And were asked to make this an annual event.

•  Youth Voter Toolkit link here
  

• From the Santa Clara County Library:

  Have you checked out your library programs lately – lots going on!

  Programs for youth, teens, and even adults. Just like LWVCS, they are looking for volunteers – for tutoring who are willing to provide homework help to students in grades K-6 in the topics of Math, Science, and English. 

  Take a peek here. 

Districting in the Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) - Background & Updates

The school district is moving from electing Trustees at-large to electing them by districts. Cortney Jansen from SEE (Sunnyvale for Equity in Education) wrote an excellent article on why this is important. Here is a section that was particularly important at this point of the process:

The concentration of trustees from certain zip codes means that parts of the district have never had a trustee who lived in their area. While SEE's focus has been on the lack of representation in North Sunnyvale, where the highest concentration of vulnerable, underserved students resides, the lack of representation extends beyond North Sunnyvale. Other unrepresented/underrepresented areas include Saratoga zip code 95070, Los Altos zip code 94024, and San Jose zip code 95129 (home of Lynbrook HS). Additional details on zip codes can be found on Slide 7 of the Superintendent Update from the January 30 FUHSD board meeting here.      (Editor Note: this is an excellent presentation detailing steps and timeline for the process.)

All board members represent the entire district, regardless of how they are elected or where they live. However, each community within the district is unique. By moving to trustee-area elections, the district is ensuring that ALL communities have representation on the board.

Moving to trustee-area elections also reduces the cost of running for school board, since candidates can focus their campaign on one trustee area instead of the entire district. So more people can run, increasing the representation and inclusion on the board.

By moving to trustee-area elections now (instead of waiting until the district receives a "demand" (or legal) letter or lawsuit), the district has more time for community input and the district avoids fines for being non-compliant with the CVRA (California Voting Rights Act).

As the move to trustee-area elections continues in preparation for the November 2024 elections, there has been concern among some communities within the district that moving to trustee-area elections will reduce their representation and lead to closing of high schools in the southern part of the district. Interestingly, at-large trustee elections were in place when the board decided to close a high school (Sunnyvale High School) in 1981. When Cupertino Union School District closed elementary schools recently, those board members were also elected at-large. While school closure is separate from how trustees are elected, the evidence does NOT suggest that staying with at-large elections correlates with keeping schools open.

This is a survey from FUHSD on Trustee Area Input here.

The next CTAD meetings will be held at the FUHSD district office boardroom tentatively on March 11 and April 11. 

Finally, the remaining map hearings occurred or will occur at these FUHSD board meetings:

1.       Wednesday, March 20 – Map Hearing 3 (Present maps and sequencing recommendations)

2.       Wednesday, April 24 – Map Hearing 4 (Board approves final map and sequencing)

As we approach the end of this year-long process, it's a good time to remember that when we foster greater inclusion, we all benefit. Everyone in the district wants their students to have a great education, the ability to participate in extracurricular activities, and reasonable transportation options to get to school. The district as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

SEE could use more help with the FUHSD Districting process.  If you live in the district, please attend meetings and be sure to give your suggestions for the district map into Map Input Form

FUHSD Districting Update

Seeking Input on Proposed Trustee Area Maps

Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) continues making progress in their transition to Trustee Area elections, aka districting.  On Wednesday, March 20, the CTAD committee presented 3 new proposed maps to the Board of Trustees. This was the second of the three required public hearings.  (As a reminder, this process impacts how the Board of Trustees is elected, it WILL NOT change school attendance areas.)

The new maps, referred to as Maps 5, 6 and 7 are posted on the FUHSD website.  They include both the maps and related sequencing recommendations.  Sequencing determines which districts are up for election in each cycle.  There will be two districts having elections in November 2024.

FUHSD is seeking community input on the proposed maps and sequencing, and has provided three ways to do so:

·      Email feedback to trusteeareas@fuhsd.org on or before April 3

·      Complete an online survey on or before April 3

·      Provide public comment at the final CTAD committee meeting on Monday, April 8 at the FUHSD District Office (meeting begins at 6 p.m.)

The final decision on Trustee Area maps and sequencing will take place at a Special Board Meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, April 24 at 6:30 pm.  For more information on this process go to https://www.fuhsd.org/newsroom/trustee-areas.

• Updated City Council status here
• Cupertino News & Events here.

• Cupertino State of the City 

  If you  missed the event you can view the celebration on the city’s YouTube channel. The San Jose Spotlight highlighted her speech in this article entitled, Cupertino mayor optimistic about city’s future. This link has the  full transcript of the mayor’s speech.

• Vallco Project Update - Second Modification to the Rise Development Approved 

  The City has approved the second modification to the Rise Development pursuant to streamlined, ministerial processes allowed under state law for projects that include a specified percentage of affordable housing units. Formerly the Vallco Town Center Development, the Rise is a mixed-use housing development with 2,669 units, of which 890 units are affordable to lower income households. The modified project includes 47 townhomes, which were not contemplated in the previously approved project. The project also includes approximately 1.95 million square foot of office space, 225 million square foot of retail space and at grade open space areas. The approval documents and approved plans are available online at Cupertino.gov/vallcosb35.

• Cupertino Chamber of Commerce - check out their activities here

LWV Cupertino-Sunnyvale Board Meeting Notes - No March Meeting, 2024

For contact information and  more detail visit: