My Plan for Pleasanton Unified

As a public school teacher, a proud union activist, and a lifelong Pleasanton native, I am dedicated to our children's success. Throughout my career, fair working conditions, fiscal responsibility, and community engagement have never just been buzzwords.

To me, they're principles that our school board should always strive to follow.

If you have any input or ideas for improving Pleasanton Unified, reach me by emailing charliejonesforschoolboard@gmail.com or completing the form on the front page!

Pleasanton Unified is already one of the best school districts in California, but we have the potential to grow even better. We can all agree on the need to reduce class sizes, counselor caseloads, and special education caseloads, as well as the need to expand valuable programs like dual immersion, English Learner support, campus safety, and social-emotional counseling. However, none of those improvements are possible until we boost staffing and morale back to pre-COVID levels.

The District should listen to teachers and classified employees, and negotiate fair contracts with competitive salaries and great benefits. Pleasanton students deserve the best services possible, so let's recruit and retain the best staff in our region! 

We just passed an infrastructure bond that will make great investments in our campuses, but that isn't enough to fix our entire financial situation. For far too long, Pleasanton Unified has relied on constant deficit spending, endangering student services and staff benefits in the long run. I will work hard to pursue new funding sources for District services, such as federal and state grants, so we can finally have a stable, healthy, and responsible budget.

For starters, I promise a return to normalcy for Pleasanton Unified's Board of Trustees. We need our Board to work together even when there's disagreement, because our families should always come first. 

On top of that, I have always believed that family engagement is everything, because it takes a village to ensure that our students succeed in the classroom and beyond. I plan to keep parents, school employees, and community members informed and involved in any major decisions being made by the district through newsletters, outreach events, and office hours. That's how we build trust and transparency, and how we ensure that everything that we create truly lasts. I also plan to bring together local unions and businesses to design project-labor agreements, vocational education programs, and other exciting economic opportunities right here in our community.