Sheriff's oversight lite on the horizon?
Hayward school boardmember said proposed health education plan, that includes gender identity, among other subjects, is indoctrinating students. Says Latinos and Afghans will be upset
COUNTY NEWS
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—SHERIFF’S OVERSIGHT PLANS—It all seemed to be crystal clear when Greg Ahern was Alameda County sheriff, at least for progressives. Oversight of the sheriff’s department was absolutely needed. State legislation two years ago made it much easier for counties to create oversight board’s of their sheriff.
—But something happened in Alameda County along the way. Ahern was roundly defeated at the ballot box last year, and there is literally a new sheriff in town.
—Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez is, at least, perceived to be more progressive than Ahern, and many residents appears willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that Ahern had long squandered.
—Some Alameda County supervisors on Tuesday are also appear to be leaning toward allowing Sanchez to implement her proposed reforms to the sheriff’s department before adding layers of citizen and Board of Supervisors oversight.
—Prior to Tuesday afternoon’s discussion, Sanchez gave, by several supervisors accounts, a much-praised, but lengthy and highly aspirational “transition plan” for reforms at the sheriff’s department.
—Sanchez said she supports whatever the Board of Supervisors decides on oversight, but wants them also to consider her transition plan before acting.
—“What I’m struggling with,” said Supervisor Elisa Marquez, “is that I want to allow that work to come into fruition,” referring to Sanchez’s planned reforms.
—Maybe give Sanchez a year to see if her vision is working, Marquez added, while favoring an option that includes hiring an inspector general, but with a narrow focus on oversight of Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
—Supervisor Nate Miley had the same thinking. “If we create an office, in general, we’re not maintaining the status quo. We have taken a step for the oversight of the sheriff’s department,” Miley said. He was leaning towards full oversight of the department under Ahern, Miley later said, but his opinion has evolved since Sanchez took over last January.
—There is not yet a full consensus about where the Board is going with oversight. The issue will return to its Public Protection Committee for further vetting and could come before county supervisors in July.
—However, there was some reticence about pulling back on oversight. Supervisor Keith Carson said, “This is not about the sheriff or the personality of the sheriff we have now,” he said. “It’s actually about the position, not the person.”
—Carson said he favors a separate counsel for any oversight board, although is some question about the legality under the county charter for two county counsels.
—The eventual proposal could be split in two phases: The hiring of an inspector general in the first year, and possibly the creation of full oversight board the next.
—The estimated cost of what could eventually be a new county bureaucracy could run up to $5 million annually, said Alameda County Chief Probation Officer Wendy Still. However, the figure is roughly one percent of the sheriff’s budget.
—MORE FROM THE SHERIFF—When asked by Supervisor Lena Tam about what the county can do about helping alleviate crime in Oakland, Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez had few answers.
—The sheriff’s department is short staffed, and offering sheriff’s deputies to support law enforcement in incorporated cities is tricky.
—“It’s one of those things that if we sent all of our resources to Oakland, then our community might suffer behind that, right?” she said, in reference to the unincorporated areas of Alameda County.
—“We’re all going through the same things, but at different levels,” Sanchez said of crime. On sideshows: “How do we address them more with the kind of regional outlook, and how do we partner with entities outside the of the county?”
CITY NEWS
HAYWARD
—SAY IT AIN’T SO, JOE—Hayward school boardmember Joe Ramos said a proposed health education framework amounts to “indoctrinating” students by exposing to them LGBTQ communities.
—Ramos, who was elected to the Hayward school board last November, warned his colleagues that Latinos and Afghans with schoolchildren will oppose the proposed curriculum.
—Ramos made the comments at the Hayward school board’s May 10 meeting. Part of the health education, which is yet to be fully approved by the school board, also includes subjects such as gender expression, gender identity, body positivity, healthy relationships, and empathy training.
—“First of all, I think the parents have to be involved. Because this is a sensitive subject and so if they want to teach this to someone who is LGBTQ, then that’s their business. If they’re not, then you need to get feedback from the community,” Ramos said.
—“And I don’t think the Latino community is going to appreciate this, or the Afghani, or the other people, because this is putting indoctrination into their students.”
—Ramos said parents should be able to opt-out of the curriculum. Later, a district staff member said that parents can view the teaching materials and opt-out if they wish.
PROGRAM NOTE: The newsletter will be published through Thursday, May 25, and return on Wednesday, May 31, in observation of the Memorial Day holiday. Somewhere between then is a new episode of the East Bay Insiders Podcast with me, Shawn Wilson, and Dan Mendoza.